West   North   East   South
                                 2♣
pass     2♦¹      pass   3NT²
pass    6NT     all pass

1 - Waiting.
2 - 25-27 balanced.

West leads the ♥K against your 6NT contract. How do you proceed?

Solution:
You need four tricks in club suit. Discovering the distribution of the other three suits might tell you how to play the club suit. Your first move should be to duck the opening lead. You are going to lose a trick at some stage, it is best to lose it now. West continues with the ♥Q, East discards a small spade. You win it, and cash your diamond and spade winners. Both East and West follow to three rounds of both suits, West discards a heart on the fourth diamond, while East discards another spade.

You have all the information you need. West has shown up with five hearts, three spades, three diamonds, and therefore cannot have more than two clubs. You should tackle the club suit by cashing the Ace and playing a low club to the queen, and when the jack does not appear, you can finesse the ten with confidence.

It is worth revisiting the key play of ducking the opening lead. If you had won the trick, you wouldn't have found out that East had a singleton heart, and consequently would have been reduced to guessing the club suit. Ducking the opening lead also has the effect of rectifying the count for a possible squeeze. If West had four clubs to go with his heart suit, he will be squeezed when you cash your spade and diamond winners. All you have to do is watch out if your heart is good; if not, you run your clubs. If you don't rectify the count, the squeeze does not operate automatically; you would once again have to guess the right play.

Analysis:
A double dummy analysis is not appropriate for this deal, looking at all four hands makes the club play trivial.
Par Contract Analysis:
The par contract on this deal is 6NT by North-South.

Bridge Baron deal No : N0405-68047-59790-94296-61292-21957