North had poor distribution for a takeout double, but his extra high cards made it the right call. South’s jump response was routine and so was North’s jump to game.
South won the opening heart lead with the ace and ran the nine of spades. He was disappointed when East won this with the king and shifted to the nine of diamonds. West’s opening bid meant there was no chance that East held any of the other missing high cards, so South went up with his king of diamonds. He led a club to the queen, cashed the ace of clubs, and ruffed a club with the jack of spades as West discarded a heart.
Declarer led a trump to dummy’s ace and cashed the queen of spades, drawing the outstanding trumps. West was known to have started with three spades, five hearts for his opening bid, and two clubs — therefore three diamonds. Declarer cashed dummy’s last trump, shedding a heart from his hand as West also discarded a heart. South exited with a heart from dummy to West. West could cash another heart, but then had to lead a diamond away from his queen and South took the last two tricks to bring home his contract. Nicely played!
