Both vulnerable. North deals.

Both vulnerable. North deals.
NORTH
x A 8 2
u K Q 9 5
v A 4
w 7 6 4 3
WEST EAST
x Q 9 4 3 x J 10 6
u 6 u J 8 7 2
v J 10 7 6 v Q 9 5 3 2
w Q 10 8 5 w 9
SOUTH
x K 7 5
u A 10 4 3
v K 8
w A K J 2
The bidding:
NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST
1w Pass 1u Pass
2u Pass 3w Pass
4u Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: Jack of v
It was late in the evening and Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian detective, and his amanuensis, Capt. Hastings, were sipping coffee in the club lounge after narrowly defeating an arch-rival in an interclub bridge match. Hastings was overjoyed at the result.
On this deal from the match, he and Poirot had reached an excellent four-heart contract on the auction shown. After hearts had been agreed, Poirot's three clubs was forcing and, using the Principle of Fast Arrival, the jump to four hearts showed a minimum. Poirot gave up all thoughts of slam.
"It's lucky you guessed the heart position," remarked Hastings. "They misguessed at the other table and went down to defeat."
A pained look was visible for a moment in the Belgian's eyes. "You should know by now, mon ami, that with Poirot there is no luck involved! It is simply a matter of using the little grey cells!
"As soon as you put your hand down as dummy, I saw that the contract could be defeated only by a 4-1 club split, and the length had to be in the West hand. Since it was unlikely that East could hold a singleton in both hearts and clubs, I took a simple precaution. After winning the first trick with the king of diamonds, I led a trump to the king and continued with the queen. This was a simple safety play, and I was able to pick up the trumps and the contract was assured.
"Had East shown out on the queen of hearts, I would have drawn one more round of trumps, cashed the king of clubs, crossed to dummy with the king of spades and continued with a club to the jack, guaranteeing 10 tricks if clubs were 3-2 or if East held the club length. There might be other ways to play the hand, but this is neat and easy. N'est ces pas?"
& copy; 2005 Tribune Media Services
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