If that won’t work, try this alternative

Woody Hayes, who is in the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach, said, “The five big mistakes in football are the fumble, the interception, the penalty, the badly called play, the blocked punt — and most of these originate with the quarterback. Find a mistake-proof quarterback, and you have this game won.”

If you find a mistake-proof declarer, you have bridge won.

In today’s deal, we have a blocked suit. Can declarer punt to circumnavigate the problem? West leads his fourth-highest heart against three no-trump. What should South do?

South might have upgraded and opened two no-trump, not that that would have altered the final contract — North would have raised to three no-trump. Yes, five diamonds makes, but with no singleton or void and insufficient points to consider a slam, it is better to go for the nine-trick game.

South seems to have nine top tricks: one spade, one heart, six diamonds and one club. However, now that the heart ace has been removed from the dummy, declarer has no immediate dummy entry left and cannot enjoy six diamond tricks. Instead, he must go for these nine winners: one spade, one heart, three diamonds and four clubs. But that might require three winning club finesses. To take those finesses, South needs to stay in the dummy while taking the first two finesses. In this situation, he should lead the lowest card that can win the first finesse. So, declarer must call for the club nine. He continues with the club queen, takes a third club finesse and runs for home.