A well-bid slam for the win.
Bridge Column for February 7, 2003, Harvey Bernstein
North-South vulnerable.  South deals.
                              North
                              S: Q 4 3            
                              H: K Q J 10 7 4
                              D: K 10 8      
                              C: A       
            West                             East
            S: 8 7 2                         S: J 10 9 5   
            H: 9 3                           H: 8         
            D: 5 4 3 2                       D: Q J 9 7 6         
            C: J 7 6 2                       C: K Q 8       
                              South                         
                              S: A K 6
                              H: A 6 5 2    
                              D: A         
                              C: 10 9 5 4 3    
          The Bidding:  
                  South    West    North    East                  
                   1C      Pass     1H      Dbl 
                   3H      Pass     4C      Pass
                   4NT     Pass     5S      Pass
                   5NT     Pass     6D      Pass
                   6H      Pass     Pass    Pass
     Thanks to Peter Miller of Shaker Heights for this hand from
a Swiss team event at the Rock and Roll Regional Bridge
Tournament last month in Independence.  Miller sat South and
Bonnie Goodman of Pepper Pike held the North cards.
     When you look at all four hands it seems that it should be
easy to bid the small slam and the only question may be
why a grand slam was not bid on these cards.  But the fact is 
that both North and South are looking at fifteen high
card points and neither of them knows that the other player 
has a singleton ace, when, in fact, they both do!
     After South bids three hearts to establish the trump suit,
North makes an excellent four club call.  Four no trump is the
Roman Key Card Blackwood convention and five spades shows two
"key" cards and the queen of hearts.
     When South bids five no trump he is indicating that he can
account for all five key cards and he is asking his partner to
bid her lowest ranking non-trump king. 
     The six diamond response shows the king of diamonds and
denies the king of clubs so South stops at six hearts, making
seven after the opening lead of the eight of hearts from East.
     When the hand was played at the companion table, the
opponents sitting North-South bid four hearts, making seven. 
Missing the lay-down slam was the deciding factor in that match.  
_______________________________________________________
Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.