It's a record!
There are many deals where one side makes a high-level contract on extremely slim values. However, they are usually constructed. Famous examples include Ian Fleming's 'Moonraker' deal, itself borrowed from the Duke of Cumberland deep in the history of whist.
But for real, at the table - never happens. Enter Rick and Fleur Waters at the 2006 Suffolk Pairs Championships.
| NS Vul Dealer East | ♠ 986 | ||
| ♥ J8763 | |||
| ♦ AJ876 | |||
| ♣ --- | |||
| ♠ AJ105432 | ♠ KQ7 | ||
| ♥ 94 | ♥ AKQ52 | ||
| ♦ 10 | ♦ K | ||
| ♣ K96 | ♣ A1043 | ||
| ♠ --- | |||
| ♥ 10 | |||
| ♦ Q95432 | |||
| ♣ QJ8752 | |||
| West | North | East | South | |
| Fleur Waters | Rick Waters | |||
| 1♣1 | Pass | |||
| 1NT2 | Pass | 2♠ | 3♦ | |
| 4♦ | Pass | 5♥ | 6♣ | |
| X | 6♦ | Pass | Pass | |
| X | End | |||
1. Strong 16+
2. Spades (1♠ would be a balanced hand)
Nikos Sarantakos of the magazine, Bridge Plus writes,
"East-West were playing a strong club whereby 1NT showed spades. Sitting south, Rick Waters initially passed but then took a liking to his hand and bid his splendid diamonds; over the natural 5♥ bid he completed the description with 6♣, doubled. His wife and partner, Fleur, obviously corrected to 6♦ and this became the final contract, obviously doubled.
"The ♥9 was led, won by East who returned the suit. Declarer ruffed; as he says, he was dazed at his temerity and still convinced he was on a damage limitation exercise. He ruffed a club, in dummy, then a spade in hand and another club in the dummy. At this point, it dawned on him that the contract could actually be made if trumps behaved. So he played for the drop, which succeeded, then he ruffed the clubs good and claimed.
"I guess it deserves wider coverage , since it sets a new record in a premier category, namely 'Fewest high-card points to make a slam'. In fact the previous record stood at 12; in our exhibit, slam was made with just 11 points!"
Nikos Sarantakos is co-author (with David Bird) of Famous Bridge Records. Records are made to be broken - I'm sure Nikos would like to hear from you if you beat it…