Problem

The Auction:

* - Splinter bid

West opened with 1♦, North passed and East responded with 1♥. South doubled – a takeout double to show 4+ spades and 4+ clubs. West bid 4♣ – a splinter bid, meaning 0-1 clubs and 17-21 HCP, showing slam interest. North showed support for spades with 4♠. East bid 4NT to ask for aces. South passed, West responded with 5♠ (2-5 keycards and the trump queen). North doubled for penalty.

East bid 6♥, South passed and West declared 7♥. North doubled, East passed. We ask you to take the South seat. Are you going to pass?

Vulnerable: both

Contract: ?

Solution

It is quite clear the opponents have a slam. Especially West has been very confident. Although you hold the ♣AK, West`s splinter bid of 4♣ and subsequent declaration of a grand slam contract means West has a void in clubs. This means you cannot defeat the contract despite the fact that North`s double was for penalty – you don`t hold a single honor in spades.

But you have a void in hearts, which means East and West might have found a particularly long trump suit in hearts. In this situation it is best to sacrifice – you and North have found a fit in spades, besides you hold a nice side suit of clubs. You declare 7♠. East doubles.

As North becomes the declarer, East leads a small diamond to West`s ♦J. It doesn`t look too bad as you have a 9-card trump suit and a 10-card side suit of clubs. The opponents have the ♠AQJ, but your side might lose only 3 tricks. You have a void in hearts and North has a void in diamonds, which means North can cross ruff hearts and diamonds.

North ruffs the diamonds, leads the ♥J and ruffs (tricks 1,2). Then the declarer leads the ♠10 from dummy. West plays a small spade and so does North, East wins this trick with the ♠A (trick 3) and leads a small club. North plays the ♣9 from dummy, West ruffs (trick 4) and leads the ♦A. North ruffs and leads the ♠K, taking down the last trump opponents have (tricks 5, 6).

Then the declarer cashes in four tricks in clubs, starting by leading the ♣Q, then a small club to dummy`s ace (tricks 7,8,9,10). After that North leads a diamond from dummy and ruffs, then leads a heart from hand and ruffs (tricks 11, 12). As the lead is in dummy, North leads the ♦10, so West wins the last trick with the ♦K (trick 13).

East and West had a grand slam; in fact, they could have taken 13 tricks with either hearts or diamonds as the trump. So South`s decision to make a sacrifice bid of 7♠ saved lots of points to North-South. 7♠ down 3 doubled is -800, while a grand slam doubled would have brought 2470 points to the opponents.

This is an interesting hand, where all except East had a void. And although it is improbable that South and North would have discovered the right leads, both grand slams could have been taken down. If East had played 7♥ and South led diamonds – then North could have trumped the first trick. If West had played 7♦ and North had led hearts – South could have trumped the first trick.

Par Contract Analysis

The par contract on this deal is 7♠ Dbl by North/South -3.