[rhm]

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Good opponents
West leads the ♦4 (2nd and 4th) to the ♦T and your ace
You play a small spade to the jack and king.
East returns the ♣Q, which you win.
When you play the ♠A West shows out.

Plan the play

[Fluffy]

what does west show?, he is surely 1444, the opponents have 5 defensive tricks unless clubs are blocked, so let's attack hearts and pray for ♣QJ10. Play gets interesting if West raises with his honor but East becomes endplayed soon.

[gnasher]

If LHO is 1444, it seems odd that he led a diamond from Qxxx or QJxx rather than a heart. Maybe he is 1345 and didn't fancy a club because of the opening bid?

Fluffy, I don't see how your endplay is going to work, even if RHO is 4333 with ♣QJ10. They win the first heart and play a second club. To endplay RHO you will have to lose a diamond first, but if you do that he can cash his club.

[rhm]

Fluffy, on 2013-September-04, 07:34, said:

what does west show?, he is surely 1444, the opponents have 5 defensive tricks unless clubs are blocked, so let's attack hearts and pray for ♣QJ10. Play gets interesting if West raises with his honor but East becomes endplayed soon.

If you play a heart West will indeed play the ♥K to kill dummy's entry .
How do you want to continue?

Rainer Herrmann

[nige1]

rhm, on 2013-September-04, 02:27, said:

Good opponents West leads the ♦4 (2nd and 4th) to the ♦T and your ace
You play a small spade to the jack and king.
East returns the ♣Q, which you win.
When you play the ♠A West shows out.
Plan the play

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Thank you rhm. IMO Fluffy and Gnasher have cracked it, between them. Guess RHO's shape is 4-4-3-2. Duck a ♦ and cash ♦AK to strip RHO of ♦. Cash ♣AK to strip RHO of ♣. Throw RHO in with the fourth round of ♠. Claim 3 ♠ tricks and 2 tricks in each of the other suits.

[rhm]

nige1, on 2013-September-04, 13:05, said:

Thank you rhm. IMO Fluffy and Gnasher have cracked it, between them. Guess RHO's shape is 4-4-3-2. Duck a ♦ to strip RHO of ♦. Cash ♣AK to strip RHO of ♣. Throw RHO in with the fourth round of ♠. Claim 3 ♠ tricks and 2 tricks in each of the other suits.

No, not yet, but Fluffy is on the right track.
Why would RHO switch to clubs holding a doubleton instead of returning a diamond?
After all South has opened 1♣ and shown a strong balanced hand.
On your layout most RHO would return a diamond and a really good one would consider a heart to kill the spade suit.
Also would LHO lead a four card diamond suit if he held at least T97xx in clubs?
A big piece in the puzzle is still missing.

Rainer Herrmann

[Fluffy]

gnasher, on 2013-September-04, 10:39, said:

If LHO is 1444, it seems odd that he led a diamond from Qxxx or QJxx rather than a heart. Maybe he is 1345 and didn't fancy a club because of the opening bid?

Fluffy, I don't see how your endplay is going to work, even if RHO is 4333 with ♣QJ10. They win the first heart and play a second club. To endplay RHO you will have to lose a diamond first, but if you do that he can cash his club.

No endplay then, just set up spades on time, they only make 2 spades, 1 heart, 1 club.


Assuming west pitched a heart on the ♠A, if West flies with a honor over ♥9, the position is very tangled, we have to play a heart to the jack then and the position is like this:

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East might prevent ♥10 from being an entry, but he loses a tempo in the procces, we later duck a diamond, and ♣QJ end in endplay.

If west pitches a club 4th cluc is an instant trick


If west pitches a diamond I have to scratch my head again...

[nige1]

rhm, on 2013-September-04, 15:40, said:

No, not yet, but Fluffy is on the right track. Why would RHO switch to clubs holding a doubleton instead of returning a diamond? After all South has opened 1♣ and shown a strong balanced hand.On your layout most RHO would return a diamond and a really good one would consider a heart to kill the spade suit. Also would LHO lead a four card diamond suit if he held at least T97xx in clubs? A big piece in the puzzle is still missing.

OK. Maybe LHO's ♦4 is a false-card from a 5 card ♦ suit. So hope RHO's shape is 4-4-2-3, then a similar line works. Duck a ♣. Cash ♦AK and ♣AK to strip RHO of minors. Throw RHO in with the fourth round of ♠. Claim 3 ♠ tricks and 2 tricks in each of the other suits.

[rhm]

Fluffy, on 2013-September-04, 17:52, said:

No endplay then, just set up spades on time, they only make 2 spades, 1 heart, 1 club.


Assuming west pitched a heart on the ♠A, if West flies with a honor over ♥9, the position is very tangled, we have to play a heart to the jack then and the position is like this:

---

East might prevent ♥10 from being an entry, but he loses a tempo in the procces, we later duck a diamond, and ♣QJ end in endplay.

If west pitches a club 4th cluc is an instant trick


If west pitches a diamond I have to scratch my head again...

Very good Fluffy, you found most of the solution!

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West leads the ♦4 (2nd and 4th) to the ♦T and your ace
You play a small spade to the jack and king.
East returns the ♣Q, which you win.
When you play the ♠A West shows out.

As was correctly analyzed declarer has in theory 9 tricks, 3 in spades and 2 in every other suit.
Trouble is, it is difficult to see how to get your 9 tricks before the defense has 5.
If you establish the fifth spade and a heart trick you have to loose the lead 3 times giving the defense enough time to establish two tricks in the minors.
Even though you have 4 stoppers in the minors, you are forced to duck the second diamond (otherwise the defense has 2 diamond tricks). However, if you duck the defense will switch back to clubs.

What is the club layout?
RHO would hardly switch to clubs in preference to continuing diamonds on this bidding unless holding the ♣T as well as the ♣J
But LHO must hold at least 4 clubs or else he would have 5 hearts and would have led a heart against 3NT. West should be 1=4=4=4 and the clubs should be blocked!

The actual layout:

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The hand occurred in the semifinals of a national team event.

When East comes in with the first spade he can see that a diamond continuation will not succeed.
Declarer will duck the second diamond and partner is unlikely to have a quick entry to his fourth diamond.
Meanwhile declarer with a second heart trick will come to 9 tricks.
So West will have to switch, if East continues diamonds. But given the bidding he will hardly switch to clubs. West does not know that East has 3 honors in clubs and from his perspective less is required in hearts to beat the contract.
Therefor East should not continue diamonds but switch to clubs himself. This is first class defense and it looks like the defense will prevail now.

However, provided declarer diagnoses the situation, he will realize when West shows out on the ace of spades what the actual layout is. What will West discard on the ace of spades? In fact he is squeezed in three suits.

1) If West discards a club you can duck a spade to East.
If the defense now tries to establish a trick in clubs you get your ninth trick from the fourth club and if the defense attacks hearts (or continues diamonds) you have your second heart trick before the defense has a second minor suit trick.

2) If West discards a diamond, there is no need to duck a diamond any more. Again duck a spade to East. The defense can establish one minor suit trick but not both any more, before declarer establishes his ninth trick in hearts.

3) So West must discard a heart. Now declarer can not duck a spade. The defense would play a diamond, which declarer would have to duck, and will switch back to clubs then and come to five tricks before declarer has nine.
But declarer can now establish hearts first, since the defense can not establish a second heart trick any more. If West goes in with the king, win and continue hearts.
If East ducks the second heart, duck a diamond and endplay East later in clubs by stripping him of all low red cards. Do likewise should East win and play a diamond.
If East wins and continues clubs, win and duck a spade. Now it is too late to establish a diamond trick.

Rainer Herrmann

[gnasher]

Can't East beat it by ducking the first spade? If it then continues spade to the ace, ♥J to the king and ace, heart towards hand, East can take the queen and play a second club.

[rhm]

gnasher, on 2013-September-05, 04:54, said:

Can't East beat it by ducking the first spade? If it then continues spade to the ace, ♥J to the king and ace, heart towards hand, East can take the queen and play a second club.

If you duck the first spade and East takes the ♥Q, East can not play a second club, because no club has been played yet.
Nevertheless ducking the first spade gives declarer headaches since he does not know the club position when West shows out on the ace of spades.
As far as I can see only an initial club lead will always beat 3NT.

Rainer Herrmann