My choice for September's Hand of the Month comes from the Teams event on Thursday 29th.  It was Board 8, a hand that our team did not play.

West would open 1H to which East should respond 1S.  What excellent news for West!  However, South might want to jam the works by bidding 2 or 3 diamonds.  That should not deter West, who has an ideal hand for a splinter bid.  It agrees partner's suit, showing a good 4 card fit (good enough for at least game, possibly more) and a singleton (not the ace or king) or void in the suit bid.  So, here West would bid 4D.  As this is a bid above the level of 3NT and it is not on the first round of bidding it is not alertable.  East has a very suitable hand to proceed towards a slam, with a good side-suit heart fit, no wasted values in diamonds and first round club control.  This seems a good time to use Roman Key card Blackwood (RKCB) 4NT to check on key cards.  West responds 5S, showing two key cards plus the queen of trumps (spades).  The key cards must be the ace of spades and ace of hearts, since East holds ace of clubs and king of trumps and West would not have bid the 4D splinter with the singleton ace of diamonds.  Now East should bid 6S, which can only be made with East as declarer.

Why can't West make it?  Remember the Lightner double from a previous Hand of the Month?  Here, South has a heart void, so what does he do if West is playing the hand in 6 spades?  He doubles for an unusual lead (normally a suit bid by the opposition).  So, North could lead a heart for South to ruff before cashing a top diamond.

A third point arising from this hand is that East needs to be extremely careful in the play.  It is probable that South will start with two rounds of top diamonds, forcing declarer to ruff the second one in dummy.  If declarer now draws trumps in three rounds, there will be no remaining entries to dummy apart from in hearts.  In order to dispose of three club losers from his own hand, declarer needs to set the hearts up without having to ruff one.  The only winning line would be to lead a heart from dummy and take a first round finesse against the jack.  Why should he do that?  There is no indication of a 4-0 adverse break.  So, in all probability the contract will fail.  However, there is a reasonable winning line.

After ruffing the second top diamond, how about drawing two rounds of trumps only with ace and king, leaving the queen of trumps in dummy as a possible entry.  Then cash a top heart (ace or queen) in dummy to see if the suit is breaking reasonably (2-2 or 3-1 will do).  A 4-0 break with North void is very unlikely.  Why?  North did not use a Lightner double, which he should have done if void in hearts.  If South has the void, then declarer would go down anyway if South had the last trump.  However, as it happens, South shows out on the first round of hearts, but does not ruff.  So, another heart can be played to finesse against the jack.  Then cash the third winning heart in hand before crossing to dummy with a trump to the queen before running the hearts and throwing the three losing clubs.

It is a good slam, although the extreme heart break makes it unlikely to succeed.  However, on most distributions it would make with comfort, so you should go for it.

Several points arise from this fascinating hand:

1. The importance of a 4-4 trump fit, especially when accompanied by a good long side suit.

2. The value of splinter bids.

3. When to use RKCB.

4. Use of the Lightner double.

5. Preservation of entries.

6. Care with dealing with adverse breaks.

Did anyone bid it?  No, not this time.