JOHNNY SUPREMO SHOWS HIS CLASS......

Every so often a hand comes along where only class defenders have the opportunity to shine.

Johnny had been dealt Qxx....x.....QJxxx.....Jxxx,  and in no time at all declarer, raced away in the bidding to reach 6H ,  with little or no help from partner. 

Johnny correctly led a small heart and dummy appeared with xxx....xxx.....Axxx....xxx , a hand which didn't seem to please declarer despite the presence of an Ace.

In a flash declarer rattled off seven top hearts . What was Johnny to throw ?  Does declarer have a diamond in his hand. Gut instinct said " no " and so all  five diamonds were  hurriedly pitched away. Thankfully, his partner also saw the looming threat of being thrown in to lead a diamond into dummy's Ace........and so he too started to discard the suit at a rate of knots.

Declarer was stumped. His remaining six cards AKx ... AKx.....in the two black suits inevitably surrendered two tricks. One to Johnny's spade queen ,  and the other to his partner's  queen of clubs. 

On the score sheet slams were being made all around the room ,  simply because either a diamond had been led at the start , or later on when declarer successfully engineered a partial elimination in one of the black suits ........only to throw the hapless defender in with his winner in the other ,  thereby securing that all important diamond return.