+2280

As North, I had an unusual problem in responding to RKCB, what do you bid with all five controls? I'm sure Eddie Kantor must have a bid for that somewhere in his voluminous writings on RKCB, but I didn't know what it was. (Come to think of it, I still don't!) Anyway, with two kings on the side in addition to the five controls, 7NT seemed like a nice conservative call.

The opening lead was a small diamond. South won the ace and got out his adding machine to count the tricks: 3 spades, 5 hearts, 2 diamonds, and 5 clubs came to 15, making 7 with two overtricks for a score of +2280!

At tricks 2 and 3 he eliminated the blocked suits by playing the club ace and a small spade to the queen. Now the king of clubs pitching a diamond with all following. A small cloud appeared on the horizon when on the queen of clubs West pitched a diamond. Ok, make that +2250. On the AK of hearts, the small cloud turned into dark, ominous thunderhead as East pitched a diamond on the second round. A quick recount revealed that the expected 15 tricks and +2280 had now taken a turn for the worse to 12 tricks and -100!