BRIDGE

Modern players have gotten more sophisticated when opener rebids one no-trump. They use an artificial twoclub bid with invitational hands and they use a two-diamond bid with game-forcing hands. Over two diamonds, North didn’t want to bid no-trump again without a stopper in either minor, so he intelligently rebid his excellent heart suit. This might have deterred South, but he aggressively drove to slam once he found a spade fit.

The slam is a poor one due to the loaded heart values opposite a singleton. South looked at the traditional way to play this trump suit — cash the king and then lead low to the jack. This would require a 3-2 split and for East to hold the queen. This is about a 2-1 underdog. Declarer thought he could do better by playing for a 4-3 split in hearts. He won the opening club lead with the ace and cashed dummy’s three top hearts, shedding his two remaining clubs.

When hearts proved to split 4-3, he continued with a fourth heart, ruffing East’s jack with the jack of spades. This would have brought home the slam had East started with three spades to the queen. West over-ruffed and tried to cash a high club. South ruffed, cashed the ace of spades, and then led a spade to dummy’s king. When this drew the outstanding trumps, South discarded his low diamond on dummy’s 10 of hearts. Well done!