BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

HoW do you play West in 4 ♥ , after North leads ♣ K? ThIS is a nice easy contract for play planning, because you can count nine top tricks and the tenth can come either from a successful spade finesse or with North holding ♦ A. So what is the problem?

You only have one entry to your hand to test these options, and if the first fails, you are fixed. It won’t help to duck the lead, because North will keep you locked in dummy, and you should be given no chance to ruff your losing club. The solution will generally present itself, when you ponder long enough.

You have a doubleton spade in hand — so you don’t need a finesse after all. Simply give up a trick straightaway by playing ♠ Q from dummy at Trick Two, and you have your tenth trick established. The other hands are: North: ♠ xxx ♥ 10xx ♦ Jxx ♣ KQJx. South: ♠ K10xx ♥ xx ♦ AQ10 ♣ xxxx.