Neither vulnerable. South deals.

Neither vulnerable. South deals.
NORTH
x A K 7 6 2
u A Q 5
v 6
w 10 9 6 5
WEST EAST
x J 10 9 4 x Q 3
u 10 8 3 u J 9 7 6 4
v 8 4 3 v K 10 9 7 5
w K Q 7 w 4
SOUTH
x 8 5
u K 2
v A Q J 2
w A J 8 3 2
The bidding:
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
1w Pass 1x Pass
2v Pass 3w Pass
3NT Pass 4u Pass
5w Pass 6w Pass
Pass Dbl Pass Pass
Pass
Opening lead: Jack of x
At the bridge table, talk is rarely cheap. One word at the wrong time can involve a loss of hundreds of points.
South was borderline for the reverse bid of two diamonds. In the modern style, North's three clubs, a return to South's first-bid suit, was forcing. North moved over three no trump and, with a working king of hearts, South continued to slam. West's double was piggish. In an effort to gain an extra 100 points, West drew a blueprint of the trump situation.
Declarer won the opening spade lead with the king. Had there been no double, South would undoubtedly have taken two finesses in trumps, but West surely had both missing honors for his action. Declarer timed the hand perfectly to make West rue his aggressiveness.
At trick two, declarer cashed the ace of spades and then ruffed a spade. Three rounds of hearts followed, declarer discarding a diamond. Next came a diamond to the ace; a diamond ruff in dummy was the entry for another spade ruff in hand as East discarded a heart. The groundwork was completed by another diamond ruff on the table.
With declarer and West both down to nothing but three trumps each, the ten of clubs was run. West won with the queen but was forced to lead away from the king into declarer's ace-jack tenace and the slam was home. One little word had cost West more than 1,500 points.
XThis column is written by Tannah Hirsch and Omar Sharif. For information about Charles Goren's newsletter for bridge players, call (800) 788-1225 or write Goren Bridge Letter, P.O. Box 4410, Chicago, Ill. 60680.
& copy;2004, Tribune Media Services
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