It was disappointing that
no pairs – as far as I know – reached the excellent heart grand slam on the
deal shown below although the ultimate result would have been a gross
injustice.
This really should have been dead easy to bid. 2H shows at least five hearts and 4D is a splinter showing a singleton or void in that suit. With so much more to spare West can hardly do less than cue bid 5C and 5NT asks if West has two of the top three honours – the Josephine convention that we have seen several times before. But after the grand slam has been bid South would/should spring to life by doubling, the so-called Lightner double, asking for an unusual lead and nearly always based on the expectancy of obtaining a first round ruff. North should figure this to be a spade so the contract would die a quick death. Even without the double and with the normal lead of a trump against a grand slam the contract is likely to fail because of the horrific spade break. Sometimes virtue and all that……
