Bidding gives the slam away

Jessica Alba said, “My theory is that if you look confident, you can pull off anything — even if you have no clue what you’re doing.”

That is an interesting theory, if debatable. At the bridge table, though, we are always looking for clues so that we can be confident we are about to make the right play.

In this deal, look at the West hand and the auction. What should West lead against six spades?

At 16 Bridge Base Online tables, five times East opened the bidding with two or three diamonds, despite the unfavorable vulnerability. Then South ended in four spades.

When East passed as dealer, South opened one spade, and North responded two clubs, natural and game-forcing. Then every East except one jumped to three diamonds, and each South rebid four clubs. After that, two control-bids were followed by a jump to six spades.

At those 12 six-spade tables, two Wests led a trump, and five started with a diamond. The other four chose the club ace. Then, surprisingly, three of those Wests shifted to a diamond at trick two! Only at the table where East never bid did West continue with a second club for East to ruff and defeat the slam.

What clue did that West not miss?

When North bid clubs and South raised, surely they had at least a 4-4 fit; and if so, East had at most a singleton.

Should West have doubled six spades?

No! Maybe North or South would have taken the hint and run to six no-trump, which was cold.