Avoid giving them any chance at all

FRANK-N-ERNEST®

GRIZZWELLS®

BIG NATE®

ARLO & JANIS®

ZITS®

When you have a trump suit, you enjoy control over the side suits. Even if you hold losers in a side suit, as long as the other hand is void in that suit, you can win a trick by ruffing. However, if the hand with the void has no trumps left, you could be in trouble.

Given that introduction, how should South play in six spades on today’s deal after West leads the heart king?

Over the weak two-spade opening, North used the almost-extinct Grand Slam Force. This asked the opener to bid seven spades with two of the top three trump honors. Holding only one top honor, South signed off in six. (North could have used Roman Key Card Blackwood also.)

Declarer had three red-suit losers in his hand, but three discards were available on dummy’s clubs once trumps were drawn. South just had to make sure that if he lost a trump trick, there would still be a trump on the board to ruff a heart.

Declarer led dummy’s spade nine at trick two and let it ride.

If West had produced the queen, South could have ruffed a heart with the spade king, crossed to hand with a club to the 10, drawn trumps and claimed.

Here, though, the spade nine won. Now declarer cashed the spade king, getting the bad news, but he calmly played on clubs. When East ruffed the third round, South overruffed, cashed the spade ace to draw East’s final trump, crossed to the diamond ace and finished the clubs. If East had never ruffed, declarer would have eventually lost only a trump trick.