I do not at all wish to be in this slam. You did not ask about the auction, but I don't agree with it. North's negative double pretty much forces me to bid at least 3
whenever I have four of them. To my mind, that means that 3
is not forcing. If I have a hand strong enough to be in 4
opposite the X I would bid 4
. But, on the auction shown, I am making a passable 3
call and then, when partner, perhaps stretching, bids 4
I raise to 6
. So my bidding amounts to: Partner, you can pass 3
and we will play in a partscore, or you can raise 3
to 4
and then I will bid the slam, but under no circumstances can we play 4
.
If the
k is offside I am going down if a
is led at T1. Certainly W should think a bit about why on earth S could jump to 6
. A spade void seems likely, so a
lead is not silly. After the favorable opening lead I still have to develop hearts and with that 2
bid on my left I am not optimistic.
Added: I thought a little more over morning coffee. Perhaps S sees the 3
as forcing? I guess a pair could play that fast arrival is on ere, opener with four hearts and a minimum bids 4
, not 3
, over the X. But this would mean that 3
becomes an impossible contract to reach. since 3
is forcing. And this means that N cannot make a negative X over 2
unless s/he is prepared to hear 4
from partner on a minimum. n the given N hand that would be ok but it seems to me we want to be able to make a negative double even on a bit less than N has. Anyway, if the X shows four hearts and enough strength to play in 4, ie if we are playing fast arrival, then 3
is forcing and the raise to 4
shows a min.
But I think 3
is passable, the raise to 4
shows enough to play in 4, and, if so, then I think the bid of 3
followed by 6
is a way of precluding playing in 4
.
Now about the play.
I agree that the
A helped us out. Helped a lot. I also agree that ruffs are a serious danger. So after ruffing the spade I lay down the
A and a small
and hope. Maybe W held Kx or Jx and the play is easy. If the first three hearts I see are the 2 and 4 under the A and the 9 when I lead the small
then I need W to still hold either the K or the J, meaning E started with Jx or Kx. I suppose I play the Q. If hearts are 4-1, this hand will be a problem.