Charles Victor Cherbuliez, a 19th-century French novelist, said, “What helps luck is a habit of watching for opportunities, of having a patient, but restless mind, of sacrificing one’s ease or vanity, of uniting a love of detail to foresight, and of passing through hard times bravely and cheerfully.”

Some bridge players are thought to be lucky, but the more you practice, especially with a partner, the “luckier” you will be.

Let’s see how lucky you can be on this deal. Take the East cards. Your partner leads the spade king against six hearts. With which card would you signal?

South’s opening bid promised a good eight-card suit and some 6-10 points, but he might have had a stronger hand if willing to gamble that a slam was unmakable and that he wanted to try to silence the opponents. Here, of course, he found partner with a very strong hand. North used Blackwood before bidding six hearts.

You should see how the contract can be defeated. Two rounds of spades, forcing declarer to ruff in the dummy, will leave him unable to pick up your trump king.

However, if you try to encourage with your spade 10, partner might think that that is a suit-preference signal, indicating that you have a diamond void.

True, if you had had a void, you would have made a Lightner Slam Double to ask for an unusual lead. But you do not need to rely on partner. Overtake the spade king with your ace and return a spade.

When you see the killing defense, take control.