BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

You are East, declarer in 7NT, against which South leads ♥9. What is your best line of play, assuming that North, when you test clubs, turns up with four to the ♣J? You can count 12 top tricks and 13 if clubs break, so you test that suit first. However, as you have already been told, North turns up with four to the knave.

You never want to take a finesse in a grand slam if you can avoid it, so next you cash the two top spades, ending in dummy. If the ♠Q drops doubleton, again you are home and dry, but luck’s not with you today.

Now go for hearts, and see if you can get the opposition into trouble. By the time you get to playing your fifth heart, if you are to make your contract, North will be wriggling, if he holds the ♦Q, which he needs to keep guarded, as well as the master club, and if he also had the ♠Q he would have been wriggling before now!

North is likely to hold on to the club, so you throw yours. If the ♠Q has not appeared, North will be down to ♦Qx and, when you next cash your ♦K, crossing to the ♦A will drop his ♦Q, and leave your ♦J good.