The above hand occurred in the first online Woodberry Pairs event and was quite instructive. North, Ryan Stephenson, opened a strong NT and South, Andy Clery, transferred to clubs. North's 3C bid said that he liked clubs, and South gambled that the side suits would be stopped and bid 3NT.

NS50, the moniker of Nigel Stuttard, led the ace of hearts and West, John Bernard, a keen Arsenal fan, played the five, encouraging. Now East continued with two more high hearts and West played low on both. He feared that if he unblocked the jack, North might have Txxx. Now the hearts were blocked and the contract made.

The answer here was for East to lead the queen of hearts, and when West encourages with the five, then East can underlead the ace, on the THIRD round after West completes an echo. It would be wrong of East to underlead immediately as the five might be discouraging from T85 or T75.