Paul Mendelson’s bridge column

Rose Theatre, 24-26 High Street, Kingston Tel: 020 8546 6983

Fratelli Delicatessen, 55-57 Park Road, Kingston Tel: 020 8549 8021

U.R.Beautiful, 1st Floor, Boots, 42 Union Street, Kingston Tel: 020 8247 0386

Roz ana, 4-8 Kingston Hill, Kingston Tel: 020 8546 6388

The French Tarte, 45 High St, Teddington Tel: 020 8977 6063

Normansfield Theatre, Langdon Down Centre, 2A Langdon Park, Teddington

‘I haven’t bid a Grand Slam in thirty years’, the mother of one of my friends announced when she joined one of my classes recently. However, with a bit of prompting, she was soon declaring 7 ♥ on a prepared hand…

West S AJ105 H 94 D QJ109 C J42

North S Q8742 H 73 D AK63 C 105

South S - H AKQJ865 D 42 C AKQ7 East S K653 H 102 D 875 C 9863 ♥

Organically, 97 High St, Teddington Tel: 020 8977 0421

The French Tarte, 83 Maple Road, Surbiton Tel: 020 8399 112

Pickled Pantry, St Mark's Hill, Surbiton Tel: 020 8399 4694 The Glasshouse, 14 Coombe Road, New Malden Tel: 020 8942 4650

The Place, 58 High Street, New Malden Tel: 0208 241 6591

One Paved Court, 1 Paved Court, Richmond, TW9 1LZ onepavedcourt.co.uk | Tel: 020 8408 2139

bhuti, 50 Hill Rise, Richmond, TW10 6UB Tel: 0330 400 3108

Esquires Coffee, 37-39 King Street Parade, Twickenham, TW1 3SG. Tel: 020 8744 0353

Harris + Hoole, 24 King St, Twickenham, TW1 3SN Tel: 020 8891 3212

Harris + Hoole, 135 St. Margarets Rd, St Margarets, TW1 1RG Tel: 020 8891 6541

Richmond Theatre, Little Green, Richmond, TW9 1QJ atgtickets.com/venues/richmond-theatre

Dealer South E/W Game N E S W - - 2C NB 2D NB 3H NB 4D NB 5C NB 5D NB 7H

Holding ten almost certain tricks, South opened the strongest possible bid, 2♣. North responded with 2♦ which, in the old days, was a negative, but is now more often played as a relay, denying a high quality 5-card suit. The key bid in the auction is the opener’s re-bid. If a 2♣ opener jumps in her suit, it says that this will be the trump suit whether partner likes it or not! 3 ♥ set the suit as hearts.

All partner must do is to cue-bid any ace she holds in her hand. Hence, North’s 4 ♦ bid showed A♦ and South’s 5♣ bid showed A♣. North felt that her K♦ must be useful, so she cue-bid diamonds again, indicating K♦. That was enough to persuade South to bid the Grand Slam.

Not expecting it to hold the trick, West led A ♠. Sure enough, South trumped this and then made the crucial play. Realising that the fourth round of clubs was a loser, she laid down the A♣ and K♣ and trumped 7♣ in dummy with 10 ♥ . Then, and only then, did she pull trumps and make the best contract of all.