Bridge

Opening lead — king of hearts.

Assume you’re in four spades and West cashes the A-K of hearts, then shifts to a trump.

You’re bound to lose a diamond trick, come what may, but the danger is that you may lose two. Situations like this occur all the time, and must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

One thing you shouldn’t do in this instance is to bank everything on East having the king of diamonds. It is certainly tempting to finesse the queen, but that is something you should do only as a last resort.

First you should try to learn where the king is located. Accordingly, after winning the trump return, you lead the queen of clubs. When West follows low, you go up with the ace, making a mental note that East almost surely has the king since West presumably would have covered the queen if he could have.

Next you lead a club and ruff it. If East plays the king on this trick, which is likely, you have a much better picture of the hand than you had at the start. You may still be unable to make the contract, but at least you know West has the king of diamonds. This is because he opened the bidding as dealer and could scarcely have done so without the diamond king.

Your one hope now is that West was dealt the singleton or doubleton king. If he has three diamonds, you can kiss the hand goodbye. So, after another round of trumps, you cash the ace of diamonds, enter dummy with a trump and lead a diamond. Regardless of what East plays, you duck.

As it happens, West must win with the king, and you wind up making the contract.