In the first auction the 3D bid is likely showing a 5431 shape, although 6430 and 5440 are possible. The next two bids show controls. North’s 4C not only shows a control but also the willingness to explore for slam. 4H denies a diamond control but South feels safe to show the unguarded King if Hearts as it is protected on the opening lead in a spade contract. After a keycard sequence North reasons that if South has the (stiff) Ace of Clubs he can pitch 2 diamonds on the KQ of Clubs and try to ruff out the King of Diamonds. (North knows the opponents have 4 or fewer diamonds between them because South showed 3 or 4). If South doesn’t have a club Ace, then the slam is on a Diamond finesse. All in all, there are 2 ways to make it, a little more than a 50% chance, not a great slam but North went anyway.
In the second auction, the 3C bid was a control. No patterning out for this pair. The next 3 bids were controls but with nothing else to say South quietly bid 4S. North made one more slam try with 5C and South, using the same logic as above took the plunge.
The play:
On a diamond lead, Captain Hook saw the possibility of making seven if the Diamond finesse was on. True to his moniker he called for a low diamond from dummy. East quickly set the contract.
On a diamond lead you cannot afford to take the finesse because if it fails and it likely will, you could be down after only 2 tricks.
Before you play to trick one you look over the hand for a line that might work without the diamond finesse. You note the juicy KQ7 of clubs in dummy where you can pitch 2 diamonds and then try to ruff out the king and run the diamonds for heart pitches. This works if diamonds are 2-2 and spades are 3-2. This is exactly the line North pictured when he went to 6.
Note that you have 2 trump entries if you preserve the 8 to be overtaken by the 9. Actually, I would use that entry before the king to avoid a careless error.
Another line is to lead a heart towards hand after disposing of your diamonds on the clubs. This fails even if East has the Ace. A trump return will prevent you from ruffing two Hearts. Remember you used one (the 9) to get to the board. If West has the Ace of Hearts there is no play.
Back to the diamonds. Remember that West is very unlikely to have the king, so a ruffing finesse might work. But if West led a singleton, he’d ruff the 2nd diamond. So, once again this line easily works if diamonds are 2-2, but there is a way to improve your chances. In case West has only 2 trumps, you can cash one trump in hand before entering dummy to cash the clubs and take the ruffing finesse. This works with 3-1 diamonds too, as long as West only has 2 spades.
Since diamonds and spades both break friendly, your excellent declarer play is rewarded with an overtrick!
Bidding and making the slam scored 98% in the common game. This hand also rewarded good dummy play as making 680 or 710 was worth over 95% of the matchpoints.
After the contract went down, Peter vowed to ‘neverland’ Captain Hook as a partner again.
