Paula and I found a nice defence on this hand when Opps overstretched themselves:
You are North, Game All, Dealer West:
North Q96
QJ975
K108
K10
BiddingWest North East South1
1
1
No
1NT No 2
No
3NT All Pass
Paula led the
Queen and Dummy went down:
East (Dummy) KJ1074
106
AJ2
985
North Q96
QJ975
K108
K10
Partner (me) played the
2 and Declarer won with the King, cashed the
Ace and then led a small Diamond to Dummy's Jack, which held.The King and Jack of Spades followed, Declarer discarding small Hearts and Partner following with the
2 and then the 5.
What now?
Paula did well to switch to the
King (Clubs were what I'd been asking for with the
2 at trick 1) and we took the next 5 tricks (I had
AQxxx) to defeat 3NT by 2 tricks. Clearly lots of Norths didn't, because NT contracts were often making 8 or 9 tricks. The Heart position was totally clear and clearly the Diamonds and Spades give no prospect of tricks so the only immediate chance of taking the contract off was in Clubs.