[FrancesHinden]

Scoring: IMP

1NT (12-14) P P P

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10 of spades lead (promises an interior sequence), Queen, 7, 3.
Low club off dummy, 5, 9, Ace
King of spades, 9, 4, 6
8 of spades, 5, 3 of hearts, Ace.

3 of clubs, 7, 10, Jack
10 of hearts, Queen, King, 7.

J of spades, diamond discard, 2 of diamonds, 6 of clubs
last spade, club discard from dummy, 9 of diamonds, ?

Do you agree with your play so far? (The club off dummy was a slightly strange shot but is what declarer did at the time - personally I'd have won the spade in hand and played a club up)

What do you discard from hand on the last spade?
LHO will continue with the 8 of hearts which you will run round to hand, discarding what from dummy?
Where is your seventh trick coming from?

(Opponents' carding is reverse attitude, standard count. Their defence to 1NT is double is penalties, 2M natural 6 card suit, 2C/2D pick up the 3 2-suiters other than both minors.)

[kenrexford]

I like the club play at trick two. It seems slightly odds-on for RHO to hold the club Jack, and he will not fly the Jack on a small club play unless he has tight honors. I'm not sure if it is percentage, but it is sexy.

The play on the second round of clubs is bizarre, though. The hook does not work both ways. LHO is allowed to have AKx, falsecard on the first club, duck the second club, and still have a quick/assured heart entry.

[FrancesHinden]

OK, you can put the CQ up on the second round if you like (I agree the 10 is a little bizarre). It loses to the King, and the play proceeds in exactly the same way.

[ArcLight]

My solution:

Spoiler

E 2=4=4=3
W 5=4=2=2

I think East has the remaining Club winner, and 2 diamonds, which were origianllty 2-4.
Your winner is the 3rd round of Diamonds.

Alternatively East is Squeezed in Clubs and Diamonds.
Discard so your hands are (not counting the hearts)

Dummy -
Club: x
Diamond: Ax (the A will be an entry after you run the hearts)


Hand -
Diamond: K x x
(meaning you needed to discard a heart and the last club)

[I don't think this is a double squeeze.]

[FrancesHinden]

This hand generated almost no interest. Never mind, I'll tell you the layout anywhere. It's a position which (in my experience) is extremely rare - a guard squeeze. ArcLight is nearly right, except that diamonds are 3-3:

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Poor East! On the last spade East needed to keep his 3 remaining hearts and his club winner, so had to discard his second diamond. You throw the heart from hand (no longer worth anything). West exits in hearts round to your hand. You cash the hearts, discovering that West started with 3 or 4 and East started with 4 or 5. You know East has the last remaining club winner. Your diamond suit is

A7x

opposite

K108

when you cash the DK, East's Jack falls and you now have to guess if East started with QJ9x or J9x and play the ace next or run the 10 through West's remaining Qx.

You can get this right for two reasons: first, there's a restricted choice argument on the diamond honours (when East drops the Jack he's more likely to be down to singleton Jack than QJ doubleton). Secondly, with KJ10xx Kxxx xx Ax West would probably have come in over 1NT.

The contract is cold on the layout. If EW don't take their spade tricks you have time to set up clubs.