Try the options in the right order

Susan Rice, during her 2010 Stanford University commencement address, said, “Once you’ve learned to study in a bathing suit on the grass with muscled men throwing frisbees over your head, you can accomplish almost anything.”

From how many suits did she choose? In bridge, we have four, and sometimes it is important to play them in the right order. In this deal, for example, how should South try to catch his six-heart contract after West leads the spade queen to dummy’s ace?

The auction used modern methods. Two diamonds was natural and game-forcing. Four hearts promised three-card support but minimum values. South then used two doses of Roman Key Card Blackwood to learn that his partner had two aces and the spade queen, but no side-suit king. (For serious partnerships, over five no-trump, it is better to show specific, not quantitative, kings.)

South starts with 11 top tricks: one spade, six hearts, one diamond and three clubs. If clubs are 3-3, that suit will provide a 12th winner. Or if trumps are 2-2, a club ruff in the dummy will do the job. But what if both of these are impossible?

Then declarer needs to establish a second diamond trick.

The best play is to duck a diamond at trick two. The defenders will try to cash a spade trick, but South ruffs, plays a diamond to the ace, ruffs a diamond high, draws three rounds of trumps ending on the board and ruffs another diamond. Now dummy’s diamond jack is high, declarer’s 12th trick.