BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

You are West, declarer in 6 ♣ , and North leads ♦ J. You duck in dummy, and South overtakes with ♦ K and returns ♦ Q. How do you plan the play? If yOu can solve this especially difficult problem without a couple of helpful clues, you are truly a master player.

even with a necessary 3-2 trump break, you are still likely to be a trick short, because South’s play to the first tricks has strongly suggested that he holds ♦ KQ doubleton and will therefore be able to overruff dummy if you try to ruff your two diamond losers.

Instead you will need to try for a squeeze against North, and this will only work if he is specifically 4-2-5-2 distribution.

We already know of his probable five diamonds, and he needs four spades and two doubletons to go with them.

Remember that you have already lost the trick you can afford in ‘rectifying the count’! The final clue is that the squeeze card involves the third round of trumps. (Continued tomorrow).