bridge

bridge

Neither vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

xQ 9 3

u7 6 4

vA 7 3

wK 8 5 2

WEST EAST

x8 2 x7 6 5 4

uK 10 5 2 uQ J 3

v4 vJ 6 5

wA 10 7 6 4 3 wQ J 9

SOUTH

xA K J 10

uA 9 8

vK Q 10 9 8 2

wVoid

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1v 2w 2NT 3w

3x Pass 4v Pass

6v Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: Four of v

The breaks canceled out on this deal, so all declarer needed was sound technique to land an aggressive slam.

South’s jump to slam was not as insane as might appear. North had to have some diamond length and not too much in the way of wasted club values for two reasons: With either a doubleton diamond or a stronger holding in clubs, North would simply have bid three no trump as the lesser evil, or to slow down the auction, instead of taking a preference to diamonds. Therefore, there should be play for six diamonds.

Since no other suit presented an attractive lead, West chose the singleton trump. If trumps were 2-2, the contract could be claimed since, after drawing trumps, declarer could discard a heart from dummy on the spades and ruff a heart for the 12th trick. But, with the normal 3-1 split, declarer had to find an alternative line.

The solution was simple and elegant, although it required a little bit of luck. Declarer won the first trick in hand with the eight and immediately ducked a heart to East. The club return was ruffed and a second trump was drawn with the king in case the suit “divided evenly. When it did not, declarer left a trump outstanding and played off four rounds of spades, discarding a heart from dummy. All was well when East had to follow.

Declarer cashed the ace of hearts and ruffed a heart in dummy. South returned to hand with a club ruff, drew the outstanding trump and claimed the rest of the tricks.

2012 Tribune Media Services