Hand of the Week
| West | North | East | South |
| 1♠ | |||
| 3♥ | 3♠ | Pass | 4♠ |
| All Pass |
West leads the ♣2 against your spade game. How do you plan to take 10 tricks?
Solution
The lead is sure to be a singleton, but there will be few difficulties in taking 10 tricks whenever East holds the ♦K. However, there is an extra chance when the cards are distributed in a similar way to this deal:
After winning the opening lead cheaply, you should play the ♥2 to the ace and ruff dummy’s ♥3 before touching trumps. East will take the first round of trumps with the ace and give his partner a ruff.
While West may rejoice in getting the ruff, the celebrations will be short lived, for he will find himself on play will only red cards remaining. A heart exit will enable you to discard a diamond from dummy and ruff in hand. This will also be the case if West returns a diamond. All you will lose is a trump, a diamond and a club ruff.
What would happen if West had started with three trumps and so was able to exit with a spade after ruffing the club? In that event, the best play after winning the trump return would be to cash the ♦A before crossing to dummy with a trump to lead a second diamond. You would make the contract when East held the ♦K, you would also succeed when West began with a doubleton ♦K. In the latter case, West would take your ♦Q with the king, but would be left on lead with only hearts. The forced heart return would allow you to ruff in dummy and discard your remaining diamond loser.