BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

You are West, playing in 4 ♠ , and North starts with ♣ AK, then switches to ♥ 8, having noted a suit preference signal from partner. How would you play? THIs is the most horrible type of hand on which to be declarer. Whichever line you choose might be right on the night, including a guess that the opponents were bluffing with the heart switch, putting you under pressure straight away.

You’d be forgiven for taking the dubious heart finesse, because the only sensible alternative is a squeeze against North in the minors. It seems as if North has ♣ Q, and if he also has ♦ Q, he won’t be able to keep both suits guarded when you play off your trumps.

Let’s say you decide to go for the squeeze. Go up with ♥ a and knock out ♠ a. Win the next trick, and run trumps until you reach the position with ♦ K2 and ♣ J in dummy, and ♦ J5 with the last trump in hand. If your prayers are to be answered, North will now have ♦ Qx and ♣ Q, and playing the last trump will force him to give up control of one suit; if he discards ♣ Q, dummy’s knave is established; a diamond discard enables you to play a low diamond to the king, dropping the singleton queen and establishing your knave.