IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

Bidding a grand slam with only twelve tricks in sight is usually not sound bridge but this declarer was up to the task.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)
Hand #43
Dlr   E
Vul N/S
S QJ109653
H A10
D KJ2
C 8
S 742
H K8
D 10865
C 10972
    
S 8
H 97632
D Q74
C Q643

S AK
H QJ54
D A93
C AKJ5
West North
 East
 South


Pass
 2NT
   Pass
   4H*    Pass
     4S
   Pass
    4NT
    Pass
     5C
   Pass
    5NT
    Pass
     6C
   Pass
    7S    Pass
    Pass 
   Pass
       

                                                                        *Texas Transfer 
BIDDING:  South's 2NT opening bid showed 20-22 high card points so North was immediately interested in slam.  He transferred to spades and then used Roman Keycard Blackwood (4 aces + trump king).  South admitted to four keycards and when North next asked about kings, South showed the king of clubs.  North could now count twelve tricks and was confident that his partner could find another so he bid the grand slam.

PLAY:  Not wanting to give away a trick, West led a low trump.  Declarer did indeed have only twelve tricks: 7 spades, 1 heart, 2 diamonds, and 2 clubs.  Each suit but spades offered a finesse for the extra trick but declarer was reluctant to guess which finesse to choose so declarer decided to combine his chances.  After winning the spade in his hand, he played a second round and then tempted West by leading the queen of hearts.  West played low without a hitch so declarer won with dummy's ace.  Next he drew the last trump followed by three rounds of clubs discarding the diamond jack on the second one and ruffing the third one in dummy.  The queen did not appear so that left the diamond finesse or a squeeze.  Still not wanting to rely on a finesse, he ran the rest of his trumps.  When the last trump was played from dummy, here was the ending:

                                                   S3 H10  DK2
                                   HK                                     DQ74                               
                                   D1086                                CQ
                                                     DA93  CJ
East had to keep the queen of clubs so he released a diamond.  Declarer discarded his jack of clubs and now West was under the gun.  He had to keep his king of hearts so he too discarded a diamond.  The double squeeze worked and declarer's thirteenth trick was the nine of diamonds.  Note the diamond threat needed to be in declarer's hand for the squeeze to work.

Copyright ©2009 Larry Matheny