Slams 05

Thursday last was a session for slams, but surprisingly this one escaped most NS pairs.

Board 19 from Thursday 28/11/24
Dealer S EW Vul

	A7 AQ KQJ92 Q942
QT2 K73 63 KJT83		9854 J65 T854 65
	KJ63 T9842 A7 A7

When I looked at the results on this board, only one pair had bid a slam, 6NT by North. And all the others had played in 3NT. 6D would seem to have better chances, but the pair that had bid 6NT had also been the only ones to make the slam, whereas those in 3NT had all made only eleven tricks. When I congratulated the pair in question, I was surprised when South was very complimentary on North’s play, saying that both the missing kings were with West and both of declarer’s queens were winners.

But just count the tricks: five diamonds, two spades, two clubs and two hearts. That adds up to eleven, so declarer must have taken the twelfth either from an unlikely squeeze or poor discarding by the opponents. Seeing all the cards, Deep Finesse will easily make 6NT without the need for both the kings to be with West, just the king of hearts, though admittedly the heart suit also needs to break, but in 6NT that seems to be the best chance. Trying both finesses early will lead to eleven tricks, but relying on the one that really matters will lead to twelve. The heart suit is an unlikely source of four tricks, as it happens.

The reader may like to try this as a double dummy problem, how to make twelve tricks without establishing four heart tricks. My gut tells me it can’t be done.