You are sitting South and your hand is:
          S:A K J 8  H:A J 10 9  D:K 7 2  C:A 5

     Your partner is the dealer; neither side is vulnerable; and
in first seat your partner makes a pre-emptive opening bid of
three diamonds.  Your right hand opponent passes and it is your
turn.
     To make matters just a little more difficult, it is the last
session of the Red Ribbon Pairs, a national championship event. 
At the end of the first two sessions your partnership is in fifth
place.  So far in the final two sessions you are doing well. 
This could be a very important hand.  What do you bid?
     After you have made up your mind, take a look at the entire
hand.

Neither side vulnerable.  
North deals.
                              NORTH
                              S: 7                
                              H: 8           
                              D: Q J 10 9 8 5 4
                              C: K 10 9 4
            WEST                             EAST
            S: 10 4 3 2                      S: Q 9 6 5      
            H: K 6                           H: Q 7 5 4 3 2
            D: Void                          D: A 6 3             
            C: Q J 8 7 6 3 2                 C: Void        
                              SOUTH                         
                              S: A K J 8
                              H: A J 10 9   
                              D: K 7 2     
                              C: A 5    
                  NORTH    EAST    SOUTH    WEST                  
                   3D      Pass     6NT     Pass
                   Pass    Pass
     Opening Lead: CQ 
     Bernie Greenspan of Beachwood held the South cards.  Keith
Sechler of Brookpark sat North and made the opening bid.  Most
players sitting South would settle for three no trump.  After
all, the South hand is worth twenty points and the North hand
should not have much outside of the diamond suit.
     While three no trump is the best game available, Greenspan
paused to consider slam possibilities.  Either six diamonds or
six no trump could be right.  In considering your options in
hands of this nature, it is probably good to remember that when
one hand contains a long suit, another hand will also contain a
long suit.  It is obvious that the South hand does not have a
long suit, so it is very likely that the opponents have a long
suit.  If this is the case, no trump will be safer than a suit
contract.
     In any event, Greenspan decided to "go for it" and bid the
no trump slam straight away.  The focus shifts to the player in
the West seat who must make an opening lead.
     Looking at all of the cards, it is obvious that a heart lead
will defeat six no trump.  This is not an easy lead to find.  In
the actual play of the hand, West led the queen of clubs. 
Declarer won the ace and knocked out the ace of diamonds.  It was
now a simple matter to finesse against the jack of clubs for the
twelfth trick.
     Top on a board in this event was 64 match points.  Six no
trump, making six, was worth 58.  Greenspan and Sechler finished
the event in second place with a total score of 2,040,
approximately 100 match points behind the winning pair, Hank
Youngerman of Falls Church, VA. and Marc Umeno of Glen Echo,
MD.
     Congratulations also to Linda Mrowca of Westlake, and Sharon
Fairchild of Rocky River who finished this event in sixteenth
place with an excellent score of 1,912.
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