So this hand came up in last night's duplicate. ♠AKJ109xxx ♥-- ♦J109xx ♣-- Sweet. I'm north. East opens the bidding with 1♥. I bid 1♠(what would you have bid?). West bids 4♥ and my partner doubles. East passes and it's my turn to bid. We're vulnerable and they're not. What do i need for a slam? The right ♦high cards, and pretty much nothing else does the job. The right ♦high cards would make a grand too, of course. If my partner doesn't have them, i'm going down. Definitely not much of a defensive hand, but i don't want to be the overambitious one. So obviously i freak out, i bid 4♠, West doubles, I redouble (still unsure of my 4♠) and they all pass. Geez, that was easier than I thought. I make +2 and feel bad about myself. This is what my partner held: ♠xx ♥J109x ♦Ax ♣AKxxx Ruff the heart lead, play the diamonds. Play trumps once (they're 2-1), ruff the third ♦ (they're 3-3) and i'm home. I'm not even sure if playing 6 it's the right thing to do (if diamonds are 4-2, i've got to rely on the short diamond hand to have shortness in ♠; ♠ 0-3 sets me). Well guys. How would you have bid this monster?
