Precision
By Andy Hung 

This deal will allow you to experience what it's like to have an accurate scientific auction followed by precision play that will land you your contract. It will feel as if you have "won" the board!

Be prepared also as there will be some work involved (work and success do come hand-in-hand).

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The bidding on this hand required a bit of science as it involved the all-ever purpose of the cue-bid. As South, after hearing two passes we open 1♣ and hear West overcall 1♠. Partner now bids 2♦ which indicates five-plus Diamonds and ten-plus points. Well, since partner is a passed hand, we can deduce that partner has about 10-11 points. What should we bid?

A 3♣ rebid here now would be non-forcing showing a minimum hand. It's what you would do with a hand such as ♠Qxx ♥AJx ♦x ♣KQ10xxx  or even a hand such as the one in the given deal but with the ♣K changed into a small Club.

Since we know we have enough points for game (we have 15 and partner has shown 10-11), we must try to find our game contract. With no major suit fit, logic tells us that we should next search for the nine-trick game of 3NT.

The problem with that is, we have no stopper in Spades! That's why we're introducing the 2â™  cue-bid here. The meaning of the cue-bid here is a difficult one to describe as it may contain many different hand types. The basic thinking here is, if you know you have enough values for game and you don't know what to bid (or you are stuck for a forcing bid), bid the opponent's suit! The cue-bid should of course promise a good hand.

How should partner respond to our 2â™  cue-bid here? As naturally as possible. Partner's first duty is to bid No-trumps with a stopper in the cue-bid suit (Spades) as quite often we will be looking for a Spade stopper for a 3NT contract.

Here, North does not have a Spade stopper so the next "most natural" bid that North can make is 3♣. Since this bid is quite likely denying a Spade stopper, we can now forget about 3NT and jump to our next game contract, and that is 5♣. Whew, now that was quite an auction!

Against our 5♣, West leads three rounds of Spades as we ruff the third. With no side-suit losers in sight (our third Heart can be discarded on dummy's Diamond winners), we must take care in how we handle the trumps.

To handle this suit combination correctly, you must first cash a top Club from your hand. If Clubs are 3-1, it doesn't matter how we play the Clubs but if Clubs are 4-0, cashing a top Club from your hand caters to both 4-0 and 0-4 breaks.

If East has all four Clubs (thus West will show out), you will then cross to the ♣Q and finesse on the way back. If West has all four Clubs (as on this deal), East will show out and you can then run the ♣10 to take the marked finesse. If West refuses to cover with the ♣J, you simply then unblock the ♣Q and cross back to your hand to draw out the last trump. 

Good accurate bidding and play on this deal will see you home as you land in the right contract (after searching for a potential 3NT first) and make it to the finishing line by making eleven tricks!