Goren Bridge

North could count that his partnership held at least 33 combined points, so he made the obvious bid. With two balanced hands, however, 33 points is sometimes not enough. This deal required careful play despite a combined 35 points.

South won the opening spade lead with dummy’s ace. He could count 11 tricks and he would have to develop an extra trick from one of the red suits. He led a low diamond to his queen at trick two, losing to West’s king. A diamond continuation would reveal the diamond position, so West exited safely with a spade to dummy’s king, instead.

South now cashed all of his black-suit winners before touching hearts. He led a club to his king, cashed his two high spades, and then two more clubs. He learned that West had started with four spades and only two clubs. This made West a big favorite to hold length in hearts, but things changed when declarer took the thoughtful precaution of cashing his ace of diamonds before starting hearts. Bingo! When East showed out, the puzzle was complete. South cashed dummy’s ace and queen of hearts, and then, knowing that West held no more hearts, led a heart to his 10 and claimed his slam. Well done!

We wonder how many readers would have gone down by not cashing the ace of diamonds? We mean the readers of other columns, of course. All of our readers would have gotten it right. Right?