Good technique lands a slam.
Bridge Column for December 5, 2003, Harvey Bernstein
East-West vulnerable.  South deals.
                              North
                              S: A K 3 2          
                              H: A K 5 3     
                              D: J 9         
                              C: K 8 2   
            West                             East
            S: J 10 8 7 5                    S: 9 4          
            H: 6                             H: Q J 9 8 2  
            D: 8 6                           D: Q 10 5 4 2        
            C: J 10 9 4 3                    C: 7           
                              South                         
                              S: Q 6  
                              H: 10 7 4     
                              D: A K 7 3   
                              C: A Q 6 5  
          The Bidding:  
                  South    West    North    East                  
                   1NT     Pass     2C      Pass
                   2D      Pass     4C      Pass
                   4S      Pass     5C      Pass
                   5H      Pass     6NT     Pass
                   Pass    Pass
     Thanks to Phil Becker of Beachwood for this hand from a
local duplicate game.  Becker sat South and opened a minimum one
no trump.  North, Marty Baff of Beachwood, bid two clubs, the
Stayman convention, asking for a four card major suit.  Becker's
two diamond call was negative.  Baff jumped to four clubs, the
Gerber convention, asking for aces.  Becker bid four spades
showing two.  Five clubs asked for kings and five hearts meant
that Becker had one king.  
     Baff had accounted for all four aces and all four kings.  He
also knew that Becker had at least fifteen high card points,
giving the partnership a total of thirty-three.  It would have
been cowardly to bid anything less than six no trump.
     West led the jack of clubs and the dummy came down.  Becker
could count ten top tricks, but that left him two tricks short of
the twelve he needed for his contract.  There is no reason,
however, to give up.  If he could develop the eleventh trick, the
twelfth may be available by way of a squeeze.  The only way to
find out was to try.
     Becker played a low club from the dummy in case East held
the singleton nine, but that was not the case.  He won the ace
and led a small diamond toward the jack.  West played low, which
was a good indication that he did not have the queen, so Becker
called for the nine, which lost to East's ten.
     East returned the queen of hearts.  Becker won the ace and
called for the jack of diamonds.  East covered and Becker played
the ace.  West contributed the eight, which had the effect of
making Becker's seven of diamonds the eleventh trick.
     Becker cashed his two good diamonds ringing this end
position: 
                              North
                              S: A K 3 2          
                              H: A    
                              D: Void        
                              C: K 8      
            West                             East
            S: J 10 8 7                      S: 9 4          
            H: Void                          H: J 9 8 2  
            D: Void                          D: 5                 
            C: 10 9 4                        C: Void        
                              South                         
                              S: Q 6  
                              H: 10 7       
                              D: Void
                              C: Q 6 5  
     A heart to the ace squeezed West.  No matter what he
discarded, declarer would be able to score an additional trick in
that suit.  At the table, West kept even with the dummy and
discarded a club.  Becker played three rounds of spades,
discarding his last heart, and then played three rounds of clubs,
making six no trump.
     This was not magic, although the defender being squeezed may
think it was.  Becker simply used good technique and found a line
of play that gave him the best chance.  Well done!
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Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.