North would have made a control bid in spades if he could, so his jump to five diamonds must have been based on good trumps plus something in clubs. What else could he have? At least that is what South was thinking when he bid the grand slam.
South ruffed the opening spade lead and drew trumps in three rounds. He then cashed the ace of clubs and led a club to dummy’s queen. He only had one trump left in dummy, so he could not ruff both a club and a heart and he drifted down one. South did run into some bad luck, but he should have done better. Can you spot how?
Declarer should not have been in such a rush to start on clubs. What would it hurt to cash the ace and king of hearts and ruff a heart first? It would have given him a complete count on the hand. West would be known to have started with exactly two hearts and one diamond to go with his presumed six-card spade suit. West had to have four clubs! South could then cash the ace of clubs and confidently lead a club to dummy’s 10, bringing home his grand slam. Not so hard, was it?
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