East's HeartsEast played the Queen of Hearts on the first round of the suit and discarded a small Heart on the second round of Spades. Since West payed the Jack of Hearts on the 3rd round of Hearts, it's crystal clear that East started off with KQxxx in the suit. There's absolutely no way East would hop up with the Heart Queen from Qxxx when Declarer leads a small Heart from Dummy at trick 2.
BiddingYou didn't say who the dealer was but I'm assuming South:
1
- 1NT
2
- 3
// Gamma in
4
- 4NT // Hxxxxxxx
/ Relay Beta
5
- 5
// 3 Controls / Epsilon in Hearts
5
- 6
// None or 1+2 (has to be 1+2) / Enough
Over 5
, North should be able to judge that 6
is the probable limit. South is either 83 in the Majors with AKx in
, or has the stiff Ace of Hearts and 4 cards in the Minors with a guarded King somewhere. Either way there is one probable loser. It's not worth a 6!C Epsilon over 5
, because the answer doesn't really help and if South has
Kx you're in 6NT with much fewer chances of garnering a 13th trick.
If North was the Dealer, then maybe:
1
- 2
// Alpha
3
- 3
// No Supp, 4+ ctrls / Theta
4
- 4NT //
HH / Relay Beta
5
- 6
/7
// 7 Controls / Enough or optimism rules
7 Controls marks North with AK
and the Minor suit Aces (and nothing else), so there is no chance of the Queen of Clubs making an appearance. South cannot afford to ask in Clubs at the 6 level in case North is 2452 with Ax in Clubs. Impossible for North to have AAKKK, because that would be a 1
Opener. Either way, 12 tricks is the probable limit, but it's easier for South to be optimistic and envisage a 13th trick than it is for North because of the possibility North started with
AK,
xxxx,
Axxxx,
Ax