Open 1NT showing 17-19 HCP partner bids 4H - All Pass
Acol Bidding
Open 1C your - partner responds 1H - you jump to 2NT showing 17-19 HCP partner bids 6H - All Pass
Plan Before You Play
Dummy goes down and you count your losers - 1 in spades 1 in hearts 1 in diamonds and 0 in clubs. You are going to have to eliminate 2 of those losers to make your contract. Finessing West for the QH and East for the KD. A spade finesse won't help you in this situation because you don't have the JS 10S to promote if you use QS and AS on one trick. Best to avoid leading spades leave it for the opposition to lead.
The Play
Aha the opposition have lead spades your difficult suit - lets hope they are underleading the KS play low and then win with the QS. Lead out the QD and cover the KD with AD. Lead a low trump and cover the QH with AH, draw trumps and lead a low diamond. Play aS and AC and KC discarding a spade and a low diamond, lead a low diamond to the 10D and the last three trumps are yours
Comment
Although it feels dangerous to need all these finesses to work - face it! if they don't you will go light despite your combined 35 Total Points. Sometimes having enough points doesn't assure you of making a slam
The above commentary is intended as a guideline only. As with any Bridge hand there are many ways to bid and play any hand.
