1 North (Dlr) ♠ AK3 ♥ KT76 ♦ AT6 ♣ AK9 West ♠ Q865 ♥ A983 ♦ 74 ♣ 532 East ♠ T974 ♥ 542 ♦ 93 ♣ JT64 Bidding analysis: South pulls a major fast one here: she has 3 Queens and wants to know about the ♠Q. She knows North has 4 Aces, not 1, with her 5♣ response to 4NT 1430, so her long Diamonds will take lots of tricks. Off one Ace, she bids the 6NT cold slam. South ♠ J2 ♥ QJ ♦ KQJ852 ♣ Q87 Declarer Play Options: “All I can lose is the missing ♥A: great bidding, South!” Defensive Strategy: The only trick available to E/W is the ♥A. Whether they lead it or North leads a Heart, all the rest of the tricks are cold for 6NT. 2 North ♠ QJ63 ♥ KQJ92 ♦ 5 ♣ 974 West ♠ T972 ♥ T6 ♦ 872 ♣ J852 East ♠ 5 ♥ A83 ♦ JT643 ♣ QT63 Bidding analysis: North ups her hand evaluation once a major fit is found, so goes on to find the Spade slam; Hearts would work just as well; maybe even better. South ♠ AK84 (Dclr) ♥ 754 ♦ AKQ9 ♣ AK Declarer Play Options: “Seems pretty straightforward: West probably had only 2 Hearts after the ♥T lead and ♥6 after East’s ♥A winner. But that set up my Hearts for a pitch of my losing Diamond. And … oopps a 4 – 1 trump split! But 12 tricks is 12 tricks. We actually make 6NT.” Defensive Strategy: West: “I have 4 trumps, so maybe I can get something going by leading my short suit? My partner has an Ace, I know, because they stopped at 6.”
3 North ♠ 643 ♥ A65 ♦ AQT75 ♣ Q6 West ♠ J82 ♥ K73 ♦ J94 ♣ AJ93 East ♠ - ♥ QJT982 ♦ 86 ♣ T8752 Bidding analysis: A Two Over One Game Force auction. 4♠ is not a strong bid, but South envisions a strong 2nd side suit – Diamonds – to pitch losers on and so pushes on to a slam, missing one Ace. South (Dcler) ♠ AKQT975 ♥ 4 ♦ K32 ♣ K4 Declarer Play Options: “I’m missing the ♣A, but so is everyone else playing this hand. No other losers.” Defensive Strategy: If West doesn’t take her ♣ Ace off the top, she loses it. Generally, one should lead an Ace against a suit slam contract, but maybe not versus a NT contract? 4 North ♠ T876 ♥ KJ ♦ KJ975 ♣ QJ West (Dclr) ♠ AKQJ54 ♥ AQ652 ♦ Q ♣ 5 East ♠ 932 ♥ T97 ♦ A8 ♣ AK962 Bidding analysis: East makes a 2 over 1 game force because she has two Aces and good clubs plus Spade support and a doubleton Diamond with the Ace. 3♠ is a strong bid: not a game – deciding bid. South ♠ - ♥ 843 ♦ T6432 ♣ T8743 Declarer Play Options: West: “Maybe 2 Heart losers? Got to get to East twice to finesse twice in Hearts, but I have 3 minor suit entries to get there. Also, I can play off a bunch of Spades to see who discards what.” Defensive Strategy: North: “I’m sitting behind declarer with 2 Kings and 4 trumps, so I’ll lead passively in trumps and sit here and hope to collect my two King tricks. But dummy has 2 Aces: Uhh Ohh!”
5 North (Dclr) ♠ JT952 ♥ T7 ♦ AQ4 ♣ KJ7 West ♠ 743 ♥ J86 ♦ 7632 ♣ A86 East ♠ Q ♥ Q9 ♦ KJT98 ♣ T9543 Bidding analysis: North’s 4♦ is an Cure bid, indicating slam interest after South’s strong 3♠ rebid. Because North is interested and has her Diamond loser covered, South pushes on to slam, off 1 Ace. South ♠ AK86 ♥ AK5432 ♦ 5 ♣ Q2 Declarer Play Options: With 9 trumps including the AK I’ll play for the drop of the Queen, and set up long Hearts with a high trump 3rd round ruff. It works or not. Defensive Strategy: Declarer has all the higher Club honors than East’s Journalist ♣10 lead, so I’ll take my ♣Ace now. 6 North ♠ AQ942 ♥ 532 ♦ T ♣ QT54 West ♠ 5 ♥ AQ76 ♦ A876 ♣ K872 East (Dclr) ♠ 73 ♥ KJT98 ♦ KQJ5 ♣ A9 Bidding analysis: A Spade splinter by West and both minor suit Ace-showing cue bids. East normally should not start RKCB1430 with 2 Spade losers, but she knows West has one or none. South ♠ KJT86 ♥ 4 ♦ 9432 ♣ J63 Declarer Play Options: After losing the opening Spade lead, it’s cold, with a Spade ruff in the West hand for the 12th trick. Defensive Strategy: North’s double of the Spade splinter got N/S their only trick. Note the ♠T Journalist lead.
7 North (Dclr) ♠ AKQ42 ♥ K853 ♦ 87 ♣ Q7 West ♠ JT7 ♥ QJ2 ♦ 943 ♣ T942 East ♠ 985 ♥ T974 ♦ 2 ♣ AJ653 Bidding analysis: North knows the ♣A is missing, (because of no cue-bid of 4♣ by South after North’s 3♠ cue bid, and 4♥ denies the ♣A, so she stops in 6NT. South ♠ 63 ♥ A6 ♦ AKQJT65 ♣ K8 Declarer Play Options: 12 tricks off the top once I get in, and, if they don’t take their ♣A off the top, and the Spades split 3 – 3, I’ll take all 13 tricks. Defensive Strategy: Take my ♣ Ace now or lose it? It sounds like they have lots of Diamond tricks, so I better take it right now. Questions, partner? 8 North ♠ 962 ♥ T542 ♦ A742 ♣ 93 West ♠ AQT75 ♥ KJ8 ♦ 3 ♣ QJ87 East (Dclr) ♠ K ♥ AQ6 ♦ KJT5 ♣ KT654 Bidding analysis: 4♣ is a 1430 style MSRKCB Ace-ask, but 4♦ says 1 (or 4) aces, so E/W are off 2 top controls. Therefore, East stops at a probably makeable NT game instead of slamming. MSRKCB wins by avoiding a slam missing two controls. South ♠ J843 ♥ 973 ♦ Q986 ♣ A2 Declarer Play Options: 6 tricks in the majors; 4 Clubs and a Diamond or two? No problem at 4 NoTrump. Defensive Strategy: No cue bidding to tell me what to lead or not, except that West has only had one control, so my partner has one too. But which one?
9 North (Dlr) ♠ 43 ♥ QJ75 ♦ JT32 ♣ J32 West (Declarer) ♠ AJT76 ♥ 8 ♦ AKQ76 ♣ 65 East ♠ KQ98 ♥ A9 ♦ 98 ♣ AK987 Bidding analysis: 5♥ is a ♠Queen Ask, knowing East has 3 Aces, not zero, for her 5♦ response to 1430. Without the ♠Q, East would bid 5♠, but, having it, she bids her lowest King. That nails it for West. Making 13 tricks only with a perfect 30 HCP. South ♠ 52 ♥ KT6432 ♦ 54 ♣ QT4 Declarer Play Options: 6 Spades (including a Diamond ruff), 2 Clubs, 1 Heart and 4 Diamonds = 13 tricks. Defensive Strategy: No good lead, nor a bad one either: a cold 13-trick slam contract. 10 North ♠ K98532 ♥ 7 ♦ T853 ♣ 96 West ♠ Q4 ♥ KQJ95 ♦ QJ92 ♣ 72 East (Dclr) ♠ AJ6 ♥ AT842 ♦ AK76 ♣ J Bidding analysis: West has a difficult decision after South’s 4♣ WJO, but decides, with no Aces, to simply put East in game. East has good shape with 4 high honors and a stiff Club, so pushes on to the Heart slam, off just the ♣A. She knows West has the ♥K. South ♠ T7 ♥ 63 ♦ 4 ♣ AKQT8543 Declarer Play Options: No discards anywhere with the 4 – 4 Diamond fit, so the Spade finesse must work. But with ♣AKQ plus in Clubs and the ♠K, South might have bid 2♣, not 3♣, so the Spade finesse odds are OK. Defensive Strategy: The ♣Q lead, after South’s WJO, shows the ♣AKQ++. Winning the ♣Q, she follows with the ♣K so as not to finesse North. South knows she has the only defensive Ace, so no ♦Ace in North is possible: no Diamond ruff by South on the 3rd trick is possible.
13 North ♠ A7 ♥ K6 ♦ AKJ872 ♣ A98 West ♠ J654 ♥ 97432 ♦ 9 ♣ 653 East ♠ QT32 ♥ JT8 ♦ 654 ♣ QJT Bidding analysis: South’s initial response shows 13 to 15+ HCP with no 4+ major. With 19 HCP and a long Diamond suit, North sees a slam try: thus his 4NT 1430. South shows 1 control (the ♥A). North has the other 4 controls in Diamonds. After 5NT, South’s 5♣ shows her ♣ King. South (Dcler) ♠ K98 ♥ AQ5 ♦ QT3 ♣ K742 Declarer Play Options: “5 Major suit tricks, 6 Diamonds, and 2 Clubs wins them all off the top.” Defensive Strategy: With no Aces or Kings and just 2 Queens, E/W aren’t going to take any tricks in this hand. 14 North ♠ 986 ♥ 8 ♦ Q76 ♣ QJ8654 West (Declarer) ♠ KQ42 ♥ KT63 ♦ KJ ♣ AK7 East (Dlr) ♠ AT73 ♥ AQJ9 ♦ 842 ♣ T2 Bidding analysis: West decides to Jump Shift in Spades rather than Jump Raising East’s Hearts, to show she has a really big hand just short of a 2NT opener. East then sees a possible slam and makes a 4NT 1430 RKCB bid, ending up an Ace short for 6♠. South ♠ J5 ♥ 7542 ♦ AT953 ♣ 93 Declarer Play Options: “Either the ♦A is in the South or I’m maybe going down. But, the hand should be played here, so the rest of the room will probably be here too.” Defensive Strategy: North leads her singleton ♥8, as the only way she sees to possibly beat this slam. She knows partner has an Ace because E/W stopped at 6, and it might be the ♥Ace, giving North a 2nd trick Heart ruff. But nope: not this time.