IMP's. I was South and held Kx, 10xxx, A9x, K10xx. The bidding looked simple and uneventful:
N E S W
------------------------------
1S p 1NT(1) p
2D p 2NT(2) p
3NT p p p
(1) I slightly underbid it ( our 1NT is 6-9 points ) but if my partner had nothing more to say, I preferred to stay as low as possible(2) Maximum, invitation ( very good 8-9 points ) There were only three tables with exacly the same bidding and ours was the only one where 3NT was not defeated.
AQxxx
x
KQ10x
AJx
N
W E
S
Kx
10xxx
A9x
K10xx
When I saw my dummy after the Ace of heart lead I could only wonder why my partner had bid 3NT and not 3C for that matter. 3C would have described his hand almost exactly: more than a bare minimum with either 5143 or maybe 6043 or eventually 5053 with three good clubs ( with 5044 he would have bid clubs before diamonds ) and I would surely have accepted spades and ran away from no trump!Well, back to reality. West took the first trick and saw his partner's count which reassured him that I had four hearts. He assumed that I had Jxxx and 8 good points with tens and nines and saw that if his partner had the spade King, I had at most 8 tricks: one spade, four diamonds and two or three clubs! And he played the Jack of spades. I let it ride in hope that he plays another spade and lets me take nine quick tricks: four spades (if they are 3-3 or 4-2), three diamonds ans two clubs with anything more a tasty bonus. My reasoning was perfect but... West had no more spades to play!
AQxxx
x
KQ10x
AJx
J 109876
AKQ9x N Jxx
Jx W E xxxx
Q98xx S x
Kx
10xxx
A9x
K10xx
Luckily for me, the very thought that I - always an overbidder - could have 10 beautiful points, never even entered his mind, and he continued with the Jack of diamonds hoping for the heart 10 in his partner's hand. I took my nine tricks and was quite relieved.We reached a wrong contract because of two reasons: (1) West passed in the first round which obviously wasn't our fault (2) North bid 3NT which, speaking mildly, wasn't the best bid in the world. On most other tables West didn't pass in the first round and on most of them bid 2H, and NS easily reached 4S:
N E S W
------------------------------
1S p 1NT/2C 2H
3D p 3S p
4S p p p
Only on one table West passed and NS still reached 4S since in the third round North found something better to bid than 3NT, namely 3C. And as you can see, despite the 5-1 spade split one just can't lose 4S, all he has to do is to ruff two hearts and cash his three high trumps, four diamonds and one club.But what happened to the two other pairs that reached 3NT? Against one of them West led the Ace of hearts and then a small heart. It was all wrong, but luckily for the defenders North didn't have 5242 as promised. Imagine what would have happened then - East taking the second trick with the Jack and having no more hearts! Against the other 3NT West correctly analyzed the bidding and led his fourth best heart. He knew South had four hearts, believed that North had two, which left his partner with a dubleton. He hoped for the Jx believing NS had enough top tricks in the other three suits. Well, what can I say? I just love to have this reputation of the most consistent overbidder around! 
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