[oryctolagi]

We were the only table to bid the slam - and I went down on the lead of a low ♥:

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Horrible distribution!
On any other lead, six ♦ are cold, but I couldn't see a way through to 12 tricks on a heart lead. Perhaps someone can show me?!

[1eyedjack]

It is makeable double dummy, but no-one is seriously going to play it that way in real life. Or if they do, you would expect them to be wired.

At some point it needs you to play a Club up from table. A sleepy East may think it safe to play high in front of you. At that ppoint you have a real chance but even then in all likelihood any player would fail. But if East plays low on the first Club you have to play the 10 to make and who is going to do that?

[EDIT] yup what they said

[manudude03]

You don't need to do anything fancy in clubs at all. Win the ace, cross to the king of spades, trump up and lead the ace of spades throwing the heart from hand. West is welcome to ruff. If he ruffs and returns say a club, you win, cross in trumps to draw West's last trump, and keep taking ruffing finesses in spades, you have just enough entries to enjoy the spade trick you eventually set up. If he doesn't ruff, you just start taking the ruffing finesses immediately throwing a club if not covered.

[rmnka447]

My mentor always told me when playing a hand to ask myself "Which hand is the master hand? Which hand am I trying to set up?" after the opening lead is made and before playing a card from dummy. That's the time you formulate your plan for playing the hand. Those questions can lead to determining what possibilities exist for playing the hand.

Typically, the long trump suit hand is the master hand. But, occasionally, there might be a possibility for a short trump hand "dummy" reversal where you set up that hand.

Looking between your hand and dummy, those questions lead you to a couple possibilities. One way would be to ruff out your ♣ losers in dummy. Another possibility would be to set up the ♠ suit in dummy.

Some follow up questions need to be asked -- especially with slams " What can go wrong (bad distributions, etc.)? What can I do to get around it?"

The problems are if ♦ break badly and/or ♠ break badly. But you may reduce your chances of making a great deal if you lose the first ♥ trick.

And also, you might ask yourself "Are there any ways to combine chances?" If one plan doesn't work than you might have a fallback.

You should see that if ♦ break 2-1 you can draw trump, pitch your ♥ loser on the ♠ A after unblocking, and ruff 2 ♣ in dummy just giving up 1 ♣ trick at the end. But if trump are 3-0, you have to ruff 3 ♣ in dummy and limit yourself to 1 trump loser which may be hard to do.

The alternative to ruffing ♣ is getting rid of your losing ♣ on long suit trick winners in ♠. If ♠ are 4-2 or 3-3 you can easily set up 2 pitches in ♠ and still be able to ruff a ♣ in dummy if necessary. Even if 5-1 you'll have some chances if the ♠ honors are favorable placed or have a sure trick way of setting them up if you crash the ♠ 10 or ♠ Q when you play to the ♠ K.

So, to keep both plans open you need to play to the ♠ K early. That way you unblock ♠ yet preserve what might be vital entries to dummy in setting up ♠. The risk you take is a ruff if ♠ are 6-0. But that is small compared to the flexibility you'll have if you find a 3-0 trump break.

Win the ♥ A, then play a ♠ to the ♠ K.

Play a low ♦ to the ♦ A. If both players follow, you can follow your plan to draw trumps and ruff ♣. Alas RHO shows out.

Play ♠ A and pitch your ♥ Q. If both follow, you can then ruff a ♠ and have enough entries to set up 2 pitches on ♠ and still have a ♦ to ruff your last ♣. If LHO ruffs, you'll have 3 entries to dummy to set up ♠. If LHO pitches, continue with a high ♠ spot (J98) pitching a ♣ if it's not covered and ruffing if it is. One way or another you'll be able to set up 1 pitch on ♠ and 2 ♣ ruffs, or, 2 pitches on ♠ and 1 ♣ ruff. Note that once LHO ruffs a ♠, the next lead will allow you to get in and draw the last trump with a high trump entry to the dummy.

[oryctolagi]

Thanks for the replies.

manudude03, on 2016-February-03, 16:34, said:

You don't need to do anything fancy in clubs at all. Win the ace, cross to the king of spades, trump up and lead the ace of spades throwing the heart from hand. West is welcome to ruff. If he ruffs and returns say a club, you win, cross in trumps to draw West's last trump, and keep taking ruffing finesses in spades, you have just enough entries to enjoy the spade trick you eventually set up. If he doesn't ruff, you just start taking the ruffing finesses immediately throwing a club if not covered.

Yes. This is the closest to my line of play. My mistake was, of course, to draw a round of trumps before cashing K♠. That leaves me one entry short.

Easy to see with hindsight (and having it explained to me), but with ten trumps headed by AKQ, who wouldn't be tempted?