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North aimed for the stars, but the resulting small slam yielded a great score . . .
Bidding
Dealer: North
Game All
South’s double was negative style, ostensibly showing 4-4 in the majors. North’s 2D showed a strong hand and, when South freely bid spades over West’s 3D barrage, North assumed five spades and a maximum hand: 9/10pts. Feeling that if South held ♠AKxxx, a grand slam was in the offing, his 5NT was a Grand Slam Force; South’s 6D indicted only one of the top three spade honours. North bid 6S with some trepidation. West led 3♦ — a marked singleton.
Declarer rose with dummy’s A♦ and led 4♠, finessing with J♠ when East followed low. He ruffed a heart in dummy and led another spade, winning with A♠ when East played 9♠. Now, as long as East holds at least two clubs, he can get home. He led 7♣ to A♣, cashed K♣, pitching 10♦ from hand, and then Q♣. East is stymied: whether or not he takes his master trump, declarer discards J♦, and then continues playing off club winners.
You might score 13 tricks if you play on clubs before touching trumps, over-ruffing East’s third-round trump, ruffing a heart in dummy, taking the trump finesse, and ruffing a second heart in dummy to return to the club winners. However, this risks the contract — a poor idea when so few will be in the slam.
