[thepossum]

Hi

I know maybe this isn't a wise slam. Only a few of us bid it in an IMPs tourney

Did I make an obvious blunder or is it tricky?

No idea if it is wise or not. Thought I had the diamonds covered but didn't expect a problem with North's hand despite the beautiful hearts

Any tips

All I can say is I played it wrong

You do indeed get the Queen of diamonds to East's Ace followed by a small club on which West drops the Queen

Is there any way to play it without assuming hearts behave and you don't need another entry for safety

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[Cyberyeti]

There are 3 lines:

1)assume hearts no worse than 4-2, spades are 3-2

Heart to the ace, heart ruffed high, 3 rounds of trumps finishing in dummy

2) hope that hearts are 3-3 or W has 4 and W has a second club if the hearts are 4-2, and play ♥AKQ without touching trumps intending to ruff your losers in dummy, this can work if the trumps are 4-1

3) similar to 2 but works in slightly different cases, ruff a diamond, heart AK pitching a club and now club to the K and ruff a club high.

[DavidKok]

I might be missing something. You have 11 tricks on top (5 spades, 3 hearts, 1 diamond and 2 clubs) so setting up one more trick will take you home. I would play

Spoiler

Ace of spades to check for a 5-0 break, if both opponents follow cash the king of diamonds, ruff a small diamond with the 10 (in case of an improbable 6=2 break with West having six), three more rounds of trumps, king of clubs and three rounds of hearts pitching clubs. If trumps do break 5-0 it's a bit more difficult and I'll have to guess whether the opponent with spade length has three diamonds or three clubs. If they have neither they must also have at least four hearts and we have a minor suit squeeze against East (if West holds 5 spades and 4+ hearts) but no real chances if East has spades + hearts and West has both minors, but I don't think this is very likely (nor do I think this can be diagnosed at the table very well, there might be a discovery play but at the table I wouldn't pause to play for this at trick two).

The above line is catering to a rare 6-1 club break, the main alternative is drawing two rounds of trumps before ruffing the third diamond with the 10 and playing a club back, losing if clubs break 6-1 with 3(+) spades with the long clubs but winning if diamonds are 7-1 with the singleton sitting with exactly two trumps. I'm not sure which is more likely, probably the 6-1 clubs split.

[Cyberyeti]

DavidKok, on 2023-May-30, 02:52, said:

I might be missing something. You have 11 tricks on top (5 spades, 3 hearts, 1 diamond and 2 clubs) so setting up one more trick will take you home. I would play

Spoiler

Ace of spades to check for a 5-0 break, if both opponents follow cash the king of diamonds, ruff a small diamond with the 10 (in case of an improbable 6=2 break with West having six), three more rounds of trumps, king of clubs and three rounds of hearts pitching clubs. If trumps do break 5-0 it's a bit more difficult and I'll have to guess whether the opponent with spade length has three diamonds or three clubs. If they have neither they must also have at least four hearts and we have a minor suit squeeze against East (if West holds 5 spades and 4+ hearts) but no real chances if East has spades + hearts and West has both minors, but I don't think this is very likely (nor do I think this can be diagnosed at the table very well, there might be a discovery play but at the table I wouldn't pause to play for this at trick two).

The above line is catering to a rare 6-1 club break, the main alternative is drawing two rounds of trumps before ruffing the third diamond with the 10 and playing a club back, losing if clubs break 6-1 with 3(+) spades with the long clubs but winning if diamonds are 7-1 with the singleton sitting with exactly two trumps. I'm not sure which is more likely, probably the 6-1 clubs split.

No I think you're right, more awkward if they played a heart at trick 2 and ruined your comms

[thepossum]

I think both of you are unreasonably good for a beginner forum and have tried most of the lines you suggest - and am impressed
There were some remarkable breaks which sadly I didn't fully cater for
Will post the hand in the morning

EDIT No. Here it is before I go to bed
I didn't play for the Club break - very sad - but to suggest my thought processes went close to those of earlier posters would be dishonest. And I appreciate maybe my play looks different to an expert line

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So much for my pride in rarely missing bid slams