[dburn]

Rubber bridge (almost no conventions allowed)

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3♣ was fourth-suit forcing, one of the few conventions that are allowed. 5♠ was a general invitation - "bid six if you think you have a suitable hand".

[1] Criticise the bidding, bearing in mind that if South's king of diamonds was the king of hearts the slam would be very good, but also bearing in mind that the poor fellow probably thought his ♦K was a good card anyway given his partner's 2♦ response.

[2] More importantly, plan the play on the opening lead of ♥K.

[3] If you complete [2] successfully, you will make the contract. Conjecture why this might have been very unlucky.

[Foxx]

Off-topic, editorial aside:

If you are really a beginner or novice, you shouldn't be playing rubber bridge for anything more valuable than peanut shells. You'll be living in a cardboard box within a week.

[billw55]

wrong subforum

[bluecalm]

One chance I see is W holding:
xx
KQ
xxxxx
xxxx

In which case we can collect 12 tricks by eliminating diamonds, playing trumps two times and throwing him in with a heart.
I don't see other chances but knowing you I wouldn't be surprised there is one luring somewhere

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Conjecture why this might have been very unlucky.

You were actually the defender ?

[ahydra]

I find it hard to criticize the bidding outside of North inviting in spades when his hand is much more suitable for NT. Perhaps 4NT is better than 5S - South would pass 4NT, notching up an overtrick.

Valuing the DK highly is perfectly fine. Imagine North had ♦AQxxx (not totally unreasonable, he did bid them ).

Spoiler

I'm seeing no way at all to make the contract. There are two heart losers and NOTHING you can do about them.

I've tried squeezes, endplays and even an insane ruffing finesse of the ♦4. Nothing seems to work! And if they did, why would this be in the B/N forum?

I have two dodgy lines that can't be anything like the correct solution.

1) Win the Ace of hearts and play SQ, SA, CK. West, thinking this is a spade, will ruff. I'll lose two heart tricks but gain 2 tricks back for the revoke! The unlucky part is that West was actually paying attention, I guess - or that East started with 3 (4?) spades.

2) Duck the heart, East following with the Jack. West continues with the HQ, you win the Ace and crash East's ten. Here the unlucky part is that West guesses his partner had a singleton Jack and led low hoping for a ruff.

Bluecalm - good spot, but you forgot to mention eliminating clubs.

[bluecalm]

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Bluecalm - good spot, but you forgot to mention eliminating clubs.

Yep and we need to do that before ruffing 4th diamond.