Hand of the Week
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | Pass | ||
| 3♣ | 4♣ | Pass | 4♥ |
| Pass | 6♥ | All Pass |
As 4♣ suggested at least 5-5 in the majors, you correctly chose a response of 4♥. While partner could have explored for a grand slam, he took sensible course of being content with a 12-trick contract. How do you plan to make the slam after West leads the ♣A? East-West lead ace from A-K.
Solution
The first move should be to ruff the opening lead and the next to lay down the ace of trumps. If trumps are they are 4-0, you will need spades to be 3-2.
When both opponents follow to the first round of trumps, the aim should be to make 12 tricks even when West has a low singleton spade:
The idea is to set up the spade suit without West ruffing the ♠K. The way to achieve this is to cross to your hand with the ♦A and lead a spade towards dummy. As you are leading towards the high card in the suit, West cannot help the defensive cause by ruffing. If he does you will follow with a low card from dummy and make 12 tricks in a canter.
Suppose West correctly discards a club and you win the second round of spades with dummy’s king.
Now you lead a third round of spades and ruff it with the queen of trumps. If you ruff with the 9, West will overruff and lead another round of trumps, removing your last trump and leaving you with a spade loser. Next, you ruff a diamond in dummy and lead a fourth round of spades, ruffing it with the ♥9.
As the cards lie, West can overruff now but it will do him no good. You will win his return, draw the last trump, and enjoy the established spades in dummy. If West had been unable to overruff, you would ruff a club back to hand, cash the trump king and run the spades, losing a trick only if the trumps were 3-1 or 1-3 originally.
If West ruffs the ♦A, you have to fall back on spades being 3-2. You would ruff the club return, cash a second trump honor and play on spades.