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21 January 2012
Well Bid Slam from Nicko Match

The lead was the 9 ♦.


I held the South hand. On the second round I reversed (showing 5+ clubs,4+ hearts, 16+ points) and partner appreciated that her heart holding was ideal. Instead of settling for 3NT (as bid at the other table, where it became the final contract) she made a fourth-suit-forcing bid of 3♦. When I rebid 4♣( which suggests a 6-card suit) she checked on key cards (5♦ showed 0 or 3, clearly 3 here) before bidding the slam.


This is an excellent contract, effectively requiring either trumps to play for no loser or a successful diamond finesse. This latter possibility virtually disappeared after the opening lead, but since defenders have been known to make sneaky leads against a slam I tried ♦J from dummy at trick one. East won this and returned a spade, but after winning this spade switch two top clubs removed the defenders trumps. Now one heart could be ruffed with dummy’s last trump and the other discarded on a winning diamond.


The interesting feature of this hand is that, if an inferior 6NT slam is reached then this can always be made on the actual lie of the cards, even if played from the South hand.


Suppose (against 6NT by South) West leads a spade. South wins with ♠A, but now if he finesses in diamonds the contract is dead. Instead, South cashes six clubs, watching the discards carefully.


East has to find four discards. If he throws more than one heart declarer can make four tricks in the suit (♥A then a finesse of his ♥10) which, with one spade, one diamond and six club tricks would be enough. Neither can East discard more than one diamond, else his ♦K falls under the ♦A. Therefore East, who can afford only one heart and one diamond discard, has to discard both of his remaining spades.


The position after trick seven (with South, having won the first seven tricks with ♠A and six clubs, to play) is as follows:


♠ J

                                      ♥A 2

                                      ♦A Q J

                                        -

♠ Q 10                                                          -

♥ 8 4                                                           ♥Q 9 7 6

♦ 9 8                                                           ♦K 10

 -                                                               -

                                        -

                                      ♥K J 10 3

                                      ♦5 4

                                        -


Assuming that South reads the position correctly, he can now play a heart to dummy’s ♥A and take a winning finesse of his ♥10. Now he plays ♦A and another diamond, and when East wins this trick he has to lead a heart – declarer finesses ♥J and takes the last two tricks in the suit.

This is a good no trump slam on any lead except a spade, so perhaps at duplicate pairs it is worth a shot. However, in a teams-of-four match I was happy to be in the much better club slam, which was worth a swing of 12 IMPs to our team.


Sadly there was no happy ending on this occasion, as Nailsea lost an extremely close match by just 5 IMPs. Oh well, perhaps next year …


Bob Baker