Assume you’re West and that South gets to three notrump as shown. You have no clear-cut opening lead, but you decide, after considering the bidding, that the only real chance of defeating the contract is to find partner with good hearts.

So you lead a heart, and it immediately becomes apparent that you must have done something right, because when your partner plays the jack, it wins the trick. East returns the eight of hearts (his original fourth-best heart), and you take declarer’s ten with the king.

You might mechanically continue with a third round of hearts at this point, but before you do, you should stop to analyze the situation.

If declarer’s bidding is to be believed, he is virtually certain to have the A-K of spades and ace of hearts for his three-notrump bid. Translating that

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