REBECCA ROOD'S MAILBAG...............

Dear Rebecca,

Would you agree that my partner has kangaroos in his top paddock ?  Someone who clearly belongs in the nut house with all the other lunatics,  who are completely deluded by the idea that they too can play bridge.
Why just the other day he went off in a cold 6NT..........protesting about a wicked 5 -1 split in hearts.
Dummy came down with  :  A........AKQxx....KJ9xx......9x
While Mr. Fruitcake held : KQ9xx......Jx.....10x.........AKxx

( As it happened,  his LHO had  J10x......xxxxx........Qx....QJ10 )

So what did ding-a-ling do on the queen of clubs lead ? Well, I will tell you !  He tackled hearts first only to discover the 5-1 break. Nevertheless, he proceeded to rattle off the top 4 heart winners. Next came the Ace of spades and back to hand with a top club.  After cashing the KQ of spades,  he did at least receive some good news, with five winners being harvested in that suit. 
However on leading a diamond at trick 12, East joyfully pounced with the Ace to cash the winning 8 of clubs.

Yours in abject despair,
                                   Aristotle

 Dear Aristotle,

Yes, I do agree with you.....the guy must have water on his brain.....and that experience for you must have been very painful indeed..  At trick two, anyone with a grain of common sense would have approached spades first.
With the jack coming down in three, his LHO will be well and truly under the cosh. He can't discard hearts, so he must let go of both diamonds, or J10 of clubs....or a hesitant card in each in each of the minors.
So with declarer getting back to hand with the jack of hearts at trick 3, the following three scenarios exist after running off the 4 remaining spade tricks :
1. If LHO opponent chooses to lob away Qx of diamonds, a diamond winner can be easily established for the 12th trick, by playing a diamond to the KJ in dummy   
2. If the J10 of clubs are discarded instead, a low club can be played to dummy's 9, followed by three top hearts, and now it is the turn of the RHO to feel the pinch. He is forced to keep Ax of diamonds by pitching his losing club. LHO must keep his master heart along with the queen of diamonds. And so the smothering play of the King of diamonds at trick 12 wins the day.
3. If LHO discards one in each suit, then the finesse of the diamond queen has to be taken on.  

Hoping you've fully recovered now from your terrible ordeal,
                                                                           Best regards Rebecca