Both vulnerable. South deals.

Both vulnerable. South deals.
NORTH
Q 10 8
A K Q 3 2
9 3
A 9 6
WEST EAST
9 3 6 4 2
J 10 9 8 5 7 4
Q K 8 7 5 4
K Q 7 4 3 J 8 2
SOUTH
A K J 7 5
6
A J 10 6 2
10 5
The bidding:
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
1 Pass 2 Pass
3 Pass 3 Pass
4 Pass 5 Pass
6 Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: Jack of
Study the bidding and play of South's six-spade contract, then decide: Did South err in his play, or was he just the victim of bad luck?
North's two-heart response was a game force in the partnership methods. Thereafter a well-crafted auction brought North-South to the spade slam.
West led the jack of hearts, taken in dummy, and the nine of diamonds was run to West's queen. The king of clubs was taken with the ace and a high heart was cashed for a club discard in the closed hand. Now declarer led a diamond to the ace and, had that held, declarer would have ruffed two diamonds in dummy and claimed 12 tricks. Unfortunately, West ruffed -- down one.
The 5-1 diamond break was unfortunate but, even though declarer did not choose the line we fancy of two diamond finesses, he still should have brought home his contract. If declarer were going for two diamond ruffs, it would have cost nothing, at trick two, to lead a low diamond to the ace. Now, when the queen drops, it is easy to draw two rounds of trumps and continue with a diamond to the nine.
Declarer cannot be stopped from making the rest of the tricks. There are several ways to accomplish that.
& copy;2006 Tribune Media Services
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