W
Partner
♠
AJ
♥
Kx
♦
AJ
♣
KQ10xxxx
Lead: ♠K
E
Me
♠
xx
♥
AJ109xx
♦
Q10x
♣
Ax
W
Partner
N
North
E
Me
S
South
1♣1
Pass
1♥2
Pass
2♣3
Pass
2♥4
Pass
3♥5
Pass
4♣6
Pass
4♦7
Pass
4NT8
Pass
5♣9
Pass
6♥
All Pass
(1) 16+ points, artificial
(2) 4+ hearts, 8+ points
(3) 5+ clubs
(4) 6+ hearts
(5) 2-3 hearts, extras
(6) club control, denies spade control
(7) have spade control and a diamond control
(8) RKC for hearts
(9) 3 keycards
What do you think of the bidding? Partner has taken an extremely rosy view of his cards twice -- once with his 3H bid and the second time by cue-bidding diamonds after knowing we are off the king of spades.
The bad guys lead the King of Spades (of course) and now, can you justify partner's confidence? What would be your plan?
At the table, I decided that if the heart finesse worked and clubs were not 4-0, the slam would make. So, I took the Ace of spades, King of hearts and hooked the jack of hearts. Alas, it was not to be. South took his queen of hearts and the queen of spades. Down 1.
As my Jack of hearts hit the table, I realized that I had messed up. There is a better line. Let's assume clubs are not 4-0. Then, the heart finesse is a 50% chance. A better line is to play two rounds of hearts. Maybe South started with a doubleton queen and it drops. Then, I can pull trumps and discard my spade and diamond losers on dummy's clubs. Alternately, perhaps the queen doesn't drop. As long as the person with the third heart also has 2 or more clubs, I can still throw away my losing spade. The combined chances for a doubleton queen of hearts, 2-2 clubs, or 3-1 clubs with the person with the queen of hearts also having the third club are together more than 50%. Surely.
Looking at the hand records after the game, we found that no one had bid the slam. So, by not taking all my chances, I had exchanged a clear top for a clear bottom.
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