Both vulnerable. North deals.

Both vulnerable. North deals.
NORTH
x J 10 8 6 5
u K J 6
v A 9 4 3
w A
WEST EAST
x A Q 9 3 x K 7 4 2
u 3 u 10 8 5 4
v J 7 6 5 v Q 2
w J 10 6 2 w Q 7 5
SOUTH
x Void
u A Q 9 7 2
v K 10 8
w K 9 8 4 3
The bidding:
NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST
1x Pass 2u Pass
3u Pass 4w Pass
4v Pass 4u Pass
5w Pass 6u Pass
Pass Pass
Opening lead: Ace of x
It might seem that, at the world championship level, most players should be able to count to 13. Yet in a world team event some year ago, most declarers could not even manage 12!
Once North raised hearts, South showed his second suit. North started a cue-bidding sequence and, once North showed the ace of clubs, South elected to contract for the small slam.
The ace of spades was the popular lead, and most declarers tried either a dummy reversal or to set up clubs and the 4-1 trump split usually led to defeat. But simple counting should have led to landing the slam.
Declarer starts out with four minor-suit winners. All South needs to do is score all eight trumps via a crossuff to succeed. After ruffing the opening spade lead, declarer should cash the aces of diamonds and clubs, return to hand with a spade ruff and cash the king of clubs. When this wins, the slam is almost guaranteed. Declarer uses two spade ruffs as entries to hand to ruff two clubs in dummy, bringing his total tricks to 11. He still has the ace of trumps in hand to bring the total to 12.
With the rapid advances in science being made these days, perhaps we can soon hope for six-finger hands designed specifically for bridge players.
& copy; 2005 Tribune Media Services
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