BRIDGE

North-South vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

xA Q 7 3

uQ 3

v9 5 4 2

wA J 6

WEST EAST

x6 x9 4

u9 6 4 2 uJ 10 8 5

vK J 8 6 v10 7

wK Q 10 3 w9 8 5 4 2

SOUTH

xK J 10 8 5 2

uA K 7

vA Q 3

w7

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1x Pass 2NT Pass

3w Pass 4x Pass

4NT Pass 5x Pass

6x Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: King of w

How early can you claim a slam? It depends. Here, if you trust the opening lead, you can claim at trick one!

North’s two no trump was a forcing raise in spades and South’s three clubs showed a singleton. After North showed no additional values, South used key-card Blackwood to discover that North held two aces and the queen of trumps and settled in the small slam.

West led the king of clubs, and declarer made short work of the hand. He won the ace of clubs and ruffed a club in hand. After drawing trumps and clearing the hearts, declarer returned to dummy with a trump to lead the jack of clubs. Instead of ruffing, however, he discarded a diamond loser from hand.

West won a trick he did not expect but did not enjoy being on lead. A heart or a club would allow declarer to ruff in dummy while discarding the queen of diamonds from hand, and a diamond would be into declarer’s major tenace. Either way, South lost only a club trick.

2009 Tribune Media Services