The Balanced, Yeah!


9 5 2
10
A K 5 4
Q J 9 7 6
K 8 7 6 4 Q J 3
8 4 3 A J 9 7 6
9 8 10 3 2
8 4 2 5 3
A 10
K Q 5 2
Q J 7 6Vul: N-S
A K 10 Opening lead: ?

Slam was bid in 3 denominations here: no trump, diamonds and clubs. Is one better than the others? Is one unimpeachable against any defense? Look at it a moment. Okay, here's duh scoop: No trump should not make against any lead. East must cover the 10 of hearts with the jack, not the ace, with the upshot that declarer can't get past 11 winners. Going up with the ace (aside from a spade lead) gives declarer his 12th winner. Clubs also won't make on a spade opening lead. On a lead other than a spade, East again should cover the 10 of hearts with the jack, lest he again give declarer his 12th winner. But then declarer has a chance. He wins and now must ruff out his hearts in dummy: ruff once, back with the Q of diamonds, ruff again, back with the J of diamonds, ruff a third time, back with a club, drawing trump in three rounds and then claim, conceding a spade. And diamonds? They are unimpeachable, which is to say, unbeatable on any lead, and the hand is a good illustration of the value of the balanced suit as trump. On a spade lead, declarer draws trump in three rounds, runs five clubs, sluffing a heart and a spade, and leads toward his K Q 5 of hearts. If East ducks, that's declarer's 11th trick, and a ruff of a heart is his 12th. He'll lose a heart at the end. If East goes up, well, declarer has his 12th trick right there with the K Q.
And what was the result? Not many in slam. Only one in clubs, who went down, (He got a spade lead, so we'll never know if he would have found the line to make on any other lead.) Only one in diamonds who made. Three in no trump, one making. (East went up with the ace of hearts on the opening lead, and the hand was over.) When I look at all the totally unmakable, not-a-chance slams found on OKbridge, I take my hat off to the pair that smoked out the diamond slam.