2♠ was natural and weak. My 3♥ was natural, though there was some discussion over what it meant. Actual discussion, as all four players were on a Zoom call together. I claimed it was forcing, to which West replied "So what am I supposed to bid now?". She settled for 3♠, and I tried 3NT.
On seeing dummy both 4♥ and 4♠ look better, but maybe 3NT has chances too. If you're very lucky and get a nice lead like a Club you have time to set up dummy's Spades, but failing that you still might get six Hearts, two Clubs on a finesse and one Diamond makes nine.
South lead a Heart, which the King won in dummy, North following with the ♥J. This is double bad news as it means the one entry to dummy is gone, and also Hearts aren't splitting.
This was my one chance to finesse Clubs so I tried that, and noticed the ♣K popping up onside. I cashed a few Hearts, confirming the 5-1 break. I could give up one Heart and accept one down (winning five Hearts, two Clubs and a Diamond), but instead lead a Spade. South took the ♠A and found the best return of a Diamond, which I ducked once then won.
I still have a chance, if I can get the defence to help me. Assuming that South has the remaining Club honours, and no more Diamonds, I can give her the lead and she will be forced to lead a Heart round (meaning I make all the Heart tricks) or play a Spade to dummy, giving me extra tricks there. I tried this, cashing the ♣A then continuing Clubs. It looked good for an instant but South had one more Diamond to return and I therefore finished two down. Well defended.
The best I can do in 3NT on that lead is one down. What about 4♥? I think it suffers from the same problem as 3NT (no entry to dummy's Spades) and is also down. What about 4♠? You have potentially two Spade, two Diamonds and a Club loser and I don't think you can reduce that to three. Looks like it was all doomed!
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