Hand of the Week
| West | North | East | South |
| 1♥ | |||
| Pass | Pass | Dbl | 3♥ |
| Pass | 4♥ | All Pass |
West leads the ♥8. East takes this with the ace and returns the ♥3, West following. Assuming that East has the ♠K, what is your plan to make 10 tricks?
Solution
If you still have the ♥5 in your hand after trick three, you have five trumps, two diamonds and presumably two spades. The ♥7 is an entry to dummy, so if you can set up a club trick in dummy, that trick and the spade finesse will be enough for the contract. As East probably has the ♣A for his double, it seems the contract may require West to hold the ♣10.
However, there is an extra chance! You should cash the ♦A and ♦K before leading the ♣J. Suppose the full deal is:
East takes the ♣J with the queen, but he has no good return. A diamond return is hopeless because the suit is 3-3 – you would ruff high and then cross to the ♥ 7 to take two discards on dummy’s diamond winners. If East plays a spade instead, you will finesse the queen, cash the ace and ruff your spade loser in dummy, losing only one more trick. Playing on clubs is equally fruitless for East. If he plays the ♣A and another club, you will discard your low spade and take the spade finesse for your game-going tricks.
A final point about the given layout – if you followed with the five of trumps at trick one, then all legitimate chances of making 4♥ had expired by the time you came to lead at trick three.