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East won the opening lead and immediately played ace and another spade. South won with Q and played a trump, but it was too late. Despite the bad breaks in spades and trumps declarer could cross ruff the remaining tricks to make his slam.

Notice the difference if East plays even one round of trumps - he ends with only eleven tricks. The same principle applies if South finds a trump lead at trick one - East must again play two rounds of spades immediately to give himself the necessary timing and entries to establish the fifth spade and cross-ruff safely.
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