A Curiosity and Two Lessons

J 9 5 2
10
K 10 9 4
K Q 8 3
8 7 6 A K 10 4 3
8 7 6 5 4 J 9
A 6 5 3 2
5 2 10 7 6 4
Q
A K Q 3 2
Q J 8 7
A J 9

WestNorthEastSouth
Pass 1
Pass 1 Pass 2 NT
Pass 3 NT Dbl All pass
Some came up with only 8 tricks in no trump, while others were making 10, 11 and in one case 12 tricks. When I looked to examine why, I got a bit of a surprise. I first counted the hcp's for the declaring side, found 28 and figured declarer must have done something wrong. After all, 25-hcp and 26-hcp 3 no contracts go down without surprising us, but 28-hcp? I have elsewhere referred to a laydown 28-hcp grand slam. But here I was to find a 28-hcp hand where game could not be made against the most effective defense. Declarer had done nothing wrong, unless you count not running to 5 diamonds on the double, which I don't consider wrong.
The double of a 3 no contract, when the doubling side hasn't bid, traditionally calls for the lead of dummy's first bid suit, and here West obliged in spades, getting nothing more encouraging than the 4 from his partner on the lead that rode to the queen. He not only continued undaunted, but hopped up on a low lead to the king of diamonds to do so. Now the second lead allowed East to run four spades for the setting trick. Declarer, needing just to push one diamond through might have considered leading the jack, as if intending to finesse, but who's to say this West would have been fooled. It is simply a 28-hcp 3 no hand that can be beat, regardless of which side the opening lead comes from.
A couple of lessons? Well, one declarer found a West napping and did get his lead to the king of diamonds in. Now, let's go back and count our winners before leading to trick two. We have four clubs, three hearts and a spade. Not quite enough. We need a diamond trick, and it's usually best to go for one early before the defenders realize that you only need that one trick. So this declarer, with his head in the noose withdrew it by picking up a diamond trick -- and stuck it right back in by continuing diamonds! At that point West had no reason not to win and continue spades. Down one. Count your winners! And use a little common sense. It's true that it would take the ace of diamonds and 10 of spades to be in just the hands they're in, not to mention unbalanced spades, to beat the contract. But they were right there.
And a second lesson: How did people pick up 11 and in one case 12 tricks? Well, first it's obvious that the defense didn't find the effective line above, so it was declarer running tricks, and from there, the question is easy to answer: West sluffed hearts on the long clubs! In Four-Card Suits, I have discussed how carelessness with four-card suits is one of the commonest defensive mistakes found at the bridge table -- and one of the least discussed, since I haven't seen anyone else covering it. (I use the term to cover any suit longer than four cards also.) In the examples given under that topic, I have often given cases where a defender had two, perhaps even 3 four-card suits that he must discard from and have discussed the markers toward which one to save.
Here West had two very strong markers toward saving his hearts on the run of other suits. The first was that declarer had bid the suit. Do you need more? Well, West had a second indicator in that he had nothing else after the ace of diamonds is played! Why not save hearts? No other cards have a ghost of a chance of winning a trick, and so those cards must be saved. West can't know the 8 will hold up for the 4th round, of couse. But you save the hearts just in case, no?