[masonbarge]

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Play has gone:

Trick One: West leads the ♣10. ♣3 from N, ♣K from E, ♣7 by you.
Trick Two: E - ♣4. S - ♣9 as you duck again. W wins with the ♣Q.
Trick Three: W leads ♠9. How do you make this contract and justify your risky 3NT?

I think the difficulty here is Advanced, or it might be Advanced+. Half the BBO "experts" would go wrong at the table.

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When you have your answer, click the first spoiler.

Spoiler

You duck the spade. East wins with the King - good move, you're up to 7 tricks and still have clubs stopped.
E returns the ♥4 , West playing the ♥K. What's your play now? Once you have decided, click the next spoiler.

Spoiler

Of course you ducked the heart. Better not lose any more tricks!

West now leads the ♦Q. What now?

[nate_m]

It's far from "of course" to duck the heart. It's not unreasonable to win it and lead a diamond, planning to duck a diamond to East. This wins if diamonds are 3-3 and East holds the queen. In fact, this is probably the right play, but you did not give us the option to select it.

Of course, you have given us the hand AFTER the key decision was made. Now you have no choice but to run all your winners and hope that West is 1543 or that West does something terminally stupid in the endgame.

That said, the opponents could have easily beaten the hand, possibly by multiple tricks, had they just continued clubs like any sensible bridge player.

[nige1]

masonbarge, on 2015-February-12, 15:56, said:

Trick One: West leads the ♣10. ♣3 from N, ♣K from E, ♣7 by you.
Trick Two: E - ♣4. S - ♣9 as you duck again. W wins with the ♣Q.
Trick Three: W leads ♠9. How do you make this contract and justify your risky 3NT? I think the difficulty here is Advanced, or it might be Advanced+. Half the BBO "experts" would go wrong at the table. When you have your answer, click the first spoiler.

Spoiler

You duck the spade. East wins with the King - good move, you're up to 7 tricks and still have clubs stopped.
E returns the ♥4 , West playing the ♥K. What's your play now? Once you have decided, click the next spoiler.

Spoiler

Of course you ducked the heart. Better not lose any more tricks!
West now leads the ♦Q. What now?

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Are defenders close relations or did they bet on you?

Spoiler

Agree with nate_m: ♦A. ♠JQA. ♦K. ♣A. squeezing LHO in the red suits.

[masonbarge]

nate_m, on 2015-February-12, 19:33, said:

It's far from "of course" to duck the heart. It's not unreasonable to win it and lead a diamond, planning to duck a diamond to East. This wins if diamonds are 3-3 and East holds the queen. In fact, this is probably the right play, but you did not give us the option to select it.

I'm not sure it makes the difference, but this is matchpoints. Do you duck the heart now?

Quote

Of course, you have given us the hand AFTER the key decision was made. Now you have no choice but to run all your winners and hope that West is 1543 or that West does something terminally stupid in the endgame.

That said, the opponents could have easily beaten the hand, possibly by multiple tricks, had they just continued clubs like any sensible bridge player.

The opponents have obviously made a mistake. What mistake (or mistakes) have they made?

[nate_m]

masonbarge, on 2015-February-13, 09:13, said:

I'm not sure it makes the difference, but this is matchpoints. Do you duck the heart now?

No, I still am trying to make my contract. If I duck, I will need a highly unlikely squeeze (West 1543) or West to do something very silly. (though based on the defense so far, West appears to love doing silly things) If I win, I will need East to hold queen third of diamonds, which doesn't seem inconceivable.

The opponents have obviously made a mistake. What mistake (or mistakes) have they made?

Well West shifted to a spade after 2 rounds of clubs which is atrocious, as I was probably booked for down 2.

Additionally, since I have shown 6 diamonds I don't have, West might be inclined to play me for 3163 distribution and keep diamonds instead of hearts when not 1543. That is a disaster on the actual layout. To avoid having to guess whether or not I have stranded the ace of hearts, West could continue a heart instead of playing the diamond queen after I duck the heart. This clarifies the heart position. Once declarer follows twice, West with 3 diamonds must play partner for a diamond guard.