Bridge 04/06/2011

When playing a slam you must always be aware that you cannot afford to lose more than one trick. What is the best way to achieve that here?

When partner cuebid to show a sound raise to at least 3H, West hoped he had little wasted in spades and took a lunge at slam. Dummy was indeed very pleasing, and his task looked simple. North led the king of spades, and he ruffed in hand with the seven of hearts, then led the eight to the king. When South showed out on this trick he paused for reflection – but too late. He played another heart to the jack and queen, but another spade forced him to ruff with the ten. When he cashed the ace, North's nine was promoted into a winner and he had to go down. How should he have played?

When a slam looks as good as this you should try to cater for the worst possible breaks. It works better here to start hearts by leading the ace. When South shows out you can run the jack and cash one more high heart whether North covers or not. That leaves him with a winning nine, but declarer simply cashes minor suit winners till he ruffs. When North returns a spade, West has a heart to ruff with, and all is well.

All very well, you say, but what if South has four hearts? Now, low to the king brings in 13 tricks with the marked finesse. However, you still make your slam by playing the ace first – simply run the jack of hearts. If South wins and forces you to ruff you can cash your ten of hearts and cross to the ace of clubs to draw the last trump. If South ducks the second heart just cash the king next and continue by playing winners. Note that you should use the safe club entries to dummy – crossing to the queen of diamonds runs a much greater risk of losing a ruff.