BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

You are South, declarer in 6 ♥ , against which West leads ♠ Q. What is your best line of play? There are two possible lines of play here, both very close in merit, but one gives you a slightly better chance than the other, and here it is.

Win the opening lead with the ♠ A in hand, the idea being to preserve entries to dummy. next finesse the ♦ Q. Allowing for the worst, we’ll say this loses and another spade is returned by east. Win with dummy’s remaining ♠ K, cash the ♥ A and ruff a low diamond in hand.

ruff your last spade with the ♥ 7, and ruff another diamond. If both defenders follow, it means that diamonds are breaking 4-3.

now all you have to do is draw trumps, return to dummy with ♣ A, and cash the remaining ♦ A8 discarding two clubs. If diamonds break 5-2, with West holding five, you won’t have been over-ruffed while you try to set them up and you will still have a chance to fall back on the club finesse.