Neither side vulnerable. North deals. NORTH S: 7 6 5 H: A Q 8 2 D: A K Q 7 6 C: J WEST EAST S: J 9 4 3 S: Q H: K 9 7 6 H: J 10 4 3 D: 9 4 2 D: 10 5 3 C: K 10 C: 9 8 6 3 2 SOUTH S: A K 10 8 2 H: 5 D: J 8 C: A Q 7 5 4 NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST 1D Pass 1S Pass 2H Pass 2S Pass 3S Pass 4NT Pass 5H Pass 6S (All Pass) Oening Lead: C10 After a strength showing reverse by North, South elected to rebid his spade suit instead of bidding three clubs. Four no trump was Roman Key Card (RKC) Blackwood. The five heart response showed two key cards and denied the queen of spades. South wisely decide to sign off at six spades. It would appear that this slam was doomed as a result of the bad break in both spades and clubs. While a small spade is probably the best opening lead on this hand, West tried to be tricky and led the ten of clubs! My advice here is to not be tricky too often. Dummy's jack won the first trick and a spade was led. South thought carefully when the queen appeared on his right. He won this trick with the ace of spades and decided that if East had started with the doubleton queen-jack of spades there would be no problem with the hand. Accordingly, he concentrated on finding a way to make the hand if the queen was singleton. Declarer cashed the ace of clubs, noting the fall of the king. He finessed the heart queen successfully, cashed the heart ace and ruffed a heart. He then cashed three top diamonds and ruffed another heart. As he had hoped, West was reduced to three trumps, the jack, nine and four, while declarer had the king-ten of spades and the queen of clubs. Having not yet lost a trick, the queen of clubs was tabled. West had no choice but to ruff and concede the last two tricks to declarer. This was a case where declarer had to decide what distribution would allow him to reach the desired end position, and then play for it. A skillful performance with a just reward. ___________________________________________________________________