BRIDGE

CHANGE IN PLANS East-West vulnerable. North deals. Opening lead: Jack of Hearts

South’s three-club bid was the start of a delicate slam probe. When North jumped to four spades, saying he liked his hand, South forgot about delicacy and trotted out Blackwood before bidding the small slam. East won the opening heart lead with his ace and continued hearts to declarer’s king. This looked like an easy one at first glance. Should the jack of clubs fall, there would be no problem. South could ruff the last club in dummy, if necessary, as long as the trumps split no worse than 3-1. South cashed the ace of trumps and was set back a bit when West showed out. Maybe this wasn’t so easy after all. After some thought, declarer realized that he could also get home on a dummy reversal. He would need two ruffs in his hand to gain one trick, but he had the entries to do it. South cashed the ace of diamonds, led a diamond to dummy’s king, and then ruffed a diamond. He crossed back to dummy with a club to the ace and ruffed another diamond. South then overtook his queen of spades with dummy’s king to finish drawing the outstanding trumps. His two high clubs got him up to 12 tricks. A good bridge player will try to stay flexible. Should the first plan not work out, there is often another plan that can serve as a backup.