Bridge Match 2 - Board 5

Board 5 – Dealer North – NS Vul

Opponents convention card: Dutch Acol.
Opponents playing strength: Intermediate.

My hand: ♠ 5 3 ♥ Q T 6 2 ♦ K T ♣ A J 8 6 2

Partner opens 1 diamond. I respond 1 heart. Partner jumps to 3 hearts. My hand seems to be pretty good, so I accept and go to 4. West leads the 5 of clubs.

	NORTH ♠ A T ♥ K 9 8 5 ♦ A Q 8 7 2 ♣ Q 7
WEST ♣ 5
	SOUTH ♠ 5 3 ♥ Q T 6 2 ♦ K T ♣ A J 8 6 2

West	North	East	South
	1♦	Pass	1♥
Pass	3♥	Pass	4♥
Pass	Pass	Pass

I have 3 diamonds, a spade, and a club. I probably have 2 hearts and certainly have an extra club too. I have a spade loser and probably two heart losers. Maybe a club loser too... I need to pick up the J of hearts or the K of clubs or set up a pitch of my spade. The club lead certainly feels like it will help. If I play low and win with the J I can force out the K with the Q losing that trick, but then I can pitch the T of spades on the A of clubs. Unless the club gets ruffed, which is entirely feasible... I think I'm better off trying to avoid the club loser instead by inserting the Q now. 5-Q-K-A.

Now I want to draw trump. What is the right way to play this suit? I feel like I used to know this, but don't anymore. Low to the 8 sounds good. 2-3-8-J. East returns a club. T-J-3-7. I feel like West lead the 5 from 5-3 doubleton and can now ruff a club. Time to draw more trump! 6-7-K-4. Yay! I feel good now, with only the A of trump left. Time to play a diamond or two and see what's up there. 2-9-K-5. T-3-Q-6. A-2 of spades-3-of spades-4. Now I can ruff a diamond to set up the 5th diamond. I should get out of this losing just the A of trump. I do. Making 5.

	NORTH ♠ A T ♥ K 9 8 5 ♦ A Q 8 7 2 ♣ Q 7
WEST ♠ K Q J 7 ♥ A 7 3 ♦ J 5 4 3 ♣ 5 3		EAST ♠ 9 8 6 4 2 ♥ J 4 ♦ 9 6 ♣ K T 9 4
	SOUTH ♠ 5 3 ♥ Q T 6 2 ♦ K T ♣ A J 8 6 2

Professor Jack disagrees with my play of the heart suit. He wants me to play the K, not the 8, when I lead up. Which saves me from losing to the J on this specific layout. But is it the right play in general? A quick internet search leads me to believe that yes, in fact, you should play up to a high honour first. But I replayed the hand and needing to draw that low heart out meant I ended up losing a spade so I still only went up one.

6 of the pairs played 4 hearts up one. One played 4 hearts just in. One played 4 hearts double down one which really confuses me. Maybe declarer played both minors before drawing trump and the opponents got lots of ruffs? At any rate, we get 9 of 14 MPs for that result.
Ranking after board 5/60: 12/16 with 35.71%