Eszter did really well on the defence of this hand. Lots of other pairs missed getting the defence right. You are North at Love All and West was the Dealer.
North AQ103
A9654
2
J53
BiddingWest North East South1
1
X No
2
No 3NT All Pass
Partner leads the
10 (playing Strong 10's) and Dummy goes down with
West (Dummy) 4
2
K9854
AKQ1074
North AQ103
A9654
2
J53
How do you plan the defence?
Since Partner couldn't even bid 2
over East's negative double, it's almost
inconceivable that they have an interior sequence here (because it would have to give them AJ10 or KJ10 and they
surely would have doubled 3NT with a 3-card holding
that good). It's much more likely that they have 10x in Hearts (in fact I had
1083 but
really didn't want Eszter to think I might have a top honour in Hearts and rightly felt she'd realise this couldn't be a "strong" lead). Eszter went up with the
Ace at trick 1, smartly switched to her
3, and we took the first 5 tricks.
3NT by East was the overwhelmingly popular choice of contract on this hand and
made more often than not, despite a Heart bid by North
most of the time and a Major suit lead
all of the time. Where a Spade was led it usually went off (apart from a couple of ridiculous misdefences), but when a
Heart was led by South after a Heart overcall by North, the contract usually made (especially when South led a small Heart, because North continued Hearts after taking their Ace and Declarer took the rest. At one table, North even
ducked the first Heart and Declarer made 13!
So well done, Eszter, for switching to a Spade when the Hearts were clearly hopeless (if only from the bidding).