Neither vulnerable. South deals.

Neither vulnerable. South deals.
NORTH
K Q 9 8
Void
K 8 5
K 10 9 7 5 3
WEST EAST
10 6 2 5 4 3
A K 10 7 6 4 Q 8 5
2 Q 7 3
Q 6 4 A J 8 2
SOUTH
A J 7
J 9 3 2
A J 10 9 6 4
Void
The bidding:
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
1 2 Dbl 3
4 Pass 4 Pass
4 Pass 5 Pass
6 Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: King of
In theory, you need 33 high-card points to bid to a small slam. But when there are considerable distributional assets, that number can shrink drastically.
With a combined 22 high-card points, North-South bid smoothly to the small slam in diamonds. After West's weak jump overcall of the one-diamond opening bid, North made a negative double (for takeout, not penalties) then followed with a heart cue-bid. South cue-bid his spade control and, when North confirmed diamond support, proceeded to contract for 12 tricks.
West led the king of hearts, and South made short work of the contract. He ruffed the opening lead in dummy, led a club and ruffed when East followed low. Another heart was ruffed, declarer returned to hand with another club ruff and trumped a third heart with the king of trumps, removing East's last card in the suit. The ace of spades was the entry for declarer to force out the queen of trumps, and declarer could get to hand easily no matter what East returned to draw the last trump. The heart loser went on the fourth spade. Declarer made five trump tricks, three heart ruffs and four spade tricks.
While a singleton trump is seldom a good lead, had West led a diamond it would have defeated the contract even though it pickled East's queen of trumps. As long as East holds up the queen of trumps and ace of clubs, South cannot come to 12 tricks.
& copy; 2007 Tribune Media Services
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