[CamHenry]

---

(Comments on the auction are welcome; system is 2/1)

Opening lead is the ♣9. Enquiring, you are told that this promises 0 or 2 higher cards in the suit; if you cover with the J then East plays the 8. A quick count shows 5♦, 3♣, 2♥, and 2♠ ruffs for 12 tricks: but entries are a potential challenge. What's the best line? You can potentially ruff ♥ good, but again entries may be difficult.

[Jinksy]

Quote

(Comments on the auction are welcome; system is 2/1)

Ok. *Ragh, spit! spit!*

S's hand doesn't seem anything like a GF to me, unless you guys have exceptionally sound openings (1950s style 13+ would maybe do it).

Then 3N seems not to acheive much except preempting partner. There's a good chance he's got shortage opposite, esp if 3♣ showed extra distribution, so why not explore other options while you have room? I don't like [3h] without an honour, but I think it's better than committing to 3N with Qxxx opposite x as your stop in the marked suit. Alternatively, if you play 3♠ as natural in a GF, you could try that. Even 3♦ might work, since your suit's pretty meaty.

After 4♦ in the actual auction, 4N looks pretty crusty. Given that you're a bare minimum for this alleged GF and P's just shown that your Q♠ is wasted, I don't see much value in suddenly captaining and (presumably) planning to drag the level up to 6 if P shows up with 2KCs.

Lastly, I don't much like the 5N response, which to me shows a void you expect to be doing something useful. Given S's earlier 3N bid, there's every chance he has KJxx or similar in the suit. If so he probably has a few extras to have pushed for slam like this, but that doesn't suddenly make your void a major asset, esp in a hand with only 3 trumps, 2 of them honours. Sure, honest KC count takes you to slam anyway, but there's no point in showing the void except if you think grand might be on, which looks remote here. Meanwhile, it might give the opps crucial info about the opening lead.

[WesleyC]

I like North's bidding, (although not a big fan of South's). In any case, you got to the right contract!

Planning the play is frustrating because it's not quite cold. My instinct after the ♣J holds is to simply play a club to the Ace at trick 2. If that stands up, you'll come home with 4 club tricks (1S, 2H, 5D, 4C) and can even afford to check for 5-0 trumps along the way and change plan if necessary. If the ♣A does get ruffed, presumably a trump comes back then you need try and sneak home with the remaining trumps 2/2 and the Qh coming down tripleton.