Here's one of the hands I referred to yesterday.  I gave Hamman a bit of a bum rap when I said the hand was 'virtually cold', but it's fair to say that his unsuccessful line surprised many of the commentators, including Bobby Levin.  The hand is much more complicated than it might appear at first glance.

You pick up favorable in 4th:

A752 / AK97 / QT83 / K

Lefty opens 2 Spades, passed around to you.  You bid 2NT and pard raises to 3.

Lefty leads the King of Spades.

Dummy tracks:

96 / QJ4 / AJ / QT8642

A752 / AK97 / QT83 / K

You've got 5 tricks in the majors, and 1 sure trick in each minor.  Which minor are you going to go after to set up tricks 8 and 9? (Righty follows with the Spade Ten, a separate issue is whether to duck the first Spade.)

Hamman won the first Spade, led the King of Clubs, ducked, played a Heart to dummy and played the Queen of Clubs to Fred's Ace, Fred exited a Heart to dummy and Hamman played another Club to Brad's Jack (original holding J third.)  Brad happily cashed his 5 Spade tricks.

After Hamman went down, Levin suggested that after the King of Clubs held, Hamman should have played a Diamond to the Ace and the Jack of Diamonds (I think a Diamond to the Jack and the Ace of Diamonds is better, since they're equal in all cases except when Lefty has Kx of Diamonds.)  Righty does best not to win his King of Diamonds.  Now you cash 4 rounds of Hearts and exit a Diamond and Righty has to give you your 9th trick.  This is all true on the actual lie of the cards, but this loses to Kxx of Diamonds in the 2 Spade bidder's hand.  Levin and others would argue that it's unlikely that the 2 Spade bidder has that holding, but there's a strong indication from the defense that he does.  What is it?

Why didn't Fred win the first Club and play a Heart?  If he defends like that, Hamman can't afford to set up a 3rd Diamond trick.  Why not?  Let's walk through it.

9 / QJ4 / AJ / QT864

752 / AK97 / QT83 / -

So here you are, it doesn't matter which hand you win the Heart, if you win the next 2 Diamond tricks ending in dummy, then what?

9 / Q4 / - / QT864

752 / AK9 / QT / -

You need 5 tricks from here.  If you cash the Queen of Clubs, you'll go down the same way Hamman did (Brad will get in with the club Jack and cash his good Spades.)  If you play a Heart to your hand and play a Diamond, Fred will win and play another Heart:

9 / Q / - / QT86

752 / A9 / Q / -

You need 4 tricks and have 4 tricks, but now your communication is shot.  If you win the Heart in dummy, you'll never get back to your hand, and vice-versa.

So, Hamman's reasoning may have been that if one line of play (establishing 3 Diamonds) appears to offer a greater chance of success than another line of play (playing on Clubs) but the opponents could have FORCED you to take the line of play that offers a lower chance of success and didn't, you should assume that the lower percentage line will be successful.  He played it so quickly, though, if he really worked all this out at the table, then he's not human.

So could Hamman have recovered if Fred had found the best defense of winning the first Club and playing a Heart?  Yes, he could have.  Anybody see how?

9 / QJ4 / AJ / QT864

752 / AK97 / QT83 / -

So again, you need 8 tricks from here.  Righty has just led a Heart.  How do you play?

This hand keeps getting better the deeper I look.  When I asked the question, I thought I had the answer, but I was wrong.  The answer I had works if the hand had been:

9 / QJ4 / AJ / QT864

752 / AK97 / Q432 / -

If that were the hand, you could win the Heart on the board, play the Ace and Jack of Diamonds, and overtake if Fred followed low.  Then 4 rounds of Hearts and throw Fred in to cash his 3 Diamonds, winning the last 2 tricks with Dummy's QT of Clubs.  If Fred wins the 2nd Diamond, you win the Heart return and play similarly, there's no way for him to get off the endplay.

However, that doesn't work on the actual hand.  If you play the AJ of Diamonds and overtake, Fred can follow with the 65 (retaining the K92) and if you now cash 4 Hearts and exit a Diamond, Fred can win and exit the DEUCE, endplaying you instead.  Doh!

So here's my solution:

9 / QJ4 / AJ / QT864

752 / AK97 / QT83 / -

The only way I see to make it is to win the Heart in dummy and play the Jack of Diamonds.  Fred must duck (or you have all kinds of communication to cash your 9 top tricks.)  Now cash 4 Hearts and guess what?  Brad is about to be squeezed.

Here's the position with 1 Heart to go:

9 / - / A / QT864

752 / A / QT8 / -

On the last Heart you pitch a Club from Dummy.  Brad has to keep 4 good spades and Jx of Clubs (or clubs will run.)  Now just play a Diamond to dummy's Ace and Brad is squeezed.  If he pitches a Spade, you throw him in with a Spade and if he pitches a Club, dummy's Clubs run.

If anyone sees a simpler (or better) line to 9 tricks on that defense, holler.

Brad's hand:

KQJ843 / T5 / 74 / J93

Fred's hand:

T / 8632 / K9652 / A75