| North | ||
| ♠ 10 5 | ||
| ♥ A 10 9 8 | ||
| ♦10 8 4 | ||
| ♣ K J 10 9 | ||
| South | ||
| ♠ Q J 8 | ||
| ♥ K Q J | ||
| ♦ A K 9 7 3 | ||
| ♣ Q 4 |
You open 1♦, West overcalls 1♠, partner makes a negative double, you leap to 2NT showing 18-19 HCP, bidding as if partner had responded 1♥. Partner raises to 3NT. West leads the ♠7. Which spade do you play from dummy, or is it a trick question and it doesn’t matter? Plan the play.
It is not a trick question and it matters. The rule of 11 tells you that East has no spade higher than the seven, so play the 10 from dummy as you may need two dummy entries to work with the diamonds. Patience.
After winning the opening lead, you have seven sure tricks. If you knew spades were 4-4, you could drive out the ♣A and be done with it. However, spades are not 4-4. West figures to have five or six spades, and if you even think of touching a club, someone will grab the ace followed by spades, spades, and more spades.
No, you can’t mess with clubs, it has to be diamonds, diamonds, diamonds, and you can’t afford to lose a diamond trick. This is getting a bit hairy.
The best play in diamonds to avoid a loser is to play East for both honors. At trick two run the ♦10. Assuming the 10 wins, lead the ♦8. If this is covered, win the king and if West discards, cash four heart tricks and repeat the diamond finesse. 10 tricks.
You have just brought in a 25% game needing two missing honors to be in the same hand, one of two finesses. However, 25% is better than 0% what you have if you attack clubs, or something like 6% if you play the ♦A hoping to snatch a singleton honor from West followed by four heart winners followed by running the ♦10 finessing East for the other honor.
Notrump play often revolves around the number of tricks the opponents can take once they get in. If you can afford to give up the lead to set up extra needed tricks (driving out the ♣A), do it! If you can’t afford to give up the lead, you may have to take a risky finesse or two in a suit or suits in which you have the ace. Play to make and good luck —you are going to need it!
| ♠ 10 5 | ||
| ♥ A 10 9 8 | ||
| ♦ 10 8 4 | ||
| ♣ K J 10 9 | ||
| ♠ A K 9 7 3 2 | ♠ 6 4 | |
| ♥ 3 2 | ♥ 7 6 5 4 | |
| ♦ 2 | ♦ Q J 6 5 | |
| ♣ A 8 7 6 | ♣ 5 3 2 | |
| ♠ Q J 8 | ||
| ♥ K Q J | ||
| ♦ A K 9 7 3 | ||
| ♣ Q 4 |
Note: Had clubs divided 3-0, you would have to give up on diamond establishment and fall back on the spade finesse. Why? In order to use an established diamond, assuming a 4-3 division, you must draw trumps. This means that there will not be a trump in the dummy to trump a heart if you discard a spade on the fifth diamond.