BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

South is declarer in 4 ♥ , against which West leads the ♠ Q. how should South plan the play? Without looking at all four hands, as you can do, South should realise that there is a likely trump loser, and very possibly three diamond losers. But the latter won’t materialise if East can be kept off lead.

Winning the opening spade lead in dummy, North leads the ♥ 3. if East plays the ♥ 2, South plays the ♥ 5. West wins with the ♥ 10, but can do no damage by opening up diamonds. if East decides to play the ♥ 8 on the first round of trumps, South plays the knave and, when he sees the ♥ 10 drop from West, he re- enters dummy, and plays trumps through East again, thus even making an overtrick as the cards lie.