Lionel Suggs, an author, said, “I never assume anything. I anticipate the possibilities and allow my imagination to create the future.”

In bridge, we sometimes have to make assumptions, but first we should anticipate the possibilities and imagine the future.

In today’s deal, it takes great anticipation to make the small slam in hearts after West leads the spade queen to dummy’s ace. Can you see what declarer should do?

The bidding was aggressive, reaching a so-so slam. After South’s three-heart rebid, North loved his three aces and jumped to what he hoped his partner could make. (In the real world, most pairs would stop in four hearts and usually be glad that they did.)

The logical-looking line is to play a diamond to hand, then to take the heart finesse. There is good news: the finesse wins; but there is bad news: West is still going to get a trump trick. And how does declarer also avoid a club loser (unless he gets mega-lucky and finds the king to be a singleton)?

There is only one way not to lose a club trick: find West with that king and put him on play when he has only clubs left. This requires removing all of the other cards from his hand. And South must start that process immediately by ruffing a spade at trick two. He runs the heart queen, plays a heart to the ace, ruffs the remaining spade, and cashes his diamond winners. Finally, declarer leads a trump, hoping that West started with exactly 3-3-3-4 or 3-3-2-5 distribution and the club king.

United Feature Syndicate