— AQ984 K94 AQJ85
		A7432 J1065 — K742

CHO	Dummy	Me	Declarer
Pass	1	1	Pass
2	3	Pass	3NT
All Pass

1

Partner's lead is the 5. Declarer pitches a diamond from dummy, and I win while declarer contributes the 8. That looks scary. Continuing spades is right out. Declarer has three or four spade tricks. But what else can he have? Outside of spades, there's only ten HCP available, and partner should have most of them for his cue bid. Why didn't partner open a weak two in diamonds? He must have only five of them. He clearly has exactly three spades. So he's either 3-2-5-3 or 3-3-5-2. That makes declarer either 5-2-5-1 or 5-1-5-2.

Looks like the goal of this hand is to keep declarer out of his hand. Not only does that cut him off from his spade tricks, but it will prevent him from leading a diamond up. It's probably worth a few tricks to arrange this.

Clearly at this point, I need to play a round suit. I can't afford a club; if declarer has stiff ten, a club play will be a disaster. Since I "know" partner has the K, it looks safe to exit with a heart. Leading into dummy's AQ98x isn't a normal play, but I think it's best. When I do, declarer plays the 2 without any thought, and partner plays the king as expected. If he had K73, he might have inserted the 7, since he has a safe club exit, so I'm inclined to think that declarer is 5-2-5-1.

Declarer wins the A and after a little thought, plays the Q off dummy. It might be right to duck this, but I think it's safe to win it. When declarer follows with the 9, I know it is; if he had 109 or even 10x, he would have led low to force an entry to hand. Come to think of it, I'm glad he didn't. I would have flown king anyway, just to protect against stiff ten.

I am quite happy I have Roberto (the 2), but I'm a bit envious of dummy's 4. I don't want to get endplayed with it, so my next play is to compromise my heart tricks. I exit with the J. Declarer follows, so my count is accurate. Lucky for me, declarer builds another heart trick next, continuing with the 9. I have him now. I win and continue hearts. Declarer wins and cashes a high club; I unblock the 7. He runs his hearts, cashes another club, and "exits" with the 5. Not me. I contribute my carefully preserved deuce, and declarer has to give the last two tricks to my partner for one down.

Had the 5 and 4 been swapped, I would have had to unblock in two suits to avoid the gambit. As it was, one was easy enough, and I'm glad declarer didn't think of end playing me until it was too late.

	— AQ984 K94 AQJ85
J63 K3 AQ1086 1063		A7432 J1065 — K742
	KQ1098 72 J7532 9