Entries, Again


K 6
K Q 3 2
J 6
A 10 8 7 2
5 Q 9 7 4
J 10 8 6 7 4
10 9 4 3 K Q 7 2
J 9 5 4 Q 6 3
A J 10 8 3 2
A 9 5 Vul: None
A 8 5 Contract: 6 spades
K Opening lead: 6 of hearts

Can you make 6 spades here? On any lead? On any lead but one? It looks as though you can make on any lead but a diamond, which wasn't the salient difference between those who made and those who didn't. Almost everyone was leading a heart there. And now the contract is makable. But you've gotta be careful of . . . entries, which has been the case on any number of hands recently. Opening lead a heart. Where do you take it?
You must take it in the closed hand. You can see at a glance that there are no other entries to dummy after trump are out except in hearts. And you've always got plenty of entries to the closed hand. Even before counting out your prospective winners, it should be evident that if you're short of entries anywhere, it's going to be to dummy. Further, there's no particular reason to want to be in dummy at trick 2. If you want to take the spade hook, you have the king of spades. So you'll wanna let that heart led ride to the ace.
Here's what one successful declarer did: Heart to the ace, unblock the K of clubs, A of spades, spade to the K, ruff a club. On this hand, we can see that the spade hook won't pick up the queen and if the finesse is taken, you won't have the entries you need to exploit the clubs. So I don't know how, but this handful of declarer eschewed the finesse for establishing the clubs to make their contract. Anyway, after ruffing a club, declarer led the J of spades to East's Q, took the diamond return, drew the last trump, went to dummy with the K of hearts, cashed the A of clubs, sluffing a diamond, and ruffed a club. Declarer was now able to return to dummy with the second heart honor and throw another diamond on the long club. Well done.
Another got a club opening lead. A then K of spades, and a club ruff. J of spades to East's Q, capture the diamond return, heart to the K and ruff another club. Declarer now drew the last trump, cashed the ace of hearts, then to dummy with the Q of hearts, cash the ace of clubs and cash the 5th club.

Now for a couple who went down? Okay. Heart lead taken with the king! Already wiping out a key entry before he can use it, for the club suit is blocked. Spade K, low to the A. So the king of spades is also completely wasted. If he wasn't going to take the spade hook, you'd think he'd want to use that entry to dummy for something else. Like maybe Q J x of clubs falling short, which is to say he could recover from squandering that heart entry, needing one less entry had that been so. Of course, the Q and J weren't going to fall short, but they could have. In any event, declarer had no chance at that point. He's always going to lose a diamond and a spade.
Another: heart to the ace, spade to the king, back to the J on a successful finesse, cash the ace and let East have his spade trick. Heart 4 to the K. Wait a minute. Declarer hasn't unblocked clubs yet! But it wouldn't have mattered. Now he's two entries short of being able to exploit the clubs. You need three entries to dummy to exploit the clubs and this declarer had used up two before unblocking the king of clubs!
Well, here's a successful declarer who also took a successful finesse in spades. Lemme see how he came out smelling like a rose: Heart to the ace, K of clubs, spade to the K, back to the 10, heart to the Q, A of clubs, ruff a club. Declarer needs two more entries and has only one. Spade J to the Q, take the diamond return, cash the ace of spades, cash the eight of spades as West discards the 6 of hearts from 8 6 and dummy throws the 10 of clubs!
By golly, West was legitimately squeezed and I didn't see it until I went through those last few tricks. Nor do I think there's anything the defense can do about it. Declarer need ruff only one club on that line, for with the lead of the A and K, that ruff will nullify East's holding. West is looking at the high club and 8 6 of hearts while dummy is showing the second highest club and K 3 of hearts. Well done. Very well done.