Bridge - The Scotsman 16/03/2012

THE auction was fast and furious, and no-one could tell who could make what. In fact no-one could make much.

East-West can beat 5S by taking a heart ruff; North-South can hold East to ten tricks in diamonds if South leads a spade and they subsequently make two club tricks. None of that was clear during the bidding, and East-West ended in an uncomfortably high contract

The defence was kind. South feared a spade void and led the ace of clubs to have a look. North dropped the queen to deny the king, and perhaps suggest a switch to spades. An expensive play, since declarer could now finesse against the Jx of clubs and so hold his club losers to one. Even more expensive when South thought it safe to continue clubs. Declarer drew trump, cashed his other club trick, and, when the suit broke 3-3, crossed to the three of diamonds (he had carefully preserved the two) to discard his losing spade on dummy’s long club. This meant North-South scored -1540 and lost 19 imps when their team-mate, in 5D doubled, received a spade lead, forgot to preserve the two of diamonds, and lost 500.

It is worth discussing leads against a slam. Even if you normally lead ace from ace-king, you should lead the king against a slam so that partner can give you count, telling you if the ace will also cash. An ace denies the king and asks for an attitude signal – partner encourages if he holds the king.