[eagles123]

Sorry for no diagram my laptop is on the brink: anyway it's imps (not the it really matters) and the bidding has gone unapposed 1s 4s all pass

*this isn't the bidding we had, nor the defence, nor is it an accurate record of the hand but I think it's a good theme for NB


Dummy

xxxx
Axx
Qxxx
AJ

Declarer

AQJxx
JTX
Axx
xx

opening leader leads the King of hearts which you decide to duck and helpfully he continues with the Queen of hearts which you win with the ace. you play a small trump from dummy and insert the J which~Holds. Next you cross to the ace of clubs and lead another trump on which rho plays low, you insert the queen and lho discards. Next we draw the last trump. Clearly we've already lost a heart trick and have to lose a club trick so we can't lose 2 diamond tricks. Do we just play ace of diamonds and a diamond to the queen and hope for the best, or is there a potential layout that gives us a better chance?

[Liversidge]

I am a NB so not sure if I have worked this out right, but if I exhaust my hearts and clubs, pitching the opps in with my last club, then if they play a club or heart I can ruff and discard a losing diamond, and if either opponent wins the club and leads a diamond I think I make two diamond tricks (is it a frozen suit?) I have probably missed a trick!

[eagles123]

great analysis!

Spoiler

however, if lefty wins the club they can just freely lead a diamond (our spots are tiny) so what we have to hope for is both the KQ of clubs on our right and then your idea works perfectly

of course if the king of diamonds is the right side we can make the contract easily.

[kuhchung]

There are still chances even if the wrong person wins the club and puts a diamond through!

[rmnka447]

Liversidge

Good analysis for a NB.

The spoiler just adds some detail to the line you propose.

Spoiler

There are several ways that stripping the rounded suits can improve your chances. First, if Declarer's RHO happens to hold the ♣ KQ, he will be played endplayed when you play ♣ A followed by ♣ J after stripping the ♥s. When RHO has ♣ Kx, that won't work if RHO is good enough to unblock the ♣ K on the ♣ A. Likewise, if RHO holds ♣ Kxx(...), the K must be ducked in order to avoid the endplay. But those are not easy plays for many players to see and make.

If Declarer's LHO wins the ♣ J, there are still chances in the ♦ suit itself. If LHO switches to a ♦, duck it to the ♦ A in Declarer's hand. Then lead a ♦ toward the ♦ Q. If the ♦ K is onside, then you'll still lose only 1 ♦ trick. By playing this way, declarer adds one additional chance. If RHO happens to hold only ♦ Kx, RHO will win the second ♦ trick, but will be not able to return a ♦ for the setting trick. Instead, RHO will endplayed into giving up a sluff and ruff to let Declarer make the contract.