SPURN THE FINESSE

North had a nice hand, but he had no action over West’s opening two-heart bid. He came to life when South balanced with three diamonds. North’s hand became huge as a supporting hand for diamonds and he bid it aggressively. South had a bit more than he might have had for his balancing action and he also showed some signs of life. The resulting slam contract was not the best, but it had play. This deal is from an online competition earlier this year. Most declarers, in a diamond contract, were able to take 12 tricks with the aid of a successful spade finesse. One declarer, Tomas Karlsson of Sweden, showed that it was possible to take 12 tricks without a finesse. Karlsson won the opening heart lead with dummy’s ace and led a club to his ace. A club ruff was followed by a diamond to the ace, dropping West’s king. South ruffed another club in dummy and ruffed a heart in his hand, East playing the king. South’s last club was ruffed with dummy’s last trump and declarer crossed back to his hand with a heart ruff. A diamond exit put East on lead with the queen and he only had spades remaining. East was forced to lead a spade into dummy’s ace-queen and there were 12 tricks regardless of who held the king of spades. Nicely played!