Neither vulnerable. South deals.

Neither vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

xQ 10 6 4 2

uQ 9

vA K 4

wK 5 2

WEST EAST

x9 8 x5 3

uK J 10 8 7 u4 3 2

v9 vQ J 8 7 6 5 3

wQ 9 8 7 6 w10

SOUTH

xA K J 7

uA 6 5

v10 2

wA J 4 3

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1NT Pass 2u Pass

3x Pass 4NT Pass

5v Pass 6x Pass

Pass Pass

Opening lead: Nine of x

To the uninitiated, the way an expert plays a hand often looks like a feat of legerdemain. More often than not, however, the cards tell a story that is there for all to read. This deal is from a European Team Championship match.

North’s two-heart bid was a transfer to spades and South’s jump showed a maximum no trump and good spades. The response to North’s Key-card Blackwood inquiry showed four ’aces’ — the king of trumps counts as a fifth ace — and the good spade slam was reached.

West led a trump, won in the closed hand, and declarer drew another round of trumps. Next came the ace and king of diamonds and a diamond ruffed high. On these two tricks West discarded a club and a heart. Declarer now had all the information needed to virtually guarantee the slam. Do you?

West, who held only three cards in spades and diamonds, had to have at least five clubs — with six or more hearts, he would never have parted with a club. So declarer ran all his trumps, coming down to the ace of hearts and four clubs in hand. West had to hold onto four clubs (otherwise declarer would simply play ace, king and another club) and therefore is forced down to only one heart. Declarer now cashes the ace of hearts. As the cards lie, that fells the king and the queen of hearts is the 12th trick. But had the monarch not appeared, declarer would simply have crossed to the king of clubs and then ducked a club to West, forcing a club return away from the queen into declarer’s ace-jack tenace.

2008 Tribune Media Services