Try Playing these Slam Hands
Board 2 Dlr: E NS Vul
The contract is 6♠ by West, small slam - 12 tricks required.
NORTH
♠ 4
♥ KQT95
♦ QJ8
♣ T984
WEST EAST
♠ AQT86 ♠ KJ975
♥ AJ ♥ 74
♦ 3 ♦ A7652
♣ A7652 ♣ 3
SOUTH
♠ 32
♥ 8632
♦ KT94
♣ KQJ
North leads ♥K (promising, against a suit contract, only the queen as well). East and South follow low and West wins with the ace.
This time declarer can count only 8 sure tricks - 5 trumps and 3 side-suit aces. Where will the 4 extra winners come from? The clue lies in the minor suit singletons and the trick-generating strategy of trumping losers.
West now plays ♣A, all following low, and continues with a second club and trumps (or ruffs) with a low spade in dummy, while North and South must follow with clubs.
Next declarer plays dummy's ♦A, to which all follow, and continues with a second diamond on which North and South follow suit. Declarer, with no more diamonds, ruffs with a low spade.
Declarer continues to play clubs whenever on lead in hand and diamonds whenever on lead in dummy in order to win by cross-ruffing.
Often declarer extracts enemy trumps early, but not here. Four of them in each hand might be needed to trump all the minor suit losers.
East-West can then easily win 12 tricks, making a non-vulnerable small slam. Their score is 6x30 + 300 + 500 = 980.
I hope you noticed that East-West have nothing like 33 HCP between them, and yet they made small slam! Much more of that later.
Board 3 Dlr: S EW Vul
The contract is 6♥ by South - another small slam. 12 tricks are needed.
NORTH
♠ 54
♥ AT98
♦ T92
♣ AKQJ
WEST EAST
♠ J987 ♠ T3
♥ 52 ♥ 43
♦ KQJ8 ♦ A7654
♣ 632 ♣ T987
SOUTH
♠ AKQ62
♥ KQJ76
♦ 3
♣ 54
Against South’s 6♥ contract West leads ♦K (promising, against a suit contract, at least the queen) and when it wins continues with ♦Q, which South ruffs.
Declarer can count twelve sure winners - five in hearts, three top spades and four top clubs. The only possible hitch would be if declarer allowed the opponents to trump one of these winners.
So it is correct to draw trumps (extract the enemy trumps) at once. Since the trumps break 2-2, it takes only two rounds of hearts to rid the opponents of their trumps.
Declarer then takes 4 club tricks and 3 spade tricks. A failure to draw trumps might enable the opponents to turn a 'sure trick' into a loser by trumping it.
Bidding slam and making 12 tricks scores 6x30 + 300 + 500 = 980.
The story continues in the next post - Number 1(f). I welcome any comments you may have. You can do this via the "Post a Comment" feature at the bottom of each post, or the Contact Form in the right sidebar.
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