Piedmont 5/27

Well I didn't play this hand very well, but I recovered in the end position.

You're in fourth, it goes (1D) - p - (1S) - 2H all pass

LHO leads the CA, you get

J
Kx
Kxxx
QT9xxx

AQ862
AJ987x
J
J

LHO shifts to a small heart, small Q A. If hearts break, you have 8 tricks, so I just played another heart up. LHO shows out.

At this point I should probably shorten myself and ruff a club, but instead I ran the SJ, losing to the K on my left. A diamond comes back, K A J. Another diamond, ruffed in my hand.

At this point, your hand is AQ86 J98 --- ---. I cashed the SA, and the 7 falls on my left. If they're 3-4, then you just lose one more spade and heart, making 2H (5 hearts, 3 spades). But if RHO started with 5 spades, then you're going to wind up losing two spades after cashing the top spade, and you'll get put back in your hand to lose a heart as well.

At this point, I exited a low spade. LHO does show out, RHO wins this trick, and now he's endplayed. If he plays a minor suit, I can ruff in my hand, completing the shortening process, cash the top spade, and exit the spade to force him to lead trumps up to my J9. If he leads a spade, then I just have a finesse with my Q8 over his Tx.