| West | North | East | South |
| 2♣ | |||
| 3♦ | Pass | Pass | 3♥ |
| Pass | 4♦ | Pass | 6♥ |
| All Pass |
Holding a true powerhouse hand, you start the bidding with 2♣. West tries to gum up the works with his 3♦ bid, but when you show your long suit, partner bids 4♦ to show a good raise to 4♥. That’s enough for you to give the slam a try. West leads the ♣10. What is your plan for fulfilling this contract?
Solution
After winning the first trick in hand and considering the situation, declarer formed the plan of endplaying West on the third round of diamonds. After winning the first trick, declarer
crossed to dummy by playing the ♥2 to the 4 and ruffed a diamond high. Declarer cashed the ♣K and returned to dummy with a club ruff, eliminating that suit. Next, he ruffed dummy’s remaining low diamond with another high trump and returned to dummy by playing his ♥6 to dummy’s 7. Declarer continued with the ♦K, discarding the ♠5 from his hand. West won the trick with the ♦A diamonds and had no good return. West counted declarer for 3=7=0=3 shape, with the ♠A, so if he played a fourth round of diamonds, declarer would ruff in the dummy and discard his spade loser from hand. When, instead, West exited with a low spade, declarer was able to win the trick with the queen and claim. He made two spades, seven hearts, two clubs and a club ruff for a total of 12 tricks. The full deal: