North-South vulnerable. South deals.
NORTH
S-A
H-Q J 10 6
D-K 7 6 3
C-A 10 7 5
WEST EAST
S-J 6 5 3 2 S-K Q 10 9 4
H-2 H-8 5 3
D-Q J 10 5 D-A 9 4 2
C-Q 8 6 C-3
SOUTH
S-8 7
H-A K 9 7 4
D-8
C-K J 9 4 2
The bidding:
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
1H Pass 2NT Pass
4C Pass 4NT Pass
5H Pass 6H Pass
Pass Pass
Opening lead: Queen of D
On some hands you can obtain a complete count of the distribution; on others, only a partial count is available and you then have to infer how the cards lie. Here’s a case in point.
North’s two no trump was a forcing raise in hearts, and South’s jump showed a good second five-card suit. Key-card Blackwood, in which the king of trumps counts as a fifth ace, revealed one key-card missing, and North settled on a small slam.
West led the queen of diamonds and continued the suit. Most declarers simply resorted to divining the club situation, but they could have done better.
After ruffing the second diamond, declarer crossed to dummy with a trump and ruffed a diamond high, then returned to the table with a trump as West discarded a spade. The last diamond was ruffed with South’s last trump. Declarer crossed to the table with the ace of spades to draw the last trump, West parting with another spade.
At this stage in the proceedings declarer had discovered that West had started with five red cards, hence eight black cards. That already suggested that West held more clubs than East. Backing this supposition was the fact that if West held seven spades, he likely would have entered the auction. So declarer crossed to the king of clubs and returned a club, finessing the ten when West produced the eight. Making six-odd.
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