3NT defense at MP

[gwnn]

You are West and it's MP. N opens and they have the following uncontested auction.

 

1♣-1♠

2♣-2♥

3♦-3NT

 

NS are not sure what 3♦ meant. They are not the best pair in the world, as the sight of the dummy will reveal. 2♥ was forcing.

 

[hv=d=n&n=sa63h652da5cakj85&w=s92hqj97dqt7cqt62]266|200|Scoring: MP[/hv]

 

You try ♦7 and the first few tricks go as follows:

 

♦7-5-K-3

♦6-4-Q-A

♠3-4-J-9

♠5-2-A-T

♠6-Q-K-

 

So looks like you need to find three discards. The following are the remaining hands, without your discard:

 

[hv=d=n&n=sa63h652da5cakj85&w=s92hqj97dqt7cqt62]266|200|Scoring: MP[/hv]

[pclayton]

I'll bitch first.

 

There's no way I lead a diamond here. Usually LHO will be 4-6 for this bidding. I would lead a heart and I think its clear.

 

Once dummy comes down, and the ♦ is returned, pard appears to be Kxx6(x?) of diamonds. 2/3 of the time he will have the ♦J of course. So, at T2, I might not have unblocked the diamond, but in retrospect it looks right. I have no idea if pard would have hit 3♦ with KJxxx and a little more but I'm not going to waste my time thinking about this.

 

As the play continues, RHO looks like: KJTxx, ????, ???, x. (I doubt this joker is stranding the ♣AK in dummy with a 5=4=4=0 or a 5=5=3=0). Clearly RHO needs at least one heart honor for the bidding, and pard would have overcalled 1♦ with both. Come to think of it, anyone I would play with overcall 1♦ with ♠Qxx, [di[Kxxxx (definitely with the J, and maybe without it) and a heart honor.

 

Therefore, I can put RHO on specifically ♠KJTxx ♥AKxx ♦xxx ♣x. Thats 11 tricks with the club hook and I'm ripe for a squeeze for 12.

 

I'd love to deflect this line of play, so I'll try my hardest and dump a club early, followed by a heart and then a diamond. Maybe he'll try for a throw in or something.

 

By the way, all this assume pard doesn't have have ♦K6x, but then declarer surely rebids 2♦, but who knows with these two.