Rebound

I think I'll try this: Win with the ♣10 and lead a ♠ off to the K. If it's ducked: ♦ to the K, ♥A pitching a ♦. Then 2 round of ♦ pitching a ♠, planning to ruff 2 ♠ in dummy. If it loses: on a trump return I can't ruff all the losers so I fall back on the diamond hook. Otherwise, I can cross ruff.

LHO's plays raise a lot of questions... first, leading the 2 then the 5 of ♥ holding nothing in the suit - how many hearts? 4? For sure she has no more than 3 spades. A diamond return from west after winning the the ♠ J would have seemed obvious, unless holding the king, but it might have made you guess unless she also holds the J. So, after all is said and done, I think LHO has, at most, 3 spades, 4 hearts and 3 diamonds. But I think it's closer to 2-5-2-4. So I put the QJxx of clubs in LHO's hand and take the finesse.

I duck the opening lead. If RHO wins, I think I'm pretty much down to the diamond finesse to make. But if the ♠Q wins, I play 1 round of trump, ♣A and out a club. I can win any return, ruff my last club with the ♥J, then draw trump. I lead a diamond to the A, and pitch my last diamond on the ♠A. If opp's return after winning the club is a diamond from my left, I will have to cash the ♠A for the diamond pitch before drawing the rest of the trump. If there's a way to make by going up A on the opening lead that doesn't require the diamond finesse, it's beyond me. So I think the added chance LHO lead away from the ♠K is enough reason to duck, however unlikely it may be.

I win the ace and return the ♣ 10. I'm not at all sure this is right given that it's uncertain who holds AK of ♣ and K of ♦, but partner must have 2 out of 3 of those cards for auction. I just don't know which 2 for sure. I believe both declarer and partner each have 7 cards in the minors and from my hand it looks likely they're both 3-4 in ♦/♣.

"But, my analysis may be way off. " Well, I'm inclined to agree with you, and those above, that the lead of 4th best from Jxxx is atypical against a slam, particularly on the given hand. I'm pretty sure I'd have led my top heart. I don't know what intuition or faulty thinking led me to be so sure diamonds were 4-1 either way; but once I was, and having realized this was a poor contract, I thought the best thing to do was commit to the first line I saw that had a chance, since no matter what, I'd have to find a very specific distribution. The main reason for my post was my complete lack of confidence as to how and when to play the spade suit. I appreciate all the feedback.

The full hand: [hv=n=sj63h965dj643c853&w=sk105ha3dak10cakq62&e=sq982hqj10dq9875c9&s=sa74hk8742d2cj1074]399|300|[/hv] So, please tell me if I was way off base. After winning the A I played K, 10, ducked. I played 3 rounds of clubs, pitching a spade and a heart. Then I led a spade. I see that, as the cards lie, except for RHO needing to have only 3 clubs, you make if spades are led from the top from the West hand (i think) after 3 rounds of diamonds and 3 rounds of clubs. But, how crazy was it to adopt this line of play compared with other possibilities? It strikes me as interesting how much different this hand is if I hold the ♦9 and dummy has the 10

Ok, I get what you are saying, and I agree, at the time I made an assumption I likely shouldn't have. However, in the actual hand, it did turn out that LHO led from Jxxx. So, the question is, where do you go from there? I see two lines of play; there are perhaps more but I don't think so. Which one do you choose?

Interesting so far, and fair enough B) . Some additional info: I was half in the bag when I played and posted the hand, so the auction was rather poor as was the question of whether to open 2♣. As to the play, however, a ) I played on the assumption RHO lead 4th best. In that case, if you do not win the opening led with the A/K you can't pick them up. I know this has a negative effect on communications but it turned out I was right. So, b ) given that LHO has Jxxx in ♦, how do you proceed?

[hv=d=s&v=e&w=sk105ha3dak10cakq62&e=sq982hqj10dq9875c9]266|100|Scoring: IMP 2♣-2♦-3NT-6NT (Agree with 2!C?)[/hv] Play to the first trick:♦ 3-5-2-A

Perhaps you aren't soliciting opinions from the peanut gallery, but just for the record, to me a trump lead seems best. It's certainly what I'd lead at the table. Anyway, it's instructional to see others' reasoning for other leads.

It seems unwise, generally, to come late to an auction when the opponents have apparently failed to find a fit. With any hand I can think of that could not double the first time, or overcall in a suit, I would pass 2♦ anyway, e.g. ♠ xx ♥ Q10xx ♦AQx ♣AJxx Therefore I would expect this double to be penalty. [Edit] I must apologize. This is just a restatement of Kfay's post. I somehow didn't see it before I posted. Anyway, I think it's a strong argument in favor of the interpretation of double as penalty.

Just a thought from the peanut gallery: I think that if one of the red tens was a black instead it might be more worthy of an upgrade, say AJ10 942 A1097 AJ6 - same pips, same distribution. I would open that hand 1NT under the given conditions, but I don't think the OP hand is worth 1NT.

Just a side question of a more general nature if I may: Often, when I have trump control, a singleton, and some sign of life from partner, I will lead the singleton with the idea that I will have time to find partner's entry (assuming it exists) to get a ruff since declarer has to knock out my control to draw trump. Is this faulty reasoning? I will often attempt this even with Ax(x) let alone AKx as in the given hand.

Ditto.

This may be totally off the wall, but I'm guessing we need to score a club, a heart, and a spade to defeat the contract. I would be concerned that a club return might damage the chances of a trump trick. I'm going to return a passive heart. Partner is unlikely to bid 4♥ with only 4 but a ruff-slough may not hurt if I am right. If it's totally wrong I hereby use the excuse that cold medication is keeping me from thinking straight :)