Happy 4th of July!

No new material, so here's a well-guessed hand by Jeff from our set against Izzy and Pamela.

He picked up all red:

A8 / AKQJ3 / AK6 / JT9

The uncontested auction went:

2 Clubs - 2 Diamonds
2 NT - 3 Clubs (Regular Stayman)
3 Hearts - 3 Spades (Slam interest in Hearts)
4 Diamonds (Cuebid) - 4 NT
5 Clubs (1 or 4 Keycards) - 5 Diamonds (Queen ask)
6 Diamonds (Yes, and King of Diamonds is my cheapest (only) side King) - 6 Hearts

LHO, Pamela, led the 7 of Spades (they lead 3rd/5th, if that matters.)

QT643 / 8654 / QJ / KQ

A8 / AKQJ3 / AK6 / JT9

A good lead on a slightly different layout (QTxx / xxxx / QJ / KQx opposite Ax / AKQJx / AKxx / Jx, for instance.)  Potentially fatal for the defense here.

Which Spade do you play from dummy?

Generally speaking, the better the opponent, the more inclined I'd be to play the Queen.  In that respect, Jeff paid Pamela a compliment when he played the Queen and it held.  Weaker players tend not to lead away from Kings against slam, whereas good players often make attacking leads against a suit slam.  He might have drawn an inference from the auction, but since I bid both Clubs and Spades (the 2 suits most likely to be led on this auction) artificially at the 3 level (giving Izzy an opportunity to double either one) I don't think the auction was very informative. 

Pamela's hand

K975 / T92 / T753 / 75

Izzy's hand

J2 / 7 / 9842 / A86432

+1430 was worth a little over 12 IMPs.  2 other pairs made the slam, but both times on a trick 12 pseudo squeeze (the player with the King of Spades decided to throw it away, keeping the long diamond (which declarer could have ruffed earlier in the hand if he'd had one.))