[barsikb]

Dealer: South
Vul: Both

---

Would you go to slam?

Is there a way to make 6 by North with a perfect defense?

[cargobeep]

6 Clubs, 6 Diamonds and 6 Spades all obviously cannot be made.

That leaves us with 6 Hearts and 6 Notrump.

6 Notrump fails from either direction (squeeze always fails).

6 Hearts played by South fails if West leads a heart. North could attempt the ruffing finesse in Spades, but there are insufficient entries to pull it off, and again, a squeeze is not possible.

6 Hearts played by North, however, cannot be beaten with perfect play.

Assume East leads ♦. You win the ♦Ace and then ruff a diamond. You then lead the ♠Ace. You cross over to South in ♥, and then perform the ruffing finesse against West in ♠. Then draw trumps, and play the ♣Ace. If West plays the ♣T, you play another ♣ and win the returned spade. If the K♣ is played, you lead another ♣ and end up winning a ♣.

If Spades or Clubs is led, the contract is simple.

[barsikb]

So, need both Spades King being with West and West's Clubs being Kx?

Would you bid Slam, Cargobeep?

[Cyberyeti]

 barsikb, on 2013-June-28, 06:22, said:

So, need both Spades King being with West and West's Clubs being Kx?

Would you bid Slam, Cargobeep?

It's a little better than that, there are some other club positions that will do the job like KQ tight with E and if K or Q drops from W under the A (doesn't matter if single or KQ, either J wins or W is endplayed), and the one illustrated works with any Hx or KQ with W.

You still don't want to be in it.

[wank]

it's a crap slam, but if south opens the bidding with 1♣, which would be fairly normal, it's impossible to avoid it.

[Cyberyeti]

 wank, on 2013-June-28, 07:38, said:

it's a crap slam, but if south opens the bidding with 1♣, which would be fairly normal, it's impossible to avoid it.

It's just about avoidable, but you'd also avoid it when S has ♣J10xxx when it's decent, there is room for N to set ♥ and S to deny ♣AKQ, ♠K, ♦K.

[barsikb]

Thank you for the answers!

Cyberyeti, can you please explain this: "It's just about avoidable, but you'd also avoid it when S has ♣J10xxx when it's decent, there is room for N to set ♥ and S to deny ♣AKQ, ♠K, ♦K."?

[Cyberyeti]

 barsikb, on 2013-June-28, 08:35, said:

Thank you for the answers!

Cyberyeti, can you please explain this: "It's just about avoidable, but you'd also avoid it when S has ♣J10xxx when it's decent, there is room for N to set ♥ and S to deny ♣AKQ, ♠K, ♦K."?

We's bid this: (by our somewhat odd methods)

1♣-2♥ (single suited rock crusher or HHxxx♥/Hxxx♣)
2♠(shaping out, guarantees xx or stiff Q♥ or better, 2N would deny)-2N(single suited type)
3♦(cue, denies ♣AK)-3♥
4♥(denies K♠, Q♣, K♦)-P

The slam could be good (same hand with J10xxx♣) or in fact cold (QJxx, A7, Ax, J10xxx), but you have no way of finding out.

[barsikb]

Thank you, Cyberyeti!

[wank]

playing normal methods it would go 1c-1h-1s-2d-2nt-3h-4h-4nt-5h-6h. north doesn't have enough space to get enough info, so he'll just play the odds and bid slam.

[Cyberyeti]

 wank, on 2013-June-28, 15:44, said:

playing normal methods it would go 1c-1h-1s-2d-2nt-3h-4h-4nt-5h-6h. north doesn't have enough space to get enough info, so he'll just play the odds and bid slam.

Doesn't he investigate the grand at all which would be pretty good opposite xxxx, Ax, Ax, KQxxx/KQxx, Ax, Ax, xxxxx or would you expect something other than 4♥ with that ?