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Playing in a BOT game online, vulnerable versus not, I pick up a lot of spades. I have a 14 count, so nobody else at the table has more than 14 themselves.
Partner is dealer, we are vulnerable, they are not. I am surprised to see that partner has opened 1♡ in first seat. Nice that partner has some points. I will be in some game now. But opening in my void is a bad thing for the value of my hand. A simple 1♠ response is right. Go slowly on good hands, never preempt the auction, as long as you can make forcing bids.
Things go downhill again though when my LHO makes a takeout double, then partner just rebids 2H. Ugh. I am less happy yet, but I still plan on game. That is never in doubt here. Partner had a support redouble available to him, so I expect not to see 3 spades over there. Partner does have heart length, and I'm not sure what partner would do with 6 or 7 hearts and 3 spades. More likely, partner has 0, 1 or 2 spades.
This is not a hand to just rebid 2S, which could be passed. I'm not even going to invite, just blast 4S. According to the BOT system, 4S is described as 12+ HCP, 13-16 total points, and strong rebiddable spades. (A note to myself, that I should have verified what 3♠ would have meant in the bot system. I generally do that with EVERY bid, check on the alternatives available, what they would imply. This is just a very good habit when playing online with the bots.)
I'm expecting to be passed out in 4♠, since I know that partner has a max of 14 points. However, my bot partner surprises me again, with 4NT. This is clearly Roman Keycard Blackwood, for spades.
One question that some people have, is should you show a void in response to keycard? That is, there are bids that allow you to show an odd number of keycards, plus a useful void. NEVER show a void as an ace. But also, a void in partner's suit is not a useful void. So here, just bid 5♠, showing two keycards, plus the spade queen. Partner now continues to 6♠, which all pass. I'm a little worried about that bid, because my club king and diamond queen may be poorly placed.
North has a nice hand, but I can't use it that well. A diamond ruff or two would be great things though. Sadly, West starts the play with the ace of trumps, and a second trump, killing any diamond ruff at all. UGH.
At trick 2, East follows suit in trumps, so they are drawn. Sadly, dummy is also out of trumps.
I always advise that you need to stop at trick 1, and take complete stock of the hand. How many tricks do you need, how many do you have? Where might you get tricks? Who has what against you, and where? What does the bidding tell you? On this hand, I'll stop things before I play from my hand at trick 2, since I have learned much about the hand at that point.
So, first, 14 HCP opposite 14. That leaves 12 out. Who has them? WEST. West made a free takeout double of the major suits at their first opportunity. The 12 missing honor cards are the spade ace (we saw that already) the red suit kings, and the diamond and club jacks. I suppose West might have made a double missing one of those jacks, but not a king.
How many tricks do I have off the top now? 6 spades. 1 heart, 1 diamond, and 3 clubs, totaling 11. I need 12.
Does a feeling of dread enter your mind at this point? Do you just mentally give up? NO! Where can an extra trick appear?
1. West might have a stiff heart king, or a doubleton, in which case it can be ruffed out.
2. A diamond finesse might work. No diamond ruffs are possible of course, since they drew two rounds of trumps.
3. A squeeze might work, IF we play it properly.
Those are pretty much my options. I can discard any hope of an endplay in slam, since they already took a trick. The diamond finesse will surely fail, since I know that West has diamond length, as well as the diamond king.
Do you see where I am going here? I can play for option 1, by trying two rounds of hearts immediately, then play for a squeeze against West, who surely holds all the cards I need.
In order to execute that plan, I need to NOT overtake the spade jack at trick 2 and then just run trumps. So win the jack in dummy. Then cash the heart ace, and then ruff a low heart in hand. Watch to see if the ♡ king ever appears. If it does, then just claim 12 tricks.
On those two rounds of hearts, West plays the 3 and the 10, but not the king. East plays two low heart spots.
Now what? Again, stop, just to count things out. Visualize the West hand. West had 2 spades. the heart king, so at least 3 hearts. But if West made a takeout double showing the minors, then West should be 4-4 in the minors since we know about 5 cards in the majors. Can you see that hand? East, is, of course, completely broke. The hands are now virtually an open book to read.
In the South hand now, start cashing the spade winners. Watch for someone to play a red suit king, and watch the clubs as they appear. You don't need to actively count every card they play. Instead, you need to know what cards are important, and watch for them.
On tricks 5 and 6 (two top spades), West plays the 6 and 3 of clubs, East the 4 of clubs. They are making it easy for you now. But it will be easy for you, and very hard for West, who will be massively squeezed. Your plan will be to come down to these cards near the end.
North
---
Q
7
AQ92
South
2
---
AQ9
K5
The lead is still in South. Cash the diamond ace. Don't even think about taking a finesse there. It won't work anyway. But if the king drops now, your queen is trick 12. Next, cash the last spade. Does a red king appear from West? If not, then throw the heart queen from dummy on your spade.
All that remains now is to cash the club king, then play to dummy in clubs, secure in the knowledge that West could not also control the club suit. The ♣ deuce will be trick 12 for you, if you kept it from the beginning.
You have executed a basic squeeze. In fact, West was squeezed in three suits. If you want to follow the play, the complete hands were:
Making 12 tricks was actually easy here in a slam that at first glance looks to be a problem. The score was 89.3% on the board, a tie with 3 others also making that slam, while one person who went down in 6♠. Most people stopped in game, some were in 4♠ or 5♠ making 11 or 12 tricks. So never give up on a hand. Look for ways to find that necessary extra trick.
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