West	North	East	South
	-	-	-	2NT
	P	3NT	All Pass

Knockout Teams.  Both Sides Vulnerable.
West leads the Queen of Spades

A clue to the best line of play on this hand might be drawn from the award-winning film "The Bridge on the River Kwai" where actor Andre Morell playing the role of Colonel Green offers a word of caution to his team of saboteurs as they launch a mission to blow up that enemy bridge:

"In a job like this, there is
always one more thing to do"

You may want to stop here to plan the things you will need to do to take 9 tricks. Then read the narrative below.

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It's useful to remember Colonel Green's words as you note the opening lead, count your sure winners and possible loser and check for adequate entries.

Question: Did you consider any "extra chance" play(s) that might improve your chance of success?
 

 

At the first table, with 8 tricks "on top", our declarer faced the needed a 9th, and followed a line of play that offered about a 75% chance of success. She won the spade and played her ♣9 to the Queen and led a small heart to her ten, and West's King.  She then won the spade return, led her the ♣10 to the King and repeated the heart finesse. The opponents wound up with two hearts, three spades, and two diamonds for down three.
 
At the other table, our declarer, a more experience player, recognized that before committing to those two finesses, there was "one more thing to do" - examining whether the only other possible source of "extra" tricks - diamonds - offered any option. And it did!
 
She knew her goal was to ensure nine tricks. With six cards out against her in diamonds, the probability of a 5-1 split was roughly 15%, and in 2 of those 6 fotunate cases, the singleton was likely to be the King or Queen.
 
2/6 (or 1/3) of that 15% added another 5% to the odds of bringing 3NT home. MVP awards and presidential elections have often been decided by a good deal less than that 5%.
 
Our experienced declarer cashed the ace of diamonds at trick two, and was able on her next lead to set up a second diamond for a ninth trick.

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♠   ♥   ♦   ♣