Bridge

Published on Wednesday 1 July 2009 19:02

IN THE early days of bridge, a piece of advice became a law: lead trump against a Grand Slam.

The idea was that any pair bidding a Grand Slam would have lots of tricks, so a trump was the safest way of getting off lead without giving anything away. This myth has been perpetuated to the extent that players make deductions from a defender's failure to lead trump: either he does not have any trump, or he has the queen and did not wish to lead away from it.

The advent of Roman Keycard Blackwood has allowed players to establish whether or not the queen of trump is missing, so nowadays few Grand Slams should be bid with the sort of trump holding that East-West had on this deal from the Spring Foursomes. When you have nine trump missing the queen your chances of playing the suit for no loser are just 52 per cent, not nearly good enough odds for a Grand Slam. (When you fail in a Grand Slam, you lose the bonus for the Small Slam, so you need odds of nearer 70 per cent – other pairs will miss slam altogether.) Somehow it still happens, and this is a case where a trump lead is not recommended.

South actually led a spade, and declarer sailed home – with diamonds 3-3 he did not even need the heart finesse. Had South led a heart, East would have a difficult decision. South's weak jump overcall suggested she might be short in spades – but the failure to lead trump might mean she had the queen.