BRIDGE

"TOO clever by half!" muttered East after watching his opponents land a vulnerable grand slam. He was referring to his partner's opening lead which had proved costly in an unforeseen fashion.

North opened One Heart (though there was nothing wrong with Two No-trumps) and South responded One Spade. North attempted to catch up with a rebid of Three No-trumps and South, convinced that some slam or other should be on, jumped wildly to Six Clubs. Not to be outdone for wildness, North looked at his plethora of key cards and bid Seven Spades.

West chose the ten of hearts for his opening lead. His idea was that he might deter South from taking a winning heart finesse by forcing him to a decision in the suit. Matters did not work out as planned.

Declarer won on the table, discarding a diamond from hand and ruffed a heart. He drew two rounds of trumps with the ace and queen then, entering dummy with the ace and queen of clubs, trumped dummy's remaining hearts. Dummy was re-entered with the ace of diamonds and the king of spad-es drew the last trump while South's last losing diamond went away. It only remain-ed to overtake the jack of clubs with the king and declarer had the rest of the tricks.

It was a neat example of reverse dummy play - but try it without the benefit of a heart lead! Dummy is one entry short and the grand slam has to fail.