I thought I’d share this amusing experience I had playing in the Two Men and a Truck Intermediate and Restricted Teams event. This was the second hand of the day, board 2 of Session 1
I’m sitting South, and EW bid their way to a contract of 6S. I might be doing the bidding a disservice, as my memory is not what it was, but I have a feeling that it went as follows: E opened 1H, W bid 1S and E jumped to 4NT, W showed 2 keycards, and E happily bid the slam.
In the E position, a better option might be 4C after the 1S - this would be a splinter, agreeing spades as trumps and showing a strong hand with a shortage in clubs. W could then cue bid 4D to show a first or second round control in that suit and more than a minimum hand, and E could then bid 4NT with more confidence.
Either way, 6S is a fine contract. Declarer can draw trumps in three rounds and then move on to diamonds, hoping they split 3-2. But even though they don’t, 12 tricks can be made - Declarer can simply ruff the fourth round of diamonds to set up his little diamond. He should make 4S, 2H, 4D, 1C and 1 D ruff.
That’s all very well, but it’s not how it was played at our table. Here, after winning the opening lead of the K of clubs, Declarer led the 9 of H and partner followed with the 2. That’s very risky, I thought, given that I had 5 Hearts in my hand, and could see another 5 in Dummy. But not half as risky as what happened next - he took the finesse, playing low from dummy and allowing me to win the Q! Now there was only one heart outstanding, the 6, and if partner had it she would have played it on the first round (we play standard count). So Declarer had the 6 and partner was now out of the suit. This slam was going off. Accordingly I led back another H, Declarer played that 6, and partner … threw a small club.
Needless to say, at that point Declarer swept up the remaining tricks and made his slam. At the end of the hand, he apologised to his partner, saying he had thought they were actually playing in Hearts, after which my partner apologised to me, saying she had ALSO thought they were playing in Hearts! I’ve been at the table when a player has misplayed a slam, thinking they were playing in another contract. I may even have been that player. But I think that’s the first time I’ve seen a slam make when half the table thought they were playing something else.
So EW made the slam they should always have made, the natural order of things was restored, and one person at the table felt a lot sillier for making exactly the same mistake as another. And when I introduced this hand as an “amusing experience”, I can assure you all that it seemed a lot more amusing a short time later than it did at the time, being as it was the second hand of the day, and against a wily old foe.
I should also say that partner went on to redeem herself with some sparkling Declarer play later in the event, and she ended up having a very successful weekend, finishing highly in the two events she played in.