South was American specialist Owen Lean in today’s deal. We know nothing about the auction except two no trump openings and the final contract. We present the auction above, with a common bidding device in the modern game. A three-spades bid showed some slam interest with one or both minors. A five-club continuation showed a one-suit hand with clubs and South, with great cards for slam, stepped up. South had the right high cards for slam but not the right low cards. An additional low club instead of a low card in any other suit would have made the slam fair. Lean needed a small miracle to bring this one home.
West led the ace of diamonds and shifted to the queen of spades. Lean won with the ace in dummy and cashed three high hearts to remove the remaining diamonds from dummy. He led the king of diamonds, on which both West and dummy dropped spades. Lean ruffed a diamond in dummy, while West dropped another spade. Lean moved his ace back to clubs, pleased to see a jack from East. Lean played the 10 of clubs, successfully fining against the queen. He then ruffed his last heart in dummy and moved his king back to spades. At this two-card end, Lean led his remaining spades and picked up West’s remaining trumps with a classic trump coup. Beautifully done!
