[kfay]

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Lefty leads the ♠3 to the 5 and 6, over to you.

[SteveMoe]

Tempting to win ♠A and play ♦ along avoidance lines for ♥. However a 4-0 ♦ split can scuttle ♦ tricks without a proven entry to hand. So, win ♠K leaving ♠A in hand and play ♦A then J intending to finesse unless East plays the Q.

[nige1]

kfay, on 2013-August-25, 12:51, said:

Lefty leads the ♠3 to the 5 and 6, over to you.

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My guess: If you make the normal play of cashing dummy's ♦A, you may create a problem for yourself if LHO holds up with ♦Qxxx and exits in ♣. A possible counter is to win the opening lead with ♠J and lead ♦T intending to run it, unless LHO plays ♦Q or shows out.

[Phil]

SteveMoe, on 2013-August-25, 13:25, said:

Tempting to win ♠A and play ♦ along avoidance lines for ♥. However a 4-0 ♦ split can scuttle ♦ tricks without a proven entry to hand. So, win ♠K leaving ♠A in hand and play ♦A then J intending to finesse unless East plays the Q.

If RHO shows out on the diamond do you have a counter?

[Fluffy]

SteveMoe, on 2013-August-25, 13:25, said:

Tempting to win ♠A and play ♦ along avoidance lines for ♥. However a 4-0 ♦ split can scuttle ♦ tricks without a proven entry to hand. So, win ♠K leaving ♠A in hand and play ♦A then J intending to finesse unless East plays the Q.

You are going down whenever ♦Q and ♥A are offside, LHO returns a club and you never cash third spade.

[sfi]

kfay, on 2013-August-25, 12:51, said:

Lefty leads the ♠3 to the 5 and 6, over to you.

Win the SJ and lead the D10 intending to finesse. This line looks like it guarantees the contract.

If either opponent has 4 diamonds, I pick up the suit and take 6 diamonds, 3 spades, and a club. If East wins the first diamond I can only lose 3 hearts (I duck East's first honour and cover their second card) and a diamond before cashing my 9 tricks.

[PhilKing]

FWIW you can still guarantee the contract after playing the ♠K from table.

[SteveMoe]

Phil, on 2013-August-25, 13:38, said:

If RHO shows out on the diamond do you have a counter?

Would duck the ♦J to West. If West ducks, play ♥ to K hoping for West to be 4=2=4=3 with !H QJ (or Qx or Jx) (East 4=4=0=5). When they switch to ♣ will win 3rd round.
If not ducked then ♦8 is entry to lead ♥ to K. Will unblock ♠ A only before putting West in with ♦.

[SteveMoe]

Fluffy, on 2013-August-25, 14:55, said:

You are going down whenever ♦Q and ♥A are offside, LHO returns a club and you never cash third spade.

If ♦s are 4=0 and LHO has the ♥A as well, it's not my day...

[Fluffy]

The problem Steve is that it won't be your day either when diamonds are 3-1 or even 2-2 and ♥A is offside.

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You can see it here on the double dummy GiB

[kfay]

SteveMoe, on 2013-August-26, 17:14, said:

If ♦s are 4=0 and LHO has the ♥A as well, it's not my day...

The complete hand:

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At the table West did make the obvious duck when declarer floated the ♦J around in an attempt to recover from playing the ace.

Running the ♦10 at T2 guarantees the contract against any distribution (considering East's 1♥ bid). wd to sfi and nige1

[mikeh]

Fluffy, on 2013-August-26, 17:34, said:

The problem Steve is that it won't be your day either when diamonds are 3-1 or even 2-2 and ♥A is offside.

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You can see it here on the double dummy GiB

That's one heck of a heart overcall...which I think you didn't see

[Fluffy]

sigh

[SteveMoe]

kfay, on 2013-August-26, 17:43, said:

Running the ♦10 at T2 guarantees the contract against any distribution (considering East's 1♥ bid). wd to sfi and nige1

echoing wd!!