2010 Friday MARCH 2
North starts with a negative double and continues with 5
, asking you to bid a slam with any sort of spade control. Since you have good trumps and a side ace, you decide to show your first-round spade control with 5
.
Two cue-bids later, you are in 7. How do you play on a trump lead?
If you look at the losers from South’s point of view, everything depends on avoiding a club loser. This will be easy if trumps are 2-2, leaving you with a trump in dummy to deal with the fourth round of clubs. Similarly, all will be well if clubs break 3-3 or the jack falls in two rounds. How can you improve your chances?
The answer is a dummy reversal. You win the first trick with the trump nine and ruff a spade in your hand. A trump to the ten reveals the 3-1 break and you ruff another spade. You cross to the club ace, ruff a third spade, return to dummy with the diamond king and ruff dummy’s last spade. Since you started with seven clubs and six diamonds, the safest route back to dummy is a second round of diamonds. All follow and you draw West’s last trump, discarding a club. Thirteen tricks!