BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

You are South, declarer in 3NT, against which West leads the ♠6, East going up with the ♠Q. How would you plan the play and why?

This is one of the occasions on which the Rule of Eleven helps declarer. he has seen East’s ♠Q, which can be his only card higher than the ♠6 which was led. Taking this a step further, West is now marked with a suit headed by ♠A10.

south has not got enough tricks for his contract without taking the diamond finesse, but if he falls for the temptation of taking what looks like an easy trick with the ♠K, when North gets in with the ♦K — which is an even chance — he will lead another spade back through East’s remaining ♠9 to West’s holding. south must refuse the first spade trick so that he will be able to finesse diamonds safely into East’s hand. if spades happen to be 4-3 in the West and East hands respectively, south won’t lose more than three spades and the ♦K.