Belladonna’s Brilliancies

Giorgio Belladonna won 16 world championships with Italy’s Blue Team. Most experts call him the greatest card player who ever lived. Not the best bidder, not the best theorist, but the best player. The guy who could see three tricks ahead when everyone else was still counting their points.

He died in 1995, but his hands live on. Here are three of his most famous plays. Each one teaches something different. All of them show why he was better than everyone else.

The Impossible Discard (1959 Bermuda Bowl)

Playing against the United States in the 1959 Bermuda Bowl, Belladonna was defending 6♠. This was the layout:

        Dummy
        ♠ A K 7 6
        ♥ 8 4
        ♦ K Q J 10
        ♣ A 5 3
        
Belladonna (West)         East
♠ J 10                   ♠ 5 4 3 2
♥ A Q J 10 6 3           ♥ K 9 7 5 2
♦ 9 7 4                  ♦ 6 5
♣ 8 2                    ♣ 7 4

        Declarer
        ♠ Q 9 8
        ♥ none
        ♦ A 8 3 2
        ♣ K Q J 10 9 6

Contract: 6♠ by South
Opening Lead: ♥A by Belladonna (West)

Belladonna led the ♥A. Declarer ruffed. Declarer drew trumps in three rounds, both defenders following. Then declarer started running clubs.

Most defenders would discard diamonds. You have three small ones, they’re worthless, dump them. Keep your hearts in case declarer has one.

Belladonna discarded all three diamonds.

His partner stared at him. Declarer stared at him. The tournament director probably stared at him. You don’t pitch three diamonds when dummy has K-Q-J-10 sitting there.

Unless you know something.

When declarer finished running clubs, he had to guess diamonds or hearts. If Belladonna had started with six hearts and three diamonds, the hearts were good. If he started with five hearts and four diamonds, diamonds would break.

Declarer thought about Belladonna pitching three diamonds. That looked like a singleton or doubleton diamond. So declarer played for the hearts to break. He led a heart toward dummy’s ♥8.

Belladonna won the ♥Q and cashed three more hearts. Down two.

Why It Worked

Belladonna counted declarer’s hand. Declarer had shown six clubs and three spades. That’s nine cards. If declarer had a singleton heart (he ruffed the opening lead), that left him with three diamonds.

So declarer needed either hearts to break 3-3 or diamonds to break 3-3. One of those suits had to come home for the contract.

Belladonna’s discards made it look like hearts were breaking and diamonds weren’t. Declarer believed him.

But here’s the genius: if declarer had played diamonds instead, he’d make the contract. Belladonna couldn’t stop both suits. He just made one look impossible and hoped declarer would guess wrong.

Declarer did.

The Bath Coup Refusal (1965 Bermuda Bowl)

Playing 3NT, Belladonna was declarer with this spade holding:

        Dummy
        ♠ 6 5 3
        
        Belladonna
        ♠ A J 2

West led the ♠K. Standard play? Duck. That’s the Bath Coup: you have A-J, they lead the K, you duck, they’re stuck. If they continue, you win the A and J. If they shift, you still have A-J over their Q.

Belladonna won the ♠A.

Why would you do that? You’re setting up their suit. You’re giving them entries. You’re throwing away a standard defensive position.

Because Belladonna knew the full layout. West had led from ♠K-Q-10-9-x, and East had ♠8-7-4. If Belladonna ducked the ♠K, West would continue with the ♠Q. Belladonna would win the ♠J, but now West knew where the ♠A was.

When West got in later (with the ♦A), he’d lead his fourth spade. East would overtake and return the suit, and Belladonna would lose four spades and a diamond. Down one.

By winning the first spade, Belladonna created ambiguity. West didn’t know if Belladonna had started with ♠A-x, ♠A-J-x, or ♠A-J-10-x. When West got in with the ♦A, he didn’t know whether to continue spades or shift.

West guessed wrong. Shifted to hearts. Belladonna made 3NT.

Why It Worked

The Bath Coup is a standard play. Every decent player knows it. That’s exactly why winning the ace was right.

If Belladonna makes the standard play, West knows the position. If Belladonna does something unexpected, West has to guess.

Good players make standard plays. Great players know when to break the rules.

The Discovery Play (1975 Bermuda Bowl)

This is the hand that people still talk about. Belladonna, playing 6♥, had to locate the ♣Q.

        Dummy
        ♠ K 4
        ♥ K 9 7 6
        ♦ A J 10 5
        ♣ K 6 3
        
        Belladonna
        ♠ A 8 3
        ♥ A Q J 10 8 5
        ♦ K 4
        ♣ A 5

Contract: 6♥
Lead: ♠Q

The contract depends on the ♣Q. If you guess right, you make. If you guess wrong, you don’t. Normal players would win the spade, draw trumps, and guess clubs. 50-50 chance.

Belladonna won the spade in dummy, cashed the ♥K, and led a low diamond toward his hand. East played low. Belladonna won the ♦K.

Now he led a low club toward dummy. West played the ♣10. Belladonna paused, then played the ♣K from dummy. East followed small.

Belladonna cashed the ♦A, pitched his spade loser, ruffed a spade, and finessed the ♣3 through West’s ♣Q-J. Made six.

Why It Worked

Belladonna didn’t guess the ♣Q. He found it.

When East didn’t split his ♦Q-x, Belladonna knew East was either afraid of giving up a trick or didn’t have the ♦Q. Either way, useful information.

When West played the ♣10 on the first round, that was even more telling. If West had ♣Q-J-10, he’d play the ♣J or ♣Q to make declarer guess. Playing the ♣10 looked like ♣10-9-x-x or a singleton ♣10.

But Belladonna considered the whole hand. West had length in spades (from the lead). If West also had four clubs, that left only four cards for hearts and diamonds. Possible, but unlikely.

More likely: West had three clubs (including the ♣Q), not four. So Belladonna played West for ♣Q-J-10 and finessed accordingly.

Could he have been wrong? Sure. But he wasn’t guessing. He was reading the cards, the tempo, the defensive plays. And he got it right.

The Common Thread

Look at all three hands. Belladonna didn’t make flashy plays. He made informed plays.

He counted. Every hand, every distribution, every possibility.

He read defenders. Their leads, their signals, their tempo.

He created problems. By doing the unexpected, he forced opponents to guess.

He trusted his judgment. When he saw something others missed, he acted on it.

That’s what made him great. Not brilliance in the sense of doing something nobody else could imagine. Brilliance in the sense of seeing what was there and using it.

What You Can Learn

You’re not Belladonna. Neither am I. But we can steal his techniques.

Count the hand. Every time. Declarer’s shape, defensive distribution, possible holdings. The more you know, the less you guess.

Watch for unusual plays. When declarer or a defender does something weird, ask why. It usually means something.

Break the rules when it helps. Standard plays are standard because they work. But they don’t work all the time. Know when to deviate.

Create uncertainty. If you can make your opponents guess, do it. Even if the guess is 50-50, you’ve turned a sure thing for them into a gamble.

Trust your table feel. If something feels off, it probably is. Don’t ignore your instincts.

The Legacy

Belladonna played bridge for 50 years. He has hundreds of famous hands. These three are just samples.

What made him special wasn’t that he was always right. He wasn’t. It’s that he was right more often than anyone else. And when he was wrong, it was because he tried something creative, not because he didn’t think.

The Blue Team dominated world bridge for 15 years. They had great theorists (Benito Garozzo), great partnerships (Pietro Forquet and Garozzo), and great systems (the Blue Club).

But Belladonna was their best player. And these hands show why.

Key Takeaways

Discard strategically. Belladonna pitched diamonds to protect hearts. What you throw matters as much as what you keep.

Standard plays are predictable. Breaking from standard creates confusion. Use it when you need to hide your strength or location.

Discovery plays reveal holdings. Don’t finesse blindly. Test the position, watch the defenders, then decide.

Counting is mandatory. You can’t make great plays without knowing the distribution.

Table feel matters. Tempo, hesitation, and unusual plays all give information. Use it.

Giorgio Belladonna wasn’t just good. He was the best. These hands are proof.

Study them. Learn from them. You won’t become Belladonna. But you’ll become a better player.

And that’s the point.