Dealer South. Love All

                                    ♠          J

                                    ♥          K Q J 9 8 6 4

                                    ♦          A 3

                                    ♣         9 6 4

            ♠          K Q 10 9 7 4                          ♠          3 2

            ♥          2                                              ♥          —

            ♦          8 2                                           ♦          K J 10 9 7 6 5 4

            ♣         K J 3 2                                    ♣         8 7 5

                                    ♠          A 8 6 5

                                    ♥          A 10 7 5 3

                                    ♦          Q

                                    ♣         A Q 10

This hand comes from the Eilat Bridge holiday 2015 and features a 12 card fit, a splinter and an elimination. There could have been a lot more problems in getting to the slam if East West had been more obstreperous in their bidding.

3ª was a splinter agreeing Spades promising 10-12 points,  and once North was unable to  offer any Kings, South settled for the small slam.

  After the Spade lead declarer should assess his prospects. He has 7 trump and 3 further Aces so he needs just one. Can he succeed even if the KJ of Clubs sits over his AQ.

He can do so if he embarks on an Elimination whereby he eliminates the red suits from both hands and takes out the trump from the opponent’s hand (so that that opponent will not have a safe exit card)

With this in mind he should win the first trick and immediately ruff a Spade. He the plays a Diamond  and ruffs a Diamond (Diamonds at this point have been eliminated from both hands). He now ruffs a second Spade before entering his hand with a trump (trump is now drawn) He now ruffs his last spade in dummy (At this point Spades have now been eliminated from both hands.

He can now safely finesse the 10 or Queen of clubs and despite West, having both the King and Jack, he is well and truly ENDPLAYED. He either has to play back into the jaws of the remaining club Tenace or give away a ruff and discard in the red suits..

Declarer will eventually make 7 trumps 3 Aces and 2 clubs

You can also watch the following movie to see how the hand pans out. To view this programme you will need  to download htttp://www.haroldschogger.com/bridgevu.setup

  alternatively watch the film www.haroldschogger.com/movies2.htm

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