The guy on my left by Jan van Cleeff

On the second day of the qualifying round in the Rosenblum, our team (Van Oppen-Rebattu, Jansma-Van Cleeff - Holland) met the Parker team of USA. After we played a couple of boards I picked up this hand:

S 9 7 3
H A K J 10
D K 10 8
C A 8 2.

The bidding went like this:

Dlr: South, Love All
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
Schaffer Jansma Vernay Van Cleeff
1NT (15-17)
Pass 2H (5+S) Pass 2S
Pass 3D (1RF) Pass 4S
Pass 6S All Pass

When West kicked off with the CK, dummy
unfolded:
NORTH
S A K 10 6 2
H -
D A J 9 7
C J 6 5 3

SOUTH
S 9 7 3
H A K J 10
D K 10 8
C A 8 2

A shaky slam with a lot of work to do. However, after my wild 4S, who could blame North for the way he bid? I took the CA, East following with the 9 (standard signaling). I continued with HA-K and ten, pitching three clubs from dummy, everybody following with low hearts. For some unclear reasons I ruffed a club in dummy, while East petered with the 4. At this point I played the SA, West the jack, East and South small ones. Not knowing of anything better, I continued with the SK on which West pitched the D6.

I tried to figure out East's distribution. It seemed to me that he started with four spades, two clubs, three diamonds and four hearts or four diamonds and three hearts. If I could find the DQ I still could make the contract either by making
four diamonds tricks or by making three diamonds and executing a trump coup. Considering the possible diamond length with East and moreover the diamond pitch by West I decided to play East for the DQ. Consequently I played a diamond to the 8 and ...
Suddenly I remembered a hand from years ago. I was defending a heart game together with my partner Erik Kirchhoff. The only problem for declarer was in spades. Having ace, king and all the intermediates in that suit, he had to find the queen out of six missing spades. After an extra round of trumps both Erik and I discarded a small spade. Later declarer looked very disappointed when he misguessed the spades, especially when it turned out that originally the suit was divided three-three.
Returning to the here and now, I realized -- one split second too late -- that I fell in my own old trap as set out by the guy on my left, Barry Schaffer, who suavely won the DQ.
So 6S was down one -- and of course it was an easy 4S at the other table:

NORTH
S A K 10 6 2
H -
D A J 9 7
C J 6 5 3
WEST EAST
S J S Q 8 5 4
H Q 8 7 4 3 H 9 6 5 2
D Q 6 2 D 5 4 3
C K Q 10 7 C 9 4
SOUTH
S 9 7 3
H A K J 10
D K 10 8
C A 8 2

DUTCH DILEMMA by Jan van Cleeff

As South you hear this bidding:

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
Pass Pass
1NT(15-17) Pass 2C Pass
2D Pass 2NT Pass
3NT All Pass

Partner leads the S2 (4th best) and this is what you see:

EAST
(dummy)
S K J 9 4
H K 3
D 9 8
C J 9 6 5 3
SOUTH
S 10 8 6
H A Q 7 5
D 10 5 2
C 10 8 7

Declarer asks for the S4 and your 8 is taken by his Ace. Next comes the H4 for 6,King and your Ace. How should you defend?

Two Dutch topflight players,Bep Vriend and Jan Jansma,both South, encountered this defensive dilemma. Both considered a Diamond switch of course. They reasoned,however,that chances were big that declarer might have a five-card suit. Right they were,so they continued with a low Heart.

Wrong,there were:

NORTH
S Q 7 3 2
H 9 8 6 2
D A K J
C 4 2
WEST EAST
SA 5 S K J 9 4
H J 10 4 H K 3
D Q 7 6 4 3 D 9 8
C A K Q C J 9 6 5 3
SOUTH
S 10 8 6
H A Q 7 5
D 10 5 2
C 10 8 7

Obviously a Diamond switch would have killed the contract. Doing so, perfect defense would be: North takes the first Diamond and switches to Spades,whereafter two down can't be avoided.
By the way,the less obvious switch to the 10 of spades also would have killed the contract. 3NT making scored 80 percent for EW.