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From Maastricht

From Maastricht

This hand is from the 2000 Olympiad in Maastricht.

bridge card suit10 7 5 4 3 2
bridge card suit--
bridge card suitA Q J
bridge card suitA K J 8

With both sides vulnerable you are in 3rd seat and after 2 passes you open 1♠. LHO jumps to 3bridge card suit and your partner cue-bids4bridge card suit to show a good spade raise. RHO bids 5bridge card suit and it's up to you.

There is no scientific answer, but I think that a jump to 6♠ is practical. Partner must have some of his values in spades, so we hope we won't have 2 trump losers.

The bridge card suitK is led and this is what you see:

bridge card suitA K J 6
bridge card suit10
bridge card suit10 8 3
bridge card suit10 9 5 4 2

bridge card suit10 7 5 4 3 2
bridge card suit--
bridge card suitA Q J
bridge card suitA K J 8

You ruff, of course, and when you lay down the ♠A everyone follows. What are your chances of making this contract?

At first glance, you might go down if you lose to both the bridge card suitK and the ♠Q.

However, there is an almost 100% line of play available. Simply draw the other trump and play a club to the ace. Once everyone follows, you can guarantee our slam (even if West had shown out, you'd still be cold).

Cross back to dummy in trumps and lead another club and finesse your ♠J. If it wins, you have no club loser. If it loses (clubs were 2-2), West is endplayed. He has to either give a ruff-and-sluff, or break diamonds. In either case you can throw your other diamond on the 5th club, and won't need the diamond finesse.

This was the full deal in Maastricht:

Vul: Both
Dlr: North
bridge card suitA K J 9
bridge card suit10
bridge card suit10 8 3
bridge card suit10 9 5 4 2
bridge card suit9
bridge card suitK Q J 4 3 2
bridge card suitK 6 5 4 2
bridge card suit3
bridge card suitQ 8
bridge card suitA 9 8 7 6 5
bridge card suit9 7
bridge card suitQ 7 6
bridge card suit10 7 5 4 3 2
bridge card suit--
bridge card suitA Q J
bridge card suitA K J 8
WestNorthEastSouth
PassPass1bridge card suit
3bridge card suit4bridge card suit5bridge card suit6bridge card suit
PassPassPass

If declarer carelessly cashes the ♠AK first, he goes down. He'd lose to the bridge card suitQ and the bridge card suitK. Starting with the diamond finesse might work, but only because declarer would get lucky. He could test diamonds before playing clubs; when West shows up with 5 diamonds, to go with his known 6 hearts (from his preempt), declarer would know to play East for the ♠Q.