ACES ON BRIDGE

“There can be no economy where there is no efficiency.” — Benjamin Disraeli

In today's deal, when spades are set as trump, South checks on keycards and tries for a grand slam with five no-trump. North can show a side-suit king, but by agreement some play that when he holds two, he cue-bids the side-suit king he does not hold, six clubs here. South can now bid the grand slam, hoping to take red-suit ruffs in dummy.

West is not about to lead his singleton trump; the club nine is his most passive option. Now declarer could look to ruff out clubs, but this might require two ruffs, and his plan could fail against a 4-1 trump split.

It is better to take diamond ruffs in dummy, but East might overruff on the third round of the suit. So, declarer should seek to ruff the second round of diamonds low, not the third.

He wins the club lead in his hand and then, without drawing trumps, he cashes the diamond king and plays three rounds of hearts for a diamond discard.

Then declarer ruffs a diamond low, crosses to the spade 10 and ruffs another diamond high. He can use dummy's last trump to take out East's spades and score the diamond ace at trick 13.

Note that drawing even one round of trumps is a false economy since declarer might need all his trump entries to hand if clubs are 5-1. This line might lose out against an opponent with just two hearts and a single spade, but that is wildly against the odds.

In essence, assuming trumps are not 5-0, the only danger is that East has a heart doubleton or a diamond singleton.

ANSWER: It is not usually wise to upgrade into a two-no-trump opening, but these cards ought to be working, and the spade 10 could be very useful. Still, I prefer to open one diamond for fear we may climb too high if I upgrade. Facing a passed partner, I might lean the other way.