You Should Be Happy

That trump are splitting 3-1

Q 8 7
Q 6 4 3
A
10 8 7 6 2
3 J 10 5
K 8 5 2 J 10 7
8 7 5 4 10 9 3 2
K Q 9 3 J 5 4
A K 9 6 4 2
A 9
K Q J 6 Contract: 7 spades
A Opening lead: K of clubs

I seem to have come across a number of slam hands recently where the 3-1 has bedevilled declarer unnecessarily. There is one here, another here, another I remember well, though I can't remember where I parked it. And now the hand above. The first link above is to a ten-carder, but trump split 3-0 so it amounted to the same thing as a 3-1 split. All would have been a cakewalk had trump split evenly (with the qualification that a diamond lead, on the second link above, which declarer didn't get, would have scuttled the slam). And I'm here to say that you should be glad the trump is splitting unevenly.
Howzzat? Glad? When I just went down because of the uneven split? Whaddaya being a wise guy or something? Well, of course, I can't expect you to be glad at that moment, but I have two reasons for saying you should be glad. First, the complexities of the game, the need to think and find wise decisions about how to mobilize your potential, are what intrigues so many people and makes the game the zinger it is. You don't want a game where you merely cash out all high cards and then concede, do you? Some people play that way, but you don't want that, now, do you? In short, the complexities add spice to the game.
And secondly, it's on hands with some complexity that you can pull ahead of the duffers. Well, no, not if you're one of the duffers, but there is such a thing as improving, no? You can go over hands where others made and you didn't to see, well, maybe if they got a defensive error, and maybe that wasn't what made the difference. Any neophyte can cash out top winners. The question here, though, is can you marshal your forces where the hand doesn't subject itself to such a simple line.
Five people went down in grand slam here. Four of them simply led trump three times to exhaust the defense of trump. That's what you're supposed to do, isn't it, draw their trump? Not necessarily and not before thinking a moment and doing your housekeeping first. In short, on this hand, it won't work.
And the fifth? Well, this declarer unblocked the ace of diamonds, drew two rounds of trump, then led three more rounds of diamonds, sluffing dummy's hearts and then cashed the ace of hearts and ruffed a heart. And he went down? Yes, he went down. He did so because his first two rounds of trump were with the A K! At that point, he might as well have drawn the last trump. After all, there may be only a one-in-a-hundred chance that he'll drop a stiff king of hearts, but there's a zero in a hundred chance that he'll make grand slam if he uses the only card that beats the jack of spades for a ruff.
So the most effective play of the hand has been indicated. Unblock the ace of diamonds, take two rounds of trump, one with the queen. (Bear in mind that if all goes well, you'll be ruffing the second round of hearts, not a late round of diamonds, and hence aren't likely to need a high trump.) Run your diamonds, sluffing hearts, ace of hearts and a ruff. If you get ruffed, well, the hand can't be made, and at least you'll tie those who bid that high and your partner can't criticize your play.
And incidentally, that 13th trick wasn't important only to those in grand slam. Here are some scores you might find significant: Those making grand slam got 96.67, as you'd expect, those bidding six making an overtrick got 84.44, one pair in 6 no, 75.5 and those in 6 spades without an overtrick got 50.00! That should tell you something. There's a far greater disparity between those making six spades without an overtrick and those making an overtrick, than there is between those making 13 tricks in little slam vs. those who risked a grand slam bid. Fifty percent for bidding and making your little slam!
The scoring system is telling you something, which is, Hey, man, you don't necessarily get a good score for bidding and making a little slam. It's through no merit of your own that you got all those high cards. They were given to you, and now the question is, are you going to find the right level of risk in the bidding and when the cards come down, is declarer going to find the most effective use of his forces?
Here (though I ask you not to generalize too much from this), the level of risk between 6 and 7 in the bidding doesn't matter a whole lot, i.e., doesn't matter a lot provided you pick up 13 tricks in each contract. So the level of card play matters a good bit, it seems apparent.