“My partner and I had a bidding mishap,” a club player said, showing me today’s deal. “I opened one diamond, he responded one heart and I jump-shifted to two spades.”

“Looks fine so far,” I said. “You had no choice but to open with a one-bid.”

“The trouble started when he raised me to four spades,” I was told. “I thought he had a better hand to jump, so I bid six spades; he thought he’d said we should play at game and no higher.”

My friend’s partner applied the “Principle of Fast Arrival,” the idea that the faster a contract is reached, the weaker the hand that places the contract. With a stronger hand, you’re supposed to go slow, saving space for leisurely investigation. It’s an approach not every expert embraces. “Fast Arrival” may arrive in the wrong contract, and a jump may be appropriate to emphasize a crucial feature.

I asked whether South had made his slam.

“I took the K-A of clubs,” he said, “and ruffed a club in dummy. Next I cashed the Q-A of trumps and tried to ruff my fourth club. East had the missing jack of trumps; he overruffed and cashed a heart. I think we got too high.”

The contract was aggressive but makeable. Declarer wins the first club with the ace, preserving a dummy entry, and leads a heart. If East returns a diamond, South wins in dummy, ruffs a heart, goes to the king of clubs and ruffs a heart.

South then takes the A-K of trumps. He ruffs a club in dummy, draws the missing trump with the queen and wins the last three tricks with high diamonds.

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