This week's hand was an interesting application of the LAW of Total Tricks, which states that when the strength is roughly evenly divided between the two sides, the number of tricks available to North-South in its best trump suit plus the the number of tricks available to East-West in its best trump suit is roughly equal to the number of trump held by each side.

Here is the layout:

South's three-card raise with a singleton was popularized by Marshall Miles, who died last year. Almost all experts do this. West could not double the first time because of his doubleton in spades. North blasted to 4♠ because he did not think slam was likely because of his obscenely bad club holding, and he wanted to cut off the opponents' communication. I was sitting East and had to decide what to do.

It seemed pretty clear that the opponents had at least ten spades (playing partner for two) and perhaps eleven. From my perspective partner must have a pretty good hand, and he might be short in hearts as well as spades. Even though I am a firm believer in the adage that "the five level belongs to the opponents," I thought that there might be as many as twenty trump, and there was a likely double fit. Furthermore, when there is extreme distribution, it is often wise to bid one more. My reasoning was that if the opponents could take ten tricks in spades, I could probably take nine. Even if I were doubled, this would be a good result. So I tried 5♦, which was promptly doubled by South.

In fact, I only took eight tricks. The source of the problem was that with the extreme distribuion the opponents are actually cold for twelve tricks. If I chose not to lead my singleton spade, North can finagle all thirteen. So, my bid was OK in theory, but, as sometimes happens, a disaster in practice.

No one bid the slam, but I do not see why not. South, with 16 or 17 points in support of spades, arguably has enough to raise to 3♠. Yes, South only has three-card support and seven losers, but for slam purposes, adjusted high-card points is better than Losing Trick Count. This bid also has the side effect of shutting West up. With that encouragement North would surely drive to slam.

But wait. Even with no encouragement North's hand has only four losers and only two real flaws – a bevy of club losers and the ♠A. Isn't slam worth a look? This is an ideal time for an Exclusion Blackwood bid of 5♦, which asks partner to bid key cards outside of the diamond suit. If partner shows 0 or 1, just sign off in 5♠, but if partner shows both black aces, bid 6♠.

Of course, not everyone plays Exclusion Blackwood. It might be possible to find the slam with cue bids, but it would not be easy because South must cue bid clubs twice.