BRIDGE

We've all played countless contracts where an opponent's bidding has helped out with information about distribution and/or location of high cards but how helpful/ harmful can “not bidding” be ?

During the final of the 2020 online Canadian Open Teams Championship, Lu Gan and Kai Zhou conducted the diagram's optimistic auction to reach the razor-thin heart slam.

Thin but a perfect fit and makeable if declarer could divine the actual spade layout. Stay tuned !

Declarer ruffed the opening club lead (surprising West for sure!) to continue with a heart to dummy for the diamond towards the closed hand.

In with his second ace after capturing South's King, West played back a second round of clubs to force another ruff by declarer.

One problem solved when a second round of hearts brought the Queen and put the lead in dummy for South to trump North's last club.

Two top diamonds and a diamond ruff in dummy before leading a spade to the Queen and King.

Pausing to process the distributional information gleaned by the early play, South could count East for two hearts and three diamonds and what appeared to be a long club suit headed by the King and Queen.

If the spade Queen was a singleton, South knew he could make his slam by finessing against West's hypothetical Jack, otherwise he could play for East to have started with two spades and dropping the Jack on the second round would work.

But, reasoned South, wouldn't East have overcalled if he had started with seven clubs?

Down one when South played for his opponent's distribution to be 2-2-3-6.

Bill Koski was well-rewarded for not bidding!