Hi Dear Mr Wolff
Perhaps south did not need that discard of heart. One NT by south notwithstanding , Beng vulnerable west ventured two hearts bid showing hearts and a minor ( in this case clearly diamonds) marking him with almost all high card points. If west has five carded diamond, he has only three cards in black suits. If west has A KJ of spades, he is void in clubs and he would force declarer . With Ax in spades, perhaps he would have led his singleton club.
So, win the lead and play back a heart . West wins and if he returns heart dummy leads spade eight passing to west who may return diamond . Win in dummy and spade. When east doesn’t cover, pass and when west shows out, declarer has easy ten tricks as once east has come up with A J of spades, west needs to have Q of clubs for his vulnerable overcall . Looks like doubledummy analysis but should not be difficult at table.
Perhaps without west’s bid, south surely would go down but once he bids, it provides a blueprint for success
Regards

Hi AVRR,

While I agree to your overall judgment, the task of declarer is indeed, at the very least, shaky.

From the get-go, the one card which would appear to be onside might be the club queen (West’s bidding) and when considering West’s boldness, along with East’s raise, either a pinochle deck of high cards or at least one of them must be wearing a bullet-proof vest.

However, nothing above is intended to dispute what you say, other than the declaring by South is no easy pickings.

All three players, other than South, really bid ’em up, and with it, provided a worthwhile hand for discussion, certainly not one where conservative wisdom ruled the day.

Thanks for taking the time to try and add some justification to the bid fest.