Bridge Corner
By Gary Mitchell, Dec 22, 2006

The bidding

South’s 5 Diamond call was a cue bid, as was North’s 5 Heart call. When South signed off in 5 Spades, it said he had more than one Club loser. With the Club King, North bid the slam.

The play

You can make things complicated, or just play it the easy way. I prefer easy, when possible. You have a Club loser for sure, so you must assume the Spades are 3–2. An expert (pardon the usage) would pull trump, knock out the Club Ace, and hope for some kind of squeeze to develop. Sure, it might happen, and you might be able to figure out who is squeezed. Or, you can do it the simple way. Win the opening lead, knock out the Ace of Clubs, and ruff a Club with a low Spade in dummy. Simple, yes, but it may be a trap. 

Where did you win the opening Diamond lead? If you won with the Ace, and led a Club, winning the King, and West wins the second Club, and leads another Diamond, you have problems! You will be in the wrong hand. You can play the Ace and another Heart, trumping in hand, and lead a Club and trump. Then you play the Spade Queen, and try to get back to your hand again. So, you lead a third Heart, and East trumps with the 9, forcing your King. West now has a trump trick. Plan, plan, plan!

Questions: gary@smabridge.com 
Lessons: 152-6351.