Bridge

When you escape the killing lead, don’t give it back. Play 4♥ on a diamond lead.

Dealer North: love all

A spade lead and a club switch beats the hand, but even so, South still has plenty to do after the favourable opening lead. South gets rid of his losing spade but must then avoid the loss of four club tricks. If he leads clubs, the opponents will return trumps at every turn. This will prevent South from ruffing a club in dummy, and he will lose all four clubs. The solution is to set up dummy’s spades. This is done in such a way as to shut East out taking a ruffing finesse. West sees that his only chance to defeat the contract is to lead clubs in the hope that his partner has K x rather than the actual J x. West’s desperation shift to clubs gives South an extra trick.