THIS IS A RARE DEAL OUT OF THE MANY

David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, said, “Thought is a strenuous art -- few practice it, and then only at rare times.”

What is very rare about today’s deal?

The auction is not obvious. In mine, North gives a positive response with his maximum pass, then understandably drives to slam. After a spade lead, South has 12 top tricks: three spades, one heart, five diamonds and three clubs. If declarer plays accurately, he can squeeze East in the black suits for an overtrick. It takes a heart lead to defeat seven no-trump.

Six spades is safe, although after a heart lead, South must play carefully. He wins with dummy’s ace, takes the spade finesse and cashes one more round. Then he unblocks the club king, crosses to the diamond 10 and pitches his last two hearts on the club ace-queen. He plays a spade to hand and leads out his winning diamonds.

To make six hearts, North must hold the trump losers to one. Mathematically, the best play is to run the eight on the first round, which works here.

In six diamonds, declarer can take the same 12 tricks as in no-trump.

Finally, in six clubs, declarer wins (say) the diamond lead, cashes the club king, crosses to the heart ace, draws two more rounds of trumps, plays a spade to the jack and discards hearts on diamonds.

Did you ever see a board where 12 and only 12 tricks can be made in all five strains?