Analysis of Hands from October 17, 2004
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Hand 1
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    S J
    H QJ104
    D Q7654
    C 953

S AK62     S 98753
H 953      H K7
D K2       D A3
C K1062    C AJ74

    S Q104
    H A862
    D J1098
    C Q8
    
Dealer: South
Vulnerable: Neither

Bidding
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S  W  N  E

P  1C P  1S
P  2S P  4S
P  P  P

The bidding is relatively simple. Although East likes the hand after West shows spades,
East should bid only 2 spades, since it is only a minimum opener. (3 spades would show a 
medium opener, 15-17 points). Once West raises spades, East bids 4, since there must be
at least 25 points between the 2 hands.

Play
----

Opening lead: Diamond J

West notes that there are potentially 4 losers - a spade, 2 hearts, and a club.
The good news is that there are lots of ways that at least one loser can be eliminated:

1) If trumps split 2-2
2) If North has the heart A
3) Guessing the club finesse

There is a way to eliminate the club guess, and guarantee the contract.

  1) Draw two rounds of trump, and note that South has a trump winner.
  2) Play a second round of diamonds, eliminating the diamond suit from both hands.
  3) Throw South in with the trump winner.
  
South is now stuck:

  1) If a heart is led, East will only have one heart loser.
  2) If a diamond is led, West will ruff and East will pitch a heart.
  3) If a club is led, there is no guess in clubs.
  
This technique is known as a strip and end play. The key play is the second diamond,
to eliminate all safe exits by South.

Hand 2
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    S 1063
    H AQJ1092
    D 4
    C A54
    
S 9875     S J2
H 74       H K863
D 985      D A73
C Q962     C J1083

    S AKQ4
    H 5
    D KQJ1062
    C K7
    
Dealer: North
Vulnerable: N/S

Bidding
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N  E  S  W

1H P  2D P
2H P  2S P
2N P  4N P
5H P  6N P
P  P

Once North opens, South should think about bidding a slam.
(Remember from our slam lesson that a max opener opposite a min opener often produces slam.)
South certainly has enough to jump-shift (e.g. bid 3 diamonds).
However, the modern tendency is to avoid jump shifts so as to keep the bidding lower.
(In fact, many good players no longer play strong jump shifts.)
South, with 2 suits, can use new suit forcing to keep partner bidding.
When South bids (Roman Keycard) Blackwood, North shows 2 aces and no trump Q.
(Note that North treats spades, the last suit bid, as trump.)
South, missing one ace, bids 6.

At our session, Ed correctly suggested that 6D might be a better bid than 6N.
However, to keep the play interesting, we will assume the contract is 6N.

Play
----

Opening lead: Club J

North can count 11 tricks -- 3 spades, 1 heart, 5 diamonds, and 2 clubs.
There are several possibilites for a twelfth trick:

  1) The heart finesse will work
  2) Spades will break 3-3
  3) The spade J is singleton or doubleton
  
The key to the hand is to manage your entries such that you can cater to all 3 possibilities.
Therefore, it is imperative that North win the first club trick.
Next, North should play 2 rounds of spades. Since the spade J drops, North can now
cash the spade 10 and lead a diamond. Note that if South won the first trick, North could
not cash the 10 of spades, since now the only entry back to South is in spades, and North
would have no more spades.

If the spade J did not drop, North would then play diamonds, test for a 3-3 spade break,
and try the heart finesse as a last resort.