In my last column I mentioned meeting Ed Hoogenkamp in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He played in a team also featuring Rob Helle. Ed in the team means a lot of laughter.

But let's look at the serious part first. Since you have had enough time to think it over, I assume you have figured out how Ed won his slam.
Here it is, Ed declared 6♥ in South, East had doubled 4♣ en route so West led the ♣2.

		♠	A 7 5
		♥	A 9 8 5
		♦	K Q 3
		♣	A 7 6
		♠	Q 6
		♥	K Q J 10 4 2
		♦	A 7 5
		♣	10 9

Ed saw the solution in a split second. He won with the ♣A. When East enthusiastically dropped the ♣K (suggesting he held the ♣KQJ) this was a piece of cake for Ed.
He drew trumps, cashed the diamond tricks and played off the rest of the trumps.

Of course he hoped, that was his only chance, East had the ♠K as well. East would then be caught in a strip squeeze. In order to succeed, Ed had to know what East would have left in the crucial trick, so he watched East's discards like a hawk (and West's discards as well by the way, he might very well give away the distribution when trying to clarify the situation for his partner).
With the last trump to go, Ed judged East had doubletons in both black suits left. Since he had not discarded a club honour, he had to have the ♣QJ:

		♠	A 7 5
		♥	-
		♦	-
		♣	6
				♠	K J
	irrelevant			♥	-
				♦	-
				♣	Q J
		♠	Q 6
		♥	2
		♦	-
		♣	9

On his last trump Ed discarded dummy's ♣6 and East was squeezed. He threw the ♠J, so Ed played the ♠6 to the ♠A and to his satisfaction the ♠K came down: twelve tricks.
Had East discarded the ♣J instead of the ♠J, Ed would have thrown him in by playing the ♣9: East then would have had to play away from the ♠KJ into dummy's tenace.

In order to test Ed, East had better sneakily bared the ♠K earlier on, throwing the ♣J on the last trump. This way he would have held on to the bare ♠K and the ♣Qx. Had Ed fallen for this and played the ♣9, in order to execute the placing, he would have had a nasty surprise. But no doubt our hero from Barcelona would have spotted the plot.

Someone in my team was in the slam too, but did not find Ed's brilliant line of play. He went for a sort of 50% chance (?) by trying a 'Chinese finesse': he ran the ♠Q, hoping West to duck while holding the ♠K...

The second good bit I gave you from Ed's exploits was the following psychic. As south he was dealt:

¹ strong, artificial: 16⁺ HCP
² 8⁺ HCP
³ asks for a heart guard
⁴ 'partner, do not lead hearts'
⁵ 'partner, I have the ♥A'

Shortly after having told his partner not to lead hearts, North had to lead himself.
This was the lay-out:

N/EW		♠	Q 8
		♥	8 3 2
		♦	A 9 6 2
		♣	K Q 8 2
♠	10			♠	A K 9 7 4 2
♥	K Q J 9 5 4			♥	A 10
♦	7 5			♦	K Q 8
♣	A 6 5 4			♣	J 10
		♠	J 6 5 3
		♥	7 6
		♦	J 10 4 3
		♣	9 7 3

I suppose I need not mention West made two overtricks, for a NS-score of -2160 only.

Let's be fair, against a good player like Ed it's only natural opponents tend to try something special. Like that opponent who asked for Ed's autograph on the beginning of a round.
After having received it, that opponent was dealt this South hand:

Somewhat nervously he thought: 'Wow, this is the chance of a lifetime! I am going to open with 7♠ against the great Hoogenkamp.'
And so he did.

Ed, West, led a trump, but to no avail:

		♠	9 2
		♥	Q 10 4 2
		♦	8 7 4
		♣	J 6 4 2
		♠	A K Q J 10 8 4 3
		♥	A J 8
		♦	A K
		♣	-

Dummy's ♠9 served as the entry for the heart finesse and East had the ♥K.
Opening and making a grand slam against Ed, yes, it's my dream too.

My next column will be a report of a training match of the Dutch team against Poland.

Postscript Ed Hoogenkamp
Sjoert gives a correct report of these deals (as to be expected from a bridge professional) in itself. However, the parts of the main characters, especially my part, is far from correct. Yes, I have overcalled 1♥ on a doubleton, to write -2160 shortly afterwards, but no, I did not make 6♥. Blushing with shame I have to admit I went down (I was the one who ran the ♠Q...).
Many years in the sun of Barcelona without regular play, are beginning to take their toll. My level of play is not quite what it used to be.
I thought it best to enlighten the reader, since not everyone might be familiar with Brink's style of writing. He presents me as an expert player, which I am not (and maybe have never been), thereby turning his observations into burlesque.
By the way: the man who opened 7♠ did not ask for my autograph either. But Sjoert did, he had it framed and for many years now it is on his bedroom wall.

Postscript Peter van der Linden: I do not have Ed's autograph. Not anymore, that is. Once I had thirty, but the exchange rate was thirty Ed autographs to the Sjoert autograph...