Bridge

What is that Black wood response all about? North can’ t have the queen of spa des as it is staring South in the face. Experts tend to say they have possession of the trump queen in R KC B ask situations if they have extra length, which North clearly has. However–this has been known to backfire. There are ten tricks on top. An eleven this available from the heart ru ff in hand. The twelfth could come from the queen of diamonds, if East holds the king. But declarer felt that was unlikely, as West had made a simple, rather than a weak jump over call, so rated to hold the king. It looked as if the clubs would have to yield four tricks, but declarer was not relying on this. He won the heart lead, played two round soft rum pending in dummy and ruffed a heart. The king of clubs was followed by a club to the queen then the ten of clubs was finessed. Slam made. In reply to his partner’ s en quiring eyebrow, South explained his line “So long as West holds the diamond king, I’ m safe even if West has Jxx, for then he is end played, having either to lead away from the king of diamonds or give a ru ff and discard.