Can you guess what contract was reached?

West, who has a 6-card suit of hearts, starts the bidding. East has a solid suit of six diamonds, which count for six tricks and 3-card support for hearts. East also has a singleton spade, which might encourage East to bid quite high – if West/East could secure the contract and North/South start by leading spades two times, West could regain the lead, pull the trumps and run the diamonds.

North holds seven clubs starting with the ♣A and has a singleton diamond. South has 16 HCP, an 8-card suit of spades and two singletons – hearts and clubs. Together North/South hold 10 spades and 8 clubs, but finding an entry point to North`s hand might pose a problem. Will North support South with only two spades? How high will South bid with three diamond losers?

Dealer: West

Vul: both

West started with a preemptive 2♥, North passed and East raised to 3♥. South bid 4♠. West went to 5♥. North guessed that South`s opening bid of 4♠ meant South had enough spades for both of them. As North had a stopper in clubs and a singleton diamond, North decided to declare 6♠. This became the final contract.

West led the ♥K. South won the trick with the ♥A and led the ♠A (tricks 1, 2). Both opponents followed suit. South led the ♣Q next, which held (trick 3). Now the declarer had to find an entry point to dummy`s hand.

As dummy had the ♠8, South found an entry by leading the ♠5 to dummy`s ♠8 (trick 4), West played the last trump and East discarded a small club. Now the declarer could hope that the ♣K will drop. South led the ♣A from dummy`s hand discarding one of his diamonds, West`s ♣K dropped and all dummy`s clubs were winners (trick 5). The declarer took two tricks with clubs discarding the last diamonds from hand (tricks 6, 7) and claimed the last six tricks with spades.

Nothing could stop South from taking all 13 tricks after West led hearts. Of course defense could have scored one trick if West had led diamonds, but West had no way to know East had the ♦A. If West had led a diamond to East`s Ace (trick 1), East would probably have returned a heart, so South could have regained the lead with the ♥A (trick 2). Next South could have ruffed the two remaining diamonds in to dummy (tricks 3, 4), cashed in the ♣A (trick 5) and claimed all the rest of tricks with spades.

North/South had a slam, but finding that slam during the auction was not easy, as the points were divided quite evenly and the auction was competitive.

The par contract on this deal is 7♥ Dbl by West -5. How can North and South collect 5 tricks?

North starts by leading a spade to South`s Ace (trick 1). South has to make a switch to clubs – lead the ♣Q. If West covers, North`s Ace wins the trick (trick 2). Now North can cash in the ♣J (trick 3) and if North leads his singleton diamond next, the declarer will win this trick with dummy`s ♦A (trick 4). If West leads hearts from dummy now, South`s ♥A wins a trick (trick 5) and South´ s diamond lead will give North a chance to ruff while both East and West have diamonds (trick 6).

Analysis:

Par Contract Analysis:

The par contract on this deal is 7♥ Dbl by West -5.

Bridge Baron deal No : N2347-56626-80455-88445-54371-55542