Another Falling in Love with the Solid Suit!


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Q J 6 5
J 10 8 6
A Q 7 4 3
J 10 9 6 7 5 3
10 7 4 3 A K 9 8 2
9 7 4 K Q 5
K 5 9 2
A K Q 8 4 2
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A 3 2 Contract: spades at various levels, 6 clubs
J 10 8 6 Opening lead: 4 of hearts

I haven't entered an illustration in this category for many a moon, but judging from the heading on the previous example, this common bugbear of going for the solid suit reared its head again. (This was originally No. 29, so I was evidently referring to No. 28.) So I added an exclamation point. You have a grand slam in clubs, though to be sure, a very lucky one, a grand slam in the balanced minor, but declarers right and left fell in love with that spade suit, though perhaps not enough. The lowest 16 pairs in the listing, representing the 16 worst N-S scores, displayed one pair off one in 3 no, and 15 pairs in a spade partial!
I just recently wrote that with all the bidding doo-dads that don't indicate a truly biddable suit -- short club openings, Stayman, cue bids & Gerber -- it's not always easy to smoke out a balanced minor. But somehow it looks as though it shouldn't be difficult to smoke out this 9-card fit. North with 5 clubs can rebid the suit, and South, once bidding and rebidding his powerful spades, should be ready to defer to the fit. Those are powerful spades, alrighty. But they'll take tricks in a club contract. Indeed, the funny thing is, they'll work better in a club contract. 'Nuff said?
If my statement that spades work better in a club contract is unclear, I was referring to the fact that West's Jack-high four-card spade holding guarantees a loser in spades, whereas with an abundance of trump, in clubs, the fourth round can be ruffed. Either way that six-card suit will produce 5 winners. But in clubs, that's 5 winners without losing a spade trick.