| West | North | East | South |
| 1NT | |||
| Pass | 6NT | All Pass |
Partner takes your opening bid of 1NT seriously, skipping the invitational bid by putting you in 6NT directly. West starts with the ♥10. Do you like your chances in this contract?
Solution
This deal came up in an all-expert game. As North- South had a minimum of 34 points, North did not think about trying to play the potential slam in a suit. Instead he relied on sheer power to make a slam in notrump when slam in a suit might have been scuppered by bad breaks.
West sensibly avoided a spade lead, which would have gifted declarer his twelfth trick. Instead, he led the ♥10. Declarer immediately placed the ♥Q on his right. Declarer took the opening lead in dummy with the ♥K then played the ♠A and another spade. East threw a low heart, but declarer still played the ♠J from hand, to be in a position where he had only one loser remaining.
West took the trick with his ♠Q and exited with a heart, taken by dummy’s ace. Declarer cashed the ♠K then ran the diamonds, ending in dummy. Everyone was reduced to four cards. As West had not discarded two spades and East had not parted with the ♥Q, neither defender could hold four clubs. So, declarer cashed the three top clubs then advanced the ♣7, which was sure to win the trick. Declarer made two spades, two hearts, four diamonds and finally four clubs to make his contract. In effect, declarer played a simple squeeze in the same way that he would have played a double squeeze. The full deal:
