IT IS ONE FOR YOU AND ONE FOR ME

It doesn't matter if you lose a trick that you could have won, as long as you get at least one back in return that you didn't think you could win.

Does that sound paradoxical? Well, maybe today's deal will make the idea clear.

Cover the East-West cards and plan the play in six hearts after West leads the diamond king.

Over West's textbook three-diamond preempt, North wanted to enter the auction, but every choice was flawed. However, when South jumped to four hearts, North came out of the bushes, control-bidding his diamond ace to express slam interest. South was happy to accept the offer.

South has two potential losers in clubs. Taking that suit in isolation, the correct play, after eliminating the other suits, is to cash the ace, go into the dummy and lead low to the queen. Declarer has only one loser whenever East has the king, or when West started with kingdoubleton (as he will be forced to concede a ruff-and-sluff). However, with the actual distribution that line fails.

There is a better approach. South should win trick one with the diamond ace, draw trumps, ruff a diamond in hand, cash the spade ace and play a spade to dummy's king. Now he leads the diamond six. If East plays a higher diamond, declarer ruffs and adopts the line mentioned above. Here, though, East, as expected, pitches; declarer does likewise, discarding the club four and endplaying West.

If West returns a diamond, South ruffs on the board and sluffs the club queen. If West shifts to a club, it is into declarer's ace-queen.