BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

You are South, declarer in 3NT, against which West leads the ♣6. Plan the play. Counting tricks, you have two spades, two hearts, one club and four diamonds once the ♦A has been knocked out. the problem, therefore, seems to boil down to how to play clubs at trick one.

Play the ♣4 from dummy. if East plays a low one your ♣10 will win and, if he plays either the ♣K or ♣Q, you will win with the ace, and your remaining ♣103, backed by the ♣J in dummy, will make a second stop in the suit.

When you can see that you only need to give up the lead once in clearing your suit, don’t duck when you have a holding such as A10 facing Jxx, or xx facing AJ10, because you will either win a cheap trick on the first round, or East’s play will create a second guard for you.