Mark:
There's a lot to sort out in both the bidding and play.
First of all, anyone who made only 12 tricks in spades on this hand made a
significant error in the play. Even if clubs are led, declarer wins the ace and
plays 3 rounds of diamonds to dispose of the club loser in the South hand. The
spade finesse can then be taken safely for the overtrick and it works. Anyone
who plays the spade ace in hopes of dropping a singleton K rather than the
finesse is making a play with a much lower likelihood of success than the
normal play. I suppose that if you are playing against a defender that you are
very sure will cover the Q of spades when you lead it, you might try the
ace and will get a poor result for underestimating the defender. 6NT, if played
correctly without a revealing opening J of hearts lead from East or peeking at
the East hand, will make only 12 tricks for a poor result compared to a spade
contract of the equivalent level.
Now back to the bidding. The 1 NT opening bid by N
isn't most people's cup of tea, but there are good players that will do that
rather than open 1 spade. Let's go with the actual bid that was made. Once N
shows 15 to 17 HCP, S counts the 17 HCP and should know the partnership has 32.
33 or 34 combined HCP. With average luck, the majority of hands with 33 or 34
HCP will make a slam and 32 point hands will make slam almost half the time,
and that's before we consider the possibility of finding a useful fit in a
suit, which would add considerably to the chances of a slam. So, the moment N
(the describer) opens 1NT, South (the decider) should plan on definitely
bidding a slam (mildly aggressive) or strongly inviting slam (very timid with
this hand.) Before South even makes a decision between these two options, an
attempt should be made to locate a fit in a major suit. It should start with 2
clubs Stayman. Why commit to a spade contract when partner might have 2 spades
and 4 hearts? If partner responds with a 4 (or more) card major, it's no
longer acceptable to stop short of slam. There's timid and then there's just an
outright mistake. Most A players have a convention to show a hand interested in
game or slam with 5 cards in 1 major and 4 in the other after partner opens
1NT. If you feel ready for the next step in advancing to that level, look up a
convention called Smolen. Most readers of this page aren't ready for that, but
I thought I'd mention it. It's a very useful convention.
One other very important point to respond to the
question that was posed. 4NT is NOT Blackwood after partner opens 1NT, it is an
invitation saying "Bid 6 with a maximum (17), pass with a minimum(15) and
try to make a good decision with 16. The way to ask for aces after a NT opening
is 4 clubs (Gerber).
Back to the play. If N finds himself/herself in 6NT
after S makes a mistake in the bidding but at least gets to slam, N probably
gets a surprise bonus for the slightly eccentric 1NT opening bid. East is
likely to lead the J of hearts and is therefore pretty much marked with the 10.
Now declarer leads a small diamond to the K, takes the spade finesse and later
takes a heart finesse against the 10, scoring 13 tricks and an undeserved top
board, assuming they bid 6NT.
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