The next step is to find out which predicate on LETTER_BIN does not give the good cardinality estimate. Evaluate each predicate individually first, comparing cardinality, then add one more at a time and see if you can track which one is the problem one. My guess is it might be the NOT IN one, but that is just a guess. On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 10:21 AM, Neil Kodner <nkodner@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Another data point is if I specify a cardinality hint, I get a desired > execution plan (Hash Join instead of NL), and a great response time. -- Regards, Greg Rahn http://structureddata.org -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l