Expert play lands slam contract.
Bridge Column for November 29, 2002, Harvey Bernstein
Both sides vulnerable.  North deals.
                              North
                              S: A K Q            
                              H: 3           
                              D: Q 9 5 3     
                              C: A K 10 6 2 
            West                             East
            S: 10 9 6 3                      S: 7 5 2        
            H: 8                             H: K Q 5 2    
            D: K J 8 2                       D: 10 7 6 4          
            C: 9 8 7 5                       C: J 3         
                              South                         
                              S: J 8 4 
                              H: A J 10 9 7 6 4
                              D: A         
                              C: Q 4      
          The Bidding:  
                  North    East    South    West                  
                   1C      Pass     1H      Pass
                   2NT     Pass     3H      Pass
                   3S      Pass     4NT     Pass
                   5H      Pass     6H      Pass
                   Pass    Pass
     Thanks to Gene Gordon of Pepper Pike for bringing me this
hand.  Gordon held the East cards and was delighted to hear the
opponents bid to the small slam in hearts.  It was team
competition and Gordon had what appeared to be two sure heart
tricks.
     The declarer, in the South seat, was Brian Ellis of
Twinsburg.  Jim Zimmerman of Shaker Heights sat North.  
     The opening lead was the nine of clubs.  Ellis won the ace
and called for the three of hearts.  East played the two and
Ellis inserted the nine.  West played the eight.  While this
could have been a false card from the original holding of the
eight and the five, it was more than likely a singleton.
     With no more hearts in the dummy, if the slam was to succed,
Ellis would have to engineer an endplay.  The first order of
business had to be the reduction of the number of trump in the
closed hand.  
     Ellis cashed the ace of diamonds and played a spade to the
dummy.  A diamond was trumped and another spade led to the dummy. 
Another diamond was trumped and Ellis led his last spade to the
dummy.  Again, both defenders followed.  The last diamond was
played from dummy.  East followed suit.  Ellis trumped, and West
played the king of diamonds.  Ellis cashed the queen of clubs. 
Both defenders followed and the three card ending looked like
this:
                              North
                              S: Void              
                              H: Void        
                              D: Void        
                              C: K 10 6  
            West                             East
            S: 10                            S: Void         
            H: Void                          H: K Q 5      
            D: Void                          D: Void              
            C: 8 7                           C: Void        
                              South                         
                              S: Void  
                              H: A J 10        
                              D: Void      
                              C: Void
     Gordon had been paying attention, but he was helpless.  All
he could do while this was going on was follow suit.  Can you see
what came next?
     Ellis led the jack of hearts and the hand was over.  Gordon
had no choice but to win and lead back a heart (that was all he
had), allowing declarer to take the last two tricks.
     This is a "text book" example of expert timing of the play
of the hand.  Being able to picture the "end position" and to
execute a line of play that will get you to that position is one
of the most exciting aspects of the game.
_______________________________________________________
Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.