The hard part is thinking of it

Our friend A.N. Onymous, not Ambrose Bierce, defined “antonym” as the opposite of the word you're trying to think of.

At the bridge table, often the hardest part is actually thinking of the right bid or play. It does not sound like such a Herculean task because the number of choices is limited, but many players do not train themselves to analyze the options.

In today's deal, what are the best plays by each side in three no-trump after West leads the heart queen?

South sees seven top tricks: one spade, two hearts, two diamonds and two clubs. He will get one more trick from spades if he finds a lucky 3-3 break. However, that would still leave declarer a trick shy of his contract. Aiming to get four club tricks is much more sensible. But how do you think he should do that?

An unthinking player would cash the king and follow with a finesse of dummy's jack. That will work fine if the missing clubs are 3-2. However, when West turns up with four clubs including the queen, this doesn't work so well. Much better is to cash the club king, then to duck the second round. Here, South sees East discard, so he knows to play low to dummy's jack on the third round of the suit.

Before moving to the comics, though, did you think of West's clever play? When South leads his second club after cashing the king, West should play his queen! South is bound to win with dummy's ace and, here, go down.

Even if a clever South first leads a low club from his hand, West can still play the queen. *