Late in the second half, my partner has a bidding problem. I deal and, invulnerable, open 1NT, showing 10-12 HCP, balanced. She holds

 QJ5 AKJ KQJ10 A95

That's a pretty good hand. We have 31-33 HCP, so slam is definitely in the picture. I could have a five-card major or four (or even three!) diamonds, so she chooses to ask for my distribution. The bidding proceeds:

Me	Partner
1NT	2
2NT	3
3	3
3NT	?

2 was game-forcing relay Stayman. 3 and 3 were relays. I showed exactly 3-3-2-5 distribution with my actions. What now?

Any slam but 6NT is out; 4NT would be natural and invitational here, but is that right? What hand can I have that would make slam a good bet? How about  Kxx xxx Ax KQxxx? No chance; I'd open that 1, since the good five-card suit and all primes makes the hand a little too good for a 10-12 NT. About the only hand I can think of that makes 6NT good is  A10x xxx Ax QJ10xx. Playing for rare specific hands (sorry, we can't ask about club spots) seems wrong, so she passes 3NT.

I actually held  K109 Q53 A7 K7652. I have 12 HCP, giving us 33 HCP. No slam has any play. We score up +460, and expect to gain 11 IMPs on the hand. I note that I thought about opening 1 on this hand and consider it to be a maximum 1NT opening.

The 11 IMPs are not to be. At the other table, the auction went

My hand	Partner's hand
1	1
1NT	4NT
Pass

An astonishing push. After the comparison, we walk by Hamman's table and hear him mutter, "33 points and no one bids slam. This game is getting too tough."

We end up losing the match by 3 IMPs. 22 IMPs was just too tough to recover.