Contract Bridge

1. To draw trumps and rely entirely on a 2-2 club break -- a 40 percent probability -- would be pushing your luck too far. You can improve your chances greatly by playing for a 4-3 division in hearts, a 62 percent probability.

Accordingly, you win the opening spade lead with the ace, cash the ace of trumps and, assuming everyone follows suit, next cash the A-K of hearts and ruff a heart. If the opponents follow to all three rounds of hearts, ruff the king of spades in dummy, ruff another heart, draw trumps and claim six, scoring your 12th trick with dummy’s six of hearts.

If the hearts do not divide 4-3, you can still make the contract if the clubs are 2-2 and the trumps break normally. Testing the hearts before touching the club suit gives you two chances to make the slam instead of just one.

2. Since there is no quick way to get to dummy to attempt a trump finesse, you should try to force your way into dummy by taking the ace of diamonds and then playing the A-K of spades and A-K of hearts, in that order. Assuming both opponents follow suit in hearts and the queen has not fallen, you exit with a heart.

Whether the opponent who has the heart queen returns a spade or a diamond, you finally reach dummy to take the trump finesse. There is no assurance that this line of play will make the slam, but it offers by far the best chance.

Tomorrow: Dangerous waters ahead.