-	'Their System, Your Advantage'

At Love All and West dealer, East opened  with 1 after two passes. South now had a small problem with the  hand given. He could double for takeout, overcall one notrump or pass. Passing would perhaps be the most sensible action, but in this particular case things were a little different. It had everything to do with the E-W system: strong club with canapé. The 1-opening could be made with zero diamonds and it denied a four-card or longer major. This drastically increased the odds of East holding long clubs. Bearing that in mind, South had a much better case for overcalling 1NT, and that's what he did. A few seconds later he found himself in game after his partner had raised to 3NT. Not unexpectedly, West led a club, the 8 to be precise:
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- W/none K Q 10 9  Q 10 5 Q 10 8 10 9 4 e A 7 2  9 8 2  A 4 3  A K 7 2

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Dummy's ten was covered with the Jack and South won the trick. The club suit would already provide an extra trick now, but there was still some work to do. It looked quite safe to attack hearts first. The worst that could happen was that East possessed Ace-Jack or King-Jack third, allowing the defence to cash four heart tricks right away. However, East might already be in trouble on the fourth round of hearts.

At trick two declarer led a heart from his hand. West rose with the King and continued with the 6. Declarer played low from dummy (East might have had Queen-Jack doubleton), East followed with the three and South won the seven. Another heart was lead from hand. East won dummy's ten with the Ace and returned the J for South's King; West discarded a spade. South now led a spade to the King, cashed the Q, and crossed to the Ace of spades as East discarded a diamond. This was now the position:
 

- W/none Q 10  - Q10 8 - e 7  -  A 4 3  2

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The rest was merely technique. East was thrown in with the 2 and had to lead away from his K. The marked finesse in spades eventually led to ten tricks and a top for N-S. The full deal was:
 

- W/none K Q 10 9  Q 10 5 Q10 8 10 9 4 J 6 5 4 3  K J 4 3 9 2 8 6 8  A 7 6 K J 7 6 5 Q J 5 3 e A 7 2  9 8 2  A 4 3  A K 7 2

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Professor IMP's final comment was: "Ten tricks meant an excellent result, of course, but reaching the agressive game contract was already good for an eighty percent score."