We bid these cards to the poorish 6C, which was makeable but failed. East was a passed hand. We had
| No | ||
| 1C | 2C | 8-10 balanced with a major |
| 2D | 2H | spades & a minor |
| 2S | 3C | 4-2-3-4 |
| 3D | 3S | 6 SPs |
| 4C | 4D | 0 or 2 in spades (better to say 0 or 4+ SPs) |
| 4H | 5C | clubs – y, diamonds – y, hearts – no |
| 6C ? |
6C was nonsense, basically requiring the SQ onside for starters, plus either the heart finesse as well or maybe 3-3 spades and good guessing.
Was West right to try for slam over 3S? Likely holdings for East are:
| S-AQ, D-K | – 4D (0/2) – 4H – 4S – 4N – 5D – 6N | great slam |
| S-AQ, H-K | – 4D (0/2) – 4H – 4S – 5C – pass | good stop |
| S-Q, C-A, D-K | – 4N (S-y, C-y, D-y, H-no) 6C to right-side | good slam |
| S-Q, C-A, H-K | – 4S (S-y, C-y, D-no) – 5C | stop |
| S-Q, D-KQ, H-K | – 4H (S-y, C-n) – 5C ugly hand | stop |
| S-A, C-A | – 4S (S-y, C-y, D-no) – 5C | stop |
| S-A, D-KQ | – 4H (S-y, C-n) – 5C | stop |
| S-A, D-Q, H-K | – 4H (S-y, C-n) – 5C | stop |
| C-A, D-KQ | – 4D (0/2) – 4H – 5C (yyn) – pass | stop |
| C-A, D-Q, H-K | – 4D (0/2) – 4H – 5D (yyy) – 5NT !! | overboard |
So marginal but pretty safe most of the time. Note on the hands with S-Q and C-A, East’s king is twice as likely to be in diamonds as hearts.
