NEW CANADIAN BRIDGE

South won in hand to play a heart to the queen and continue with the ace. Three rounds of diamonds were followed by the ace of clubs fetching a spade discard from East. Declarer had intended to exit with a club forcing West to break the spade suit. However, he switched horses by exiting with a trump throwing East on play. He elected to exit with the thirteenth diamond as South discarded a club ruffing in dummy. An advance of the queen of spades was covered by the king and ace, resulting in eleven tricks. East had declined to return a spade since he knew that declarer owned the ace. In this scenario, South would win the ten, cash the ace of spades and play a third one to emerge with another eleven tricks since East would be compelled to offer a ruff and a discard. North's boost to the major suit game was a definite overbid without any shortness. He should rebid three hearts where South will advance to game. He was fortunate that South did not advance beyond game despite owning a solid 10 HCP. The weakness of his trump suit and the pancake pattern contributed to the decision to quit.

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