NEIL HAYWARD BRIDGE

WEST

♠ Q6 3

♥ Q82

♦ QT432 ♣ Q 5

NORTH

♠ J T 4

♥ J 9

♦8

♣ K 8 7 6 4 3 2 EAST

♠ 9 7 5 2 ♥ T 7 6 3 ♦ A9 7 6 ♣9

SOUTH

♠ AK 8

♥ AK 5 4 ♦ K J 5

♣ AJ T

Contract: 3NT by South

Opening Lead: ♦3 to East’s ♦A. The ♦6 is returned. Your thoughts?

Recommended Line: Dummy’s clubs are a wonderful source of tricks, but, if you play the ♣A and a second club, with their ♣Q appearing on the second round, the suit is blocked, and you will go down. You could bank on the ♣Q falling singleton, but why rely on good fortune when there is a better way? Assuming they use fourth-highest leads, the lead of the ♦3 tells you that diamonds are breaking 4-5 or 5-4. Therefore they can take exactly four diamond tricks. With that in mind, here’s the plan: win the second diamond, and play the ♦J right back. Presuming they cash their diamond tricks, your first discard from hand is the ♣T. That clears the blockage that threatened to scupper your contract. If clubs break 2-1, with the ♣Q falling on the second round, the hand will be plain sailing, rather than running aground. *