So much for lateral thinking. I have always been of the opinion that bridge is not a game just about learning a set of rules and methods but also a game where imagination and lateral thinking is required.
When I was dealt this hand in a friendly teams match, I was waiting for the bidding to come round to me (partner was dealer) when partner opened 1S! That immediately suggested that, as long as partner had two aces, we should be in slam, but a grand slam might be there as well, after all I had eight sure tricks in my own hand. I recognised that the crucial factor in any slam would be the HEART suit. How could I ever find out whether partner had the king of hearts, and if not, how many hearts could she have? There was little point in bidding 2C since I anticipated a diamond rebid, so my lateral thinking told me: bid 2H and at least you will find out what partner has in that suit, because partner would support hearts with at least three hearts. Like everyone else, we play a response of 2H over 1S to show a 5+ card suit and therefore expect a raise with three or more. No heart support and I would just settle for 6C. Great lateral thinking, huh? Well, partner raised to 3H and I now bid 4NT, Roman Key Card. Partner responded 5C (0 or 3 key cards). Ignoring the possibilty of none, I knew that partner had two aces and the king of hearts! Wonderful, but I decided to opt for the safer grand slam and bid 7C. But partner, understandably, was not used to such jump shifts at the seven level, and returned to 7H. East passed and I corrected to 7NT since the only possible loser was in hearts if they failed to break. After two passes, East doubled, I thought for a spade lead. West also thought it called for a spade lead and led the nine. This was the full deal:
I will leave you to play it out ... suffice to say that poor East had far too GOOD a hand to defeat 7NT. No, I was never going to finesse East for the jack and ten of hearts but a very rare three suit squeeze worked the miracle. There would have been extra chances in 7C but 7NT was much more fun.
4
AQ92
J
AKQJT83