Had a decent set (26 boards) with Jeff today.  We played a lot of 3NT's (9 of the 11 contracts we played, including all 4 I played.)  He had most of the tough problems and I got to mostly relax.

Here's an interesting decision I had:

All red, 1st.

Q / AT7643 / J642 / 74

I opened 2 Hearts (not the greatest suit, but 6-4 and short Spades make this a pretty automatic call.)

LHO bid 2NT and RHO raised to 3.

Jeff led the 9 of Hearts and after a pause for thought Declarer played low from Dummy.

KJ9862 / Q5 / 97 / Q96 Dummy (RHO)

Q / AT7643 / J642 / 74

Jeff tends to lead low from 3 small in this situation, but even if I didn't have that inference, the auction suggests that LHO probably has 3 or 4 Hearts.  If LHO has KJx of Hearts or better, it would take a miracle to set up and get back in to run this suit. 

Okay, Hearts are out, what's Plan B?

Diamonds look okay.  Maybe I should win the Heart and switch to a Diamond.  But which one?

Some might switch to the Deuce (4th best, or low from an honor.)  I tend to play attitude leads here, though, and the Deuce screams that I like this suit, which isn't really the case.

Okay, maybe switch to the 4 or even the 6, since I'm not crazy about the suit.  If my primary consideration was telling partner how I feel about Diamonds, I'd play the 6.

This is one of those cases where to figure out what the right card to play in a suit is, you need to consider the rest of the hand first.  In this case, Spades will run opposite as little as Ax.  Add the 2 Heart tricks to that and you get to 8.  You can also see that the Club Queen will turn into a trick after a couple of rounds of that suit.  Most importantly, this might be the last time you get in.  All signs point to the Jack of Diamonds.  If partner has AQTx or KT8x and a fast entry, it's our only chance.  A low Diamond switch will allow Declarer to duck from Kxx or AQx and partner won't be able to profitably continue the attack on the suit.

I switched to the Jack of Diamonds and Jeff covered Declarer's Queen with the King and continued with the Ten.  So far, so good, except that a) Jeff's tempo tipped me off that he didn't have the 8 and b) Declarer's subsequent claim (after winning the 2nd Diamond and knocking out Jeff's Club Ace) confirmed that.

Still, we got all our tricks.  -430 was almost 3 IMPs away.

'so close' I mutter

'happy 8 ' says Declarer

'if you had the 8 you were a hero' says trusty pard

Why is it always my job to be the hero?

KJ9862 / Q5 / 97 / Q96

A5 / KJ8 / AQ8 / KJT53