BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

You are declarer as West having reached what looks like an excellent 6 ♠ contract. North leads ♥ J which you win in hand and play a trump to dummy’s king, noting that South shows out. What is your best hope of making the contract? WITH a 2-1 trump break, your contract would have been 100 per cent certain; now it is something less than 40 per cent sure. Nevertheless, you must not give up hope if there is the slightest chance of success. You will arrive at the best solution once you have discarded other options i.e. the diamond finesse doesn’t help you, and you have a certain club loser, if the opponents are able to play the suit. The slight ray of hope is that North is unable to play a club after you put him on lead with his master trump. So, after two rounds of trumps, you ruff the diamond and cash ♥ AK and ♣ AK before exiting with a trump. North holds: ♠ Q 10 x ♥ J 10 9 ♦ xxxxx ♣ xx, and he must give you a ruff and discard.