NEW CANADIAN BRIDGE

Dummy's queen was covered by the king and ace and followed by a spade to the jack. The ace and king of spades drew trump as South played off the top diamonds and ruffed a third one without success. A heart to the table permitted another diamond ruff establishing the fifth one. A heart to dummy was followed by the diamond winner on which declarer disposed of the ten of clubs. Dummy's last heart was overtaken with the ace and, when hearts divided 3-3, thirteen tricks were home. A club lead was a given on this auction and the contract was in jeopardy when South guessed to play the queen and East produced the king. Declarer rejected playing off the top spades and switching to diamonds when the queen failed to appear, hoping for a 3-3 diamond division where he would be able to dispose of the ten of clubs and lose only a a trump trick. Another line would be to cash the top spades and revert to hearts in search of a 3-3 break parking dummy's queen of clubs on the fourth heart. North was reluctant to employ Blackwood fearing two fast club losers. Instead, he advanced to five spades asking partner to bid slam as long as he could prevent the defense from cashing two club tricks.

Author: Dave Willis - visit his website at www.insidebridge.ca Questions on bridge can be sent with a stamped, self-addressed envelope to The New Canadian Bridge c/o Torstar Syndication Services, One Yonge St., Toronto, M5E 1E6. Copyright 2020 Torstar Syndication Services