We can now look at the possible scenario when slam has been reached. Which slam is best? I suggest that if the bidding is accurate and truly reflective of the combined hands, it should be 6NT. East would probably have used Key Card and West shown one key card in spades. Despite East knowing that West has a very long and almost self sufficient spade suit, East will know that West’s spades are missing the ace or king. Therefore the most likely problem in a 6S slam will be in spades, and East’s hand is so good that if the spades ‘behave’ there will be no problem, but if the spades break badly and can not be set up without losing two, then 6NT might still make. I would normally argue that with a spade suit like West's, the slam should be played in spades not No Trumps, but this one is an exception and in fact that is what I, as East, decided on.
Board 24 from Thursday 9/08/24
Dlr West Nil Vul
Against East in 6NT, South has a horrible hand to lead from. South in fact chose a low diamond and when this ran to the eight, 6NT was sure to make. A spade finesse to the jack held and declarer had to make absolutely certain now that the slam was made. Laying down the ace of spades would have scored all the spade suit but would be disastrous if West had started with four spades, so declarer called for the jack of clubs, finessing when North played low. That ensured twelve tricks at the expense of an overtrick. I’m pleased to see that there were one or two across X-Clubs who also gave up the possibility of an overtrick in order to ensure that the small slam made. Those who made 7NT, a top board but no credit for best declarer play. Only Deep Finesse is allowed to play badly and score top boards.
Worse was to come for some hapless declarers who played this in 6S and received a diamond lead also, but of course the singleton from North. Sloppy declarer play followed in some cases, when declarer was tempted to play low and then, seeing no immediate entry to dummy, played the trumps from the top to avoid the possible diamond ruff. South won the king and led a second diamond which North was still able to ruff. Best play, if declarer diagnoses the singleton diamond lead (which is a much more attractive lead against 6S than a low one from length), is to rise with dummy’s ace and take the spade finesse. If it loses, only a club switch will give declarer a problem. But of course the spade finesse is successful and when the ace fells the king, declarer makes seven. No, there were no punters in a grand slam, so such ambition was never rewarded. And we should note that there is only one sensible way to play 7S if you’ve bid the grand slam. Sometimes it’s much easier to make a grand slam than a small one.
T43
T8762
2
8632