WATCH OUT FOR UNUSUAL FINESSES

Bruce Dickinson, who is best known as the lead singer for the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, said, "One of my earliest ventures was when I was 9 years old. I realized there was a shortage of pencils at school, so I started Rent-aPencil. But I made a fundamental mistake. Everybody stole my pencils."

Declarer should always try not to have any of his tricks stolen by the defenders. In today's deal, how should South play in three no-trump after West leads the heart queen?

South's opening bid is close. But these days, most players, liking the full complement of aces, would open two no-trump. If you are going to make this upgrade, make sure that your hand contains at least three aces and one king or two aces and three kings.

Declarer starts with five top tricks outside of clubs (two spades, two hearts and one diamond), so needs four winners from the lowest-ranking suit. But how should he proceed?

If clubs are 2-2 or 3-1, everything sensible works. But what if they are 4-0?

If West has four, cashing the club ace first is fine. But that is not the case when East has all of them.

South must realize that this is not a finessing position. Instead, he should win trick one (don't risk a diamond shift) and lead a low club toward the board.

When West discards, declarer plays dummy's

bridge

jack. East takes the trick and returns a heart (or the diamond king). South wins, plays a spade to the king, returns a club to his nine, cashes the club ace, runs the suit and pencils plus 600 into his scorecard.

Copyright United Feature Syndicate (Asia Features)