[Hanoi5]

Scoring: IMP

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Bidding went:

Pass 1♠ 2♥ Pass
2NT Pass 3NT All Pass

Y received the ♠Q lead (Rusinow) and I held off. The♦J came next, up to you...

[Mosene]

Play low from both hands.

(edited) On second thought not sure what that gains.

[JavaBean]

Winning ♦A certainly seems like the best start to me - if East has ♦K and West ♦10, this is the only way to get two stoppers, and if West has ♦K after all, I can still lead up to ♦Q if I feel that's right.

After that I'm not sure what the best approach to the contract is. The "avoidance play" would be a club to the jack, putting West on lead and preserving club entries to both hands. However, if the club loses, West can get to East in diamonds for a spade through, so it may be better to try to generate tricks as soon as possible, safety be damned (and I'm not sure what the best line for that is either!). It seems like the alternative is to play for hearts 3-3 with at least one honor onside, and that's still only 8 tricks, after which I'll need to get the clubs right anyway.

So I'll just try the club finesse as stated. I'll assume the worst case - West wins a club and returns a diamond. I'll play him for the ten; presumably East wins ♦K and puts a spade through. Now I have eight tricks (4♣, 2♦, ♥A, ♠A), and I can generate another in hearts if the honors are split, by ducking ♠A and keeping West off lead as I play hearts - the minors should provide entries to untangle all my tricks.

West can defeat this line by winning the spade that I duck and returning a diamond, but I really don't see any line that works if the defense can figure this out, so the line above seems like my best shot.

[Hanoi5]

Ok, exactly the way I played it. The key thing however comes from the bidding, the missing points and whether you believe East or West have the ♦K.