In yesterday's Bulletin we reported how the declarer in the Round 4 Vugraph match failed in Six Hearts on Board 3. We soon had stories of three of the six declarers who had succeeded in the slam. The first came from Geo Tislevoll and featured Boye Brogeland, the world's top ranked Junior.

Brogeland is already making his mark in Open bridge. Last year he was in the Norwegian team which qualified for the Bermuda Bowl and took third place. This season he has won both the Norwegian championships and was in the Norwegian team which won the Nordic championships. This was how he read the club position to make his slam:

Board 3. Dealer South. Game All ª A © Q J 10 6 ¨ K 7 6 3 § A 10 7 5 ª J 6 5 3 2 ª K Q 10 9 4 © 2 © 8 5 3 ¨ Q J 10 5 ¨ A 9 4 2 § Q 8 6 § 3 ª 8 7 © A K 9 7 4 ¨ 8 § K J 9 4 2 West North East South Saur Brogeland 1© Pass 2NT Pass 3§ Pass 3ª Pass 4§ Pass 4¨ Pass 4NT Pass 5ª Pass 6© All Pass

Two Notrumps was Jacoby showing a game-going hand with heart support. North next showed a singleton spade and, in response to Roman Keycard Blackwood, promised two of the five aces, and the queen of trumps, so Brogeland bid the slam.

West led ¨Q. Most of us would just draw trumps and hope to guess the club suit, probably unsuccessfully, as happened at several tables. Brogeland, however, did all the investigation he could before reaching the crucial choice in clubs.

He ruffed the second diamond high, crossed to dummy with a trump to ruff another diamond, then back to dummy with a second trump (West throwing a spade) to ruff the last diamond. Now he crossed to the spade ace to draw the last trump. Again West threw a spade. West had only five red cards to East's seven.

If West had six spades with his four diamonds, he would very probably have bid over South's opening One Heart. So West was very likely to have at most five spades, and therefore three clubs.

Brogeland was not in doubt. He played a club to the king and then finessed through West. This was 12 tricks and 14 IMPs to Norway, when the declarer for Germany in the same contract at the other table, failed.

Our next report of the deal came from Maurits van der Vlugt who reported a flat board between Croatia and the Netherlands when both declarers in Six Hearts followed the same line of play to make their slam.

The auction of Tomislav Sasek (South) and Marina Pilipovic for Croatia was:

The auction of Simon de Wijs (South) and Ricco van Prooijen was:

Here 2NT was Jacoby, 4§ was a natural slam try showing 5 clubs, 4NT was Roman Keycard Blackwood, and South showed two of the five aces and denied the queen of trumps. West, as usual, led the queen of diamonds, and continued the suit. Both declarers ruffed the second diamond, crossed to the ace of spades, and noted the count signal from the defenders as showing an odd number each. Later on after drawing trumps and ruffing the second spade, they duly read West's shape as 5-1-4 in spades, hearts, and diamonds, and therefore three clubs. Well done.

Editors: True, but a slight flaw is that they had not ruffed all four diamonds in hand to confirm the layout of the suit, as Brogeland did. It seems to us that the best line is to play a spade at trick three, as, at such an early stage, the defenders are likely to give an honest count signal, and then proceed to ruff out the diamonds, and draw trumps as Brogeland did.

The other declarers to succeed in Six Hearts were Mik Kristensen of Denmark, Yaniv Zack of Israel and Sergei Zenko of Belarus. The hand records give these details:

Kristensen & Mikkel Nohr bid:

Due to East's double of the response to Roman Keycard Blackwood, West led a spade rather than a diamond. Declarer won his ace, came to hand with a trump and ruffed a spade. He then returned with another trump. Denmark gained 11 IMPs when Poland stopped in Four Hearts making 12 tricks.

Zack & Asaf Amit of Israel bid:

Again, in response to East's double, West led a spade and declarer drew two rounds of trumps. The swing was 11 IMPs as Austria made 12 tricks in Four Hearts.

Zenko & Maksim Khadziyantz of Belarus bid:

Declarer ruffed the second diamond and played two rounds of trumps. Belarus gained 14 IMPs as the Finnish declarer in the same contract failed.