A bidder's nightmare.
Bridge Column for June 28, 2002, Harvey Bernstein
North-South vulnerable.  North deals.
                              North
                              S: A Q J 9          
                              H: K Q J       
                              D: K Q 10 4 3 2 
                              C: Void    
            West                             East
            S: 10 3 2                        S: K 4          
            H: 8 3 2                         H: Void       
            D: Void                          D: A 9 8 7 6 5       
            C: A K Q 9 8 6 4                 C: J 7 5 3 2   
                              South                         
                              S: 8 7 6 5 
                              H: A 10 9 7 6 5 4 
                              D: J         
                              C: 10       
          The Bidding:  
                  North    East    South    West                  
                   1D      Pass     1H       2C 
                   3C       5C      5H      Pass
                   6H      Pass     Pass    Pass
     This hand is from a rubber bridge game and the cards were
well shuffled, or so I am told.  North had an easy one diamond
opening bid, and while he would have liked to have a fourth heart
for his three club cue bid, the three hearts that he did have
were excellent.
     East considered bidding six clubs as a sacrifice.  The
vulnerability was right but he thought that he had too much
defense against a heart contract so he bid only five clubs.
     South, with virtually no defense, bids five hearts and North
raises to six.  A case could be made that North had already bid
his hand to the fullest and bidding six at this point was a
stretch, but the fact is that East may very well decide to bid 6
clubs which would force North to the heart slam anyway.
     West is on lead and he plays the ace of clubs.  In
retrospect, a spade lead will defeat the small slam, but I don't
want to be playing in the game where the opening leader finds
that lead!  
     Declarer trumps the ace of clubs and plays the king of
hearts.  He follows with the queen, overtaking in the closed hand
and completing the task of drawing trump.  The jack of diamonds
is led and whatever East decides to do, the hand is over.  If he
takes the ace of diamonds, three spades are discared on the three
top diamonds in dummy, and if he ducks, declarer takes the spade
finesse and loses only one trick to the king.
     It is interesting to note that the classic four-four spade
fit will only make eleven tricks, not twelve, but the heart
contract will make against any lead but a spade.  Don't be afraid
to push a little on hands with wild distribution.  If it takes
one specific lead to defeat a contract, you should be in that contract.
_______________________________________________________
Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.