BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

You are South, declarer in 4♠, against which

West leads the ♥2. Plan the play. You dare not risk running the heart lead in case it’s a singleton, in which case there are far too many losers staring you in the face.

The best line to take is to win, and draw trumps immediately, thus eliminating any risk of a heart ruff; then play the ♦K from hand. Assuming that West wins this and returns a club, take the finesse — this will be your second loser if East has the ♣K. Whatever comes back, next play your ♦J, which will establish the ♦10 in dummy for a heart discard.

You will find that in this way you can win ten tricks for certain.