[fred]

Scoring: IMP

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Both of your opponents are great players.

Your RHO opens 3H in 3rd seat. Perhaps because the great player on your left is Paul Soloway and you don't want to ignore "Hamman's rule" in his presence, you choose to make the highly questionable call of 3NT. Everyone passes.

A heart is led. You win in dummy and play a spade. RHO wins the Ace and continues a heart that looks like suit preference for clubs. You win as LHO discards a spade.

On your King of spades RHO discards a heart. You play a spade to LHO's Queen as RHO pitches another heart.

The 10 of clubs comes back.

1) Plan the play
2) Play the defense

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[Patapon]

If LHO started with K109(x) in Club and QJxx(x) in Diamond, I can win, playing the Jack of Club, covered by the Queen and the Ace then Club again.

The defense can't do anything on this layout. I think

--If LHO plays now the Queen of Diamond I took the King and run my two master Spades- ending in this position:

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Now I play Club and RHO has to dicard his Heart or to keep the bare 9 of Diamond.

--If LHO plays now a small Diamond I play the 10 and run my Spades again..


I didn't find any other layout that allows to make my contract, even if the defense makes a mistake!

[Patapon]

Yes!
The defense has already made a mistake when LHO played the 10 of Clubs intead of playing the King(or Q) if he lead from K109(x).

[Halo]

Very nice guard squeeze, but somewhere the valuable Queen of diamonds went missing, I think. If it was led by West, it shouldn't have been.

EDIT: Now I think about West in the diagram above could have kept two clubs and now the blockage in diamonds leaves declarer nothing.