ACES ON BRIDGE

No man thinks there is much ado about nothing when the ado is about himself. — Anthony Trollope

You blast into the spade slam, against which West leads the club king. Is there anything to be wary of when planning to make 12 tricks?

If trumps are not extremely hostile, you will have 12 easy tricks: six trumps, three hearts, two diamonds and a club. So, your concern should be overcoming a potential 4-0 break in spades. As a preparation against that possibility, ruff a club at trick two, to try to guard against the diagrammed layout.

Next, cash the trump king. If everyone follows, you can claim your contract. If West has four trumps, you will need him to have precisely 4=3=2=4 shape. You continue with the queen and ace of trumps, then ruff a second club. After cashing the diamond ace-king, plus the three heart winners ending in dummy, you ruff a third club at trick 12. West will take the last trick by ruffing your diamond loser. You will have scored six trumps and six plainsuit winners for your contract. But notice that if you had not ruffed a club at trick two, you would not have had the entries to ruff three clubs in hand.

Finally, if it turned out that East had the four trumps, then you would need him not to be too drastically short in any of the side suits. The best order of play to follow would be to cash the top diamonds, then the top hearts, ending in dummy. Now you take a club ruff, then the queen and ace of trumps, followed by leading a fourth club from dummy to make your last trump, whatever East does.

ANSWER:

Your partner’s double of the twospade call is takeout and shows extras — the equivalent of a game-try with short spades. In context, your combination of decent spot cards plus a ruffing value suggests you have enough to make one game-try of three clubs and let your partner know where you live.