[Antrax]

Matchpoints, EW vul. N deals and passes, and the auction goes 1NT-(p)-4NT-(p). You decide if partner was interested in aces and not the general strength he'd have bid gerber, and pass. S leads the ♥T and you see this dummy:

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How do you go about the hand?

[Hanoi5]

I'd win at the table and try a club to the ten. If this loses and a heart comes back, I now try the spade finesse after unblocking the ♣A. If this loses and another heart comes back, I'd start to sweat. A small spade to the table and if the Jack doesn't appear or clubs are not 3-3 I suppose I'd finesse diamonds.

[Antrax]

That's exactly the line I took (except I got the diamond finesse for free after losing the ♣T to the Q). Clubs weren't breaking and the spade finesse was wrong, but spades were 3-3 and so were the diamonds, with ♦Q onside. I was wondering if I'm such an amazing declarer, if the defense was that bad, or if my line was inferior and I got lucky, since most of the field were in 3/4 minus 1/2.

[han]

Your partner certainly thinks that you are an amazing declarer.

[Antrax]

Heh. This time, it was a case of "but I had a five-card suit!"

[han]

That's actually a good argument. With 30 HCP between you a 5-card suit can make a big difference. Without the 5-card suit it would have been way too much. Now it's quite aggressive.

[han]

Can I mention Justin Lall's blog on the B/I forum? His blog just had a nice article on puppet stayman in which he talks about how he deals with 5332 slam tries (the 5-card suit being a minor). Google for Justin Lall.