So how should the hand be played?  If clubs break 3-2 there are 11 tricks (five clubs, three spades, two hearts and one diamond) and anyone can make them by establishing a second heart trick.  If either defender has §J singleton the same is true.  And if West holds §9 singleton there are five tricks in clubs by unblocking §10, cashing ªQ and then establishing a second heart trick while holding stoppers in all suits.  The club finesse can be taken when next in dummy.

But if West has §J x x x or East §J 9 x x the suit cannot provide five tricks.  ªQ has to be kept in hand as an entry and the suit is blocked.  Declarer has to concede a club and wait for the defence to play.  If a heart is returned declarer will make at least ten tricks (four clubs, two hearts, three spades and one diamond) and there are good possibilities for a squeeze; if West holds the long spades (as occurred at the table) and ¨K there would be a diamond-spade squeeze.  There are also strip squeeze possibilities if the defence do not cash ©A.

If East wins the club, best defence would be to return a diamond if not holding ¨K as that gives declarer a losing option and she would probably only make ten tricks and might make nine.  If West wins the club best defence is to play a diamond if not holding ¨K.  Then ten tricks are the limit.  A spade from either defender lets declarer cash the clubs and then play a heart but 11 tricks are possible on a squeeze but still fairly unlikely.

The moral of the hand is twofold – keep entries until they are no longer needed and watch the spot cards when playing a long suit as there may be a finesse possible.  Unblocking §10 should be automatic.

As an afterthought, if West leads a spade (my choice, rather than from ©A x x x) the hand becomes more difficult.  There are 11 tricks as before with both ©J and ¨K well placed but declarer has to decide.  The second spade will force a discard from South and nothing is very convenient.