It is difficult to see the danger

Edgar Degas, who loved to paint dancers, said, “Everyone has talent at 25. The difficulty is to have it at 50.”

That is so true. Another difficulty with bridge is spotting the problem quickly enough to find the solution. In today’s deal, for example, South was in six hearts. What should he have done after West led the diamond jack?

Once North showed game-forcing values with four-card heart support, South wheeled out Roman Key Card Blackwood. North’s five spades showed the trump queen and two key cards (one ace and the trump king or, as here, two aces). South did well not to bid seven hearts, which would have failed with this unfriendly distribution.

Even six hearts required care. The original declarer won with the diamond ace, then drew two rounds of trumps to learn about the bad break. (West discarded the diamond 10.) South crossed to dummy with a club and ran the spade 10. West took that trick and correctly judged that South would have bid and played differently with two diamonds. So West returned a club, and East ruffed it to defeat the slam.

There were various ways to get home if playing double-dummy (looking at all 52 cards), but the best line at trick four seems to be to lead a low spade toward dummy’s 10.

Presumably West will win and play his remaining diamond, but South ruffs, cashes his last trump, crosses to dummy with a club, removes East’s remaining heart and claims.