North 10 8 7 Q 6 5 K 9 6 3 Q 10 6 West 9 5 4 J 7 2 Q 10 7 4 J 9 7 East Q 3 2 9 4 A 2 A K 5 4 3 2 South A K J 6 A K 10 8 3 J 8 5 8 The bidding: West North East South 1 1 3 6 West led the 2

Many visitors to this website ask me to partner them at Internet Spades sites. I always politely decline. Here's an example.

Both West and North had those miserable types of hands that may not take a single trick but are nonetheless unsuitable for nil. East made a mild underbid of three, and I, according to my quaint bidding theories, upped my normal five-bid to six to bring the total to 11.

The two of hearts went to my ten, and I followed with the ace and king of hearts, East ruffing the third round. East took his two aces and tried to cash the king of clubs, but I ruffed. Now came the ace and king of spades, dropping the queen, to leave these cards:

North 10 -- K 9 6 Q West 9 -- Q 10 7 J East -- -- 2 5 4 3 2 South J 8 3 J 8 --

I could envision several holdings for North that would ensure a set, such as Pard holding both outstanding spades, and also the hand he actually held. Catering to both possibilities, I led the good eight of hearts. On this trick, West dropped the jack of clubs, and North threw the queen! On the last heart, North played the king of diamonds!

Thanks to North's 'help,' West finally made his queen of diamonds to fulfill his side's bid. Despite Partner's efforts to avoid overtricks, I took both bags anyway to bring our total to 8 bags. As we started to bid the next hand, my anonymous partner gave me an earnest caution: "Watch the bags, Partner."