There are four ways to play:

1        Run the clubs from the top and if they break play for 11 tricks by discarding losers and then play on hearts

2        Play on hearts first and then play the clubs from the top

3        Play on hearts first keeping an honour in dummy until the third round as a possible late entry

4        Duck or finesse a club to retain entry to dummy

There are also possible combinations of these plays.

By playing at once on hearts (©J first then ©Q) there will be 11 tricks if clubs break and a spade is returned.  But if the defence switch to diamonds as is likely they could limit this to 10 with the hearts blocked and no quick entry to South.  So that line of play does not seem attractive.  If clubs do not break the contract is likely to go down unless the opponents continue spades.

Playing ©J and ©10 first is better – there will always be eight tricks and if the defence switch to diamonds South’s holding is nearly strong enough to provide two stoppers.

If the defence win ©A on the second round and switch to diamonds declarer has to decide how to play the clubs.  A finesse of §10 retains communication but lets East in to play another diamond which may be fatal.

If the defence duck the second heart leaving declarer in dummy (as happened at my table) there is now another option guaranteeing at least nine tricks and possibly ten which is to duck a club immediately.

So what is the best line?  To work that out needs an assumption: it is probable that the defence will switch to diamonds (West is less likely, East is very likely).  If East has ¨K Q as shown the defence will only make two diamond tricks at best.  But most other layouts will only give a second stopper if West has the long clubs and also holds ªK.  Summarising in the form of a table:

The percentages are very approximate as it would be otiose to calculate them exactly.

For those who prefer words to tables:

Playing clubs from the top:

1. If clubs break and the defence switch to diamonds there will be ten tricks and no more.  The position of ©A and ªK is irrelevant.  (If clubs are played first it will be obvious to switch to diamonds.)
2. Following either line with clubs breaking there will be 11 tricks if they do not switch.
3. If clubs do not break and the defence switch to diamonds the contract will depend on East holding ¨K Q [or West holding all the stoppers i.e. ©A, ªK, §J].
4. If clubs do not break and the defence does not switch to diamonds nine tricks will be safe (two spades, three hearts, one diamond and three clubs) but no real chance for an overtrick as the defence will make two spades, one heart and one club unless the entries are scrambled.

Taking a club finesse at trick two:

5. Taking the club finesse at trick two produces 11 tricks if it wins.  If it loses the contract is in jeopardy if they switch unless East holds ¨K Q.
6. If they do not switch after a losing club finesse the contract will make unless West has five spades to ªK (just possible) and also ©A

At pairs I think the right way to play is first hearts and then clubs from the top.  By playing that way the weakness in diamonds may not be so obvious and a diamond switch may not come.  The combined probability of making 10 or 11 tricks is about 70%, probably split around 45% - 25% depending on the opponents.  Of the remaining 30% about 10% you will make nine tricks and 20% only eight.  Since all the other pairs will have the same layout these are all likely to be good results as it is possible that West would lead diamonds.

At teams or rubber bridge it also seems right, given the weakness in diamonds, but if they duck twice in hearts a club duck must then be right.  Canny opponents could gain two IMPs by playing that way when clubs were breaking all along – a counter-intuitive defence as they can see nine tricks on top!