A Two-Way Look

	A 7 6 5
	K Q 9 3
	8 6 3
	10 6
Q 8		9 2
------		10 5 4
A K J 7 5 2		10 9 4
A Q 4 3 2		K J 9 7 5
	K J 10 4 3
	A J 8 7 6 2
	Q
	8

Declarer began the bidding with a spade, though holding one less spade than hearts, because he knows that the next time he gets a chance to bid, the bidding may be at the 4 level, and he doesn't want to have to fiddle with the five level if he can help it. As it happened, West bid two diamonds, North jumped to 3 spades, the opposition now collapsed as South bid four hearts, hoping it wouldn't be read as a cue bid for slam but as a request to pass with better hearts, and got taken to 4 spades.

The opening lead was the king of diamonds, followed by the jack when the queen fell. Now declarer was able to draw trump, and on the heart differential, sluff two clubs to make 6. In a heart contract, he would have only a one-trick spade differential and so could never avoid losing a club trick, whatever the defense led.

Also, of course, if the defense shifted to clubs at trick two, and West could certainly have seen that declarer isn't going to be inconvenienced by a second round force in diamonds, then it wouldn't matter which suit they were in. But if there is any advantage, it's going to lie with the more balanced suit as trump.

But how about the East-West hands. I first picked up this hand because of that slight advantage to naming the more balanced spades as trump. Then I got to noticing how tame the opponents had become on their powerful holding. They can make five of either minor. Since N-S can make 5 of either major, that means E-W have a good sac at 6 of either minor.

Further, please note that they too have a vested interest in naming the balanced suit trump. Again, it won't matter if the best defense is found. If the defense starts with two spade tricks, it won't matter which minor E-W are in. But if they get off to a heart lead, then it will matter, for if they're in clubs, the unbalanced diamonds will allow the sluffing of two spades in dummy, making 7, while if they're in diamonds, there'll always be two spade losers, regardless of the lead.

Aside from the value of balanced suits (as trump) over unbalanced, West should certainly want to take a five club bid with that powerful hand. A two-suiter is s0 much more formidable than a one-suiter with the same hcp content, that one should be very agressive with both a two-suiter composed of a fair supply of high cards. Put the bottom three clubs in West's hand into the heart suit, and you can see how parlous it might be to insist on diamonds at the five level, particularly vulnerable. See Slam Dunk Fits