NEW CANADIAN BRIDGE

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

South ruffed, drew trump and followed with the ace of spades and a ruff. The closed hand was re-entered by trumping a heart to advance the queen of spades for a potential ruffing finesse. South elected to ruff when West followed with the seven, concluding that East was likely to own the king since he had opened the bidding. The defense was entitled to the ace of clubs resulting in twelve tricks, N-S +420. N-S were playing Top and Bottom cue bids so South could not opt for a heart cue bid which would have revealed the black suits. East was presented with an opportunity to collect a good result by passing four diamonds. South was happy to continue to four spades when East advanced to four hearts. North's subsequent diamond preference landed N-S in an excellent contract. Four spades comes home even though there is no entry to dummy. South would be tapped in hearts at every turn but, with trump breaking 3-3, South would lose only two spades and a heart for a similar result of +420. East would likely scramble nine tricks in hearts but, if pushed, South might venture a diamond slam.