This is aHand:

Partner shows great enthusiasm on this deal.

How might you gently suggest that his enthusiasm is misplaced?

Bidding.

East Passes as dealer and we dredge up an opening bid of 1♠. Most players would do the same but it’s a tatty 12 points including a singleton Queen. If you choose to Pass this heap we wouldn’t argue with that judgment.

Anyway, partner responds 2NT and we realize he has four-card Spade support and at least an opening bid. What now?

Well, partner may have a minimum 12 points and have little slam ambition. On the other hand, he might have a very good hand and have been bitten by the slam bug.

If he has any slam thoughts we need to crush those ideas as soon as we can. To do that we jump to 4â™ , saying that we have junk and that we want to close down the auction.

North frowns, pauses, but gets the message. He Passes and 4â™  ends the auction.

Play.

West leads the ♦J and we see why North was reluctant to let matters go at the four- level. However, anything higher than 4♠ would be distinctly precarious.

Right, reflections on the bidding are over – it’s time to Count and Plan. What winners and losers are there?

Winners? Six Spades, one Diamond and two Clubs. Nine in all.

Losers? No Spades, an unknown number of Hearts – could even be three – no Diamonds and a possible Club.

Certainly we’d be very unlucky to go off here. We could draw trumps, play a Heart to the Jack, regain the lead, play a Heart to the King and – if all that failed – fall back on the Club finesse. We’d only fail if three critical cards lay with West – the ♥A, the ♥Q and the ♣Q.

However, the golden rule in this game is to take your umbrella on even the sunniest days. When there is a 100% line for the contract you must take it.

Here, we take the ♦A at trick one, cash the ♠A (drawing trumps in one round) and make the crucially important play of ruffing a Diamond. No, this play gains nothing per se – it is, after all, a ruff in the long hand. However, it eliminates Diamonds and prevents either opponent from leading the suit again.

Next we cross to dummy (we chose a trump – the ♣A would have done), and play a Heart to the Jack. That simple play ends the defenders’ interest in the deal. West takes his Queen but is powerless to defeat the contract. He is on lead with nothing good to do.

He tries his luck with a Club but that’s no good. We run that to the Jack, cash two more Clubs and try another Heart to the King. Had East started with the Ace we’d have scored an overtrick. As it is, East-West cash two Heart tricks but we have the rest.

4â™  making. Just.