SUNDAY BRIDGE

Dummy’s jack was covered by the queen and king. Declarer cashed a top heart, crossed to the ace of clubs and led a diamond to the queen. West scored the king and returned another ruffed by East to set the slam, N-S - 100.

The opening lead intimated that clubs were 6-2 and caused South to reject any notion of discarding a diamond on a third club winner. This line would have failed in any event since East will overruff a second round of diamonds.

The 6-1 diamond break in combination with the 3-1 trump division and the line of play selected had doomed the contract. Double dummy South can bring home the slam by stripping West of exit cards. He draws trump, discards a diamond on the ace of spades, ruffs two spades and cashes two more clubs. West has been reduced to nothing but diamonds and when declarer leads a low diamond towards the ten, West wins the jack but must return another into the jaws of the ace-queen.

The leap to slam was an aggressive action since it was clear that partner held only three card support and was marked with wasted spade values. The overcall intimated that North would hold nothing of value in clubs enhancing the chance that he would hold the diamond king.