Q 10 7 3 2
	6 5 2
	J
	A K 8 7
8 5 4		K 9 6
7		A 10 4 3
K Q 8 7 4 2		10 9 6 5
Q 3 2		10 5
	A J
	K Q J 9 8
	A 3	Contract: 4 hearts
	J 9 6 4	Opening lead: K of diamonds

This hand has a number of ways of making 11 tricks. So I was surprised at how many made only 4. It's understandable that people were losing two trump tricks, for the diamond ruff beckons with an itttle-bitty seemingly worthless trump in dummy. So if East ducks trump leads twice, by the time declarer learns of the bad split, he won't have any more trump to lead. And it's certainly understandable that not everyone would pick up the club suit without loss, for it's just a wild guess to play the Q & 10 for just as they're placed. Still, if the club suit is, well, iffy, the spade suit is unambiguous. There would seem to be only one way of playing it. Nor would a losing finesse be disastrous, for that would establish spades on which two clubs could be sluffed (not to mention the fact that it's off for your peers also). And the finesse wouldn't lose anyway.

Still if some would ignore that potential, you wouldn't think so many would. To be sure, entries are at a premium, for you'll need three entries for the spades alone. And that's all you've got! So it looks to me that it would behoove declarer to bank on 3-2 hearts banging down the king of hearts at trick two. He can't be deprived of the diamond ruff just yet, and if it holds can now ruff that diamond. We see that he's not getting 3-2 hearts, yes, but others were losing two heart tricks anyway, and using his entries for establishing the spades is just compensation.

Hence, I would suggest: if the K of hearts holds, ruff a diamond, take the spade hook, cash the A of spades and bang down the Q of hearts. East now wins and gets out with a diamond. Declarer ruffs in the closed hand, goes to the A of clubs and ruffs out the K of spades, goes to the K of clubs and leads a spade.

If East ruffs, declarer picks up his 10 of hearts, and if not, declarer sluffs two clubs. Losing only two trump. Yikes! [years later] This ain't right.

I had to throw in the towel on this one. Actually, one can pick up the club suit without loss, making five. Lead the J, either first or second round, and push it through, smothering the 10. But I'm certain that wasn't what I was referring to several years ago. After all, there's as much chance of dropping a doubleton Q as finding a doubleton 10, and now that I think of it, twice as much chance of dropping a doubleton Q in either hand as finding the doubleton 10 to your right. Declarer could finesse the 9 of hearts first round, as far as that goes, but that too was hardly what I was referring to. No, it was the potential of the spade suit that led me astray. It looked so logical to take the finesse, get back and ruff out the K, etc. But now it looks as though that won't work.

The diamond suit is the fly in the ointment. If you don't get a ruff by the second round of trump, East merely leads a third round, giving declarer a marked finesse against the 10, but that would still mean the loss of one trick each in hearts, diamonds and clubs. And if you get the ruff before the second round of trump, East wins and leads a diamond, forcing declarer down to the same number of trump as he has. Now when declarer gets done setting up the spades and leads the fourth round, East ruffs, allowing declarer to pick up his 10. But declarer gets no club pitches and now if he draws East's last trump, he has none himself, and when he knocks out the Q of clubs, West merely cashes a diamond. Or if declarer knocks out the Q first, West forces him with a diamond, and East wins the last trick with his last trump.

So my apologies to and approval of all those who made "only" four here. I thought of deleting the entry, since it no longer fits, but it's a rather interesting hand and so I'll let it stand as a testament to the tenuousness of mentally playing a hand.