NEIL HAYWARD BRIDGE

Opening Lead: ♣9. East plays three rounds of clubs. Dummy ruffs. What now?

Recommended Line: Given East’s opening, a double finesse in diamonds, normally a promising line of play, is not a good option here. The vision is to get East to lead a diamond straight back into the “jaws” in dummy, or to concede a ruff and discard. However, the ruff and discard requires at least one trump on each side of the table. If trumps are 2-2, this is easy enough. But, aware of the fact that a 3-1 trump break makes things tricky, you test the trumps. When you find they are 3-1, abandon them, leaving one in dummy, and play three rounds of hearts, ruffing the third. Now lead a diamond to the ♦T. East wins, but must concede a ruff and discard, or return a diamond. Either will give you your tenth trick. Well played!*