This one was sent to me by a regular correspondent, who was justifiably proud of the fact that their partnership bid to the excellent 7H grand slam. Really, it should not have been difficult for most pairs, yet even 6H was a rare occurrence. One pair across all of X-Clubs did bid to 7NT and scored an undeserved 100% when West kindly discarded a heart on the run of South’s diamonds after a club lead, but let’s talk about how to arrive at the small slam in hearts at least.
Board 16 from Friday 22/11/24
Dealer W EW Vul
What should be North’s call when West, as dealer, passes? I would open either 1H or 3H and both should inevitably lead to a conservative 6H or a quite realistic 7H, because South should be able to see the huge value of the diamond suit in a heart slam. However the bidding goes, be it after a weak 2H or 3H (because a weak 2H at green vs red is far too strong given North’s hand), all that is necessary for NS is to have Roman Key card as part of their bidding repertoire. When North shows a six card heart suit headed by the KQ plus the ace of clubs ( two key cards plus the queen of trumps) , surely South would be very mean not to give North the pleasure and challenge of playing and making a grand slam.
Note that, once more, the greedy No Trump slam fails on a club lead as long as West appreciates the importance of the heart suit, which should be easy enough once declarer starts running off all the diamonds.
JT5
KQ9532
76
A5