North-South vulnerable. South deals. North S: A K J 10 3 H: A Q J 10 5 D: K 7 C: J West East S: Void S: 9 7 5 4 H: 8 7 3 H: K 9 4 2 D: Q J 10 6 5 2 D: 9 C: K 10 8 3 C: Q 7 6 4 South S: Q 8 6 2 H: 6 D: A 8 4 3 C: A 9 5 2 The Bidding: South West North East Pass 2D Dbl Pass 3S Pass 4D Pass 4S Pass 4NT Pass 5S Pass 6S Pass Pass Pass Opening lead: QD This hand is from a local duplicate and was surprising to me in that only one pair in the field of ten bid six spades and made seven. Two pairs bid and made six. The rest of the field bid only the game save for one pair that was down one. There is no good reason not to bid a slam on these cards. If West opts to pass at his first turn, North should open two clubs in spite of the fact that he is two-suited. He has a four loser hand that can play in either major suit. After the pre-emptive diamond bid, North starts with a double. South responds three spades to show that he has at least four spades and at least eight points. North's four diamonds is a cue bid showing a very big hand. South could bid five clubs to show his lowest ace but I think four spades is a reasonable bid. If North wants to look for slam he can bid the Blackwood convention, which is what he does. The pair are playing Roman Keycard Blackwood and five spades shows two aces and the queen of spades. This means that South has at least ten points. If he had the king of hearts he would have opened the bidding, so it is a safe bet that he does not have that card. For this reason, six spades should be the final contract. On the lead of the queen of diamonds, declarer plays low from dummy in case East can trump this trick. East follows suit and declarer wins the ace. A small spade to the ace reveals the bad trump split. Declarer should return to hand and take the heart finesse. It will lose and he will only make six, but look at what could happen if he instead plays the ace of hearts and then takes a ruffing finesse by leading the queen from dummy. East plays low and declarer discards a diamond or a club. If West has the king of hearts he will win and play another diamond for East to ruff. This is too risky. If the finesse fails, there is no lead that East can make to endanger the contract. Even with no bidding by the opposition, once the trump split is known, make the play that will force the defender with the trumps to make a lead if the play does not work. This is always the safest play in this situation. ________________________________________________________________