This month's hand popped up on a popular bridge computer program:

IMPs
Dealer: South
Vulnerable: N-S

West leads the Q. Plan the play.

The key decision is what to discard on the ace and king of spades. At first glance, one might think to throw two clubs. There are nine tricks off the top, seven diamonds and two spades, plus one heart trick can be established by driving out the ace. Now, if you can hold your club losers to one, you will come to eleven tricks. This succeeds anytime west hold the ace and queen of clubs (you can't go wrong), or when west holds the queen, east the ace, and you play a club to the jack (or ten), thus setting up the king. Of course, the problem arises when east holds both the ace and queen of clubs, resulting in a one trick set. If this happens, partner might not be too sympathetic, as you have just botched a (practically) cold, vulnerable game.

The full deal:

On the spade lead, 5D is ice cold as long as trumps are 2-1. The best play is to discard the king and queen of HEARTS on the ace and queen of spades. Now, you lose at most two club tricks, since, even if east holds the ace and queen, the ten of clubs becomes your tenth trick. The eleventh trick comes from ruffing the fourth club in dummy (so make sure you only draw two rounds of trumps when they break 2-1). So, after pitching thehearts, cash the QUEEN of trumps and, assuming both opponents follow, draw the outstanding trump by leading to your ace. Now, lead a club to the jack; if this forces the ace from east, return to your hand via a spade or heart ruff and play a club to the ten (unless the queen appears from west), making six. In the actual diagram, east will win the first club with the queen. Ruff his non-club return in hand and lead another club, which east will win with the ace. Win the return, cash your good club, and (noting east remains with the high club nine) trump your remaining club with dummy's last trump.

What happens if trumps are 3-0? Well, since you must make the decision to discard hearts BEFORE testing trumps, it is conceiveable you could go down when trumps are 3-0. This is because you may end up with a losing club in the end; however, this line of play also provides for a possible 3-3 club split, in which case you make the game regardless of the trump division (scoring seven diamonds, two spades, and TWO clubs). AND, actually, there is another chance. Say you cash the ace and king of spades pitching the queen and king of hearts; then, when you cash the queen of diamonds, one defender, say east, discards a spade (see outline below). At this point it is best to play on clubs; if they don't split 3-3, you just might be able to trump that last club, if (as in the diagram below) the defender with three trumps also holds four clubs.

After cashing the first trump, cross to your hand with a LOW spade ruff and lead a club to the ten, losing to east. Win the heart (best) return ruffing HIGH in hand and lead another club, losing to east; ruff the heart return high, and lead a third club to the good king. If clubs have divided 3-3, just draw trumps and claim. But, if east shows out, leaving the layout below...

return to hand with a high heart ruff, ruff the club with the 6 of diamonds, cash the ten of diamonds, and ruff the last heart with your high trump. Making five.

There is a valuable lessen here: when ruffing a trick, ALWAYS trump with the highest card that you can AFFORD. Note that we had to trump low ONCE, and the spade is completely safe (unless you believe east started with eight...in that case, take up a different game). If we hadn't, west's last trump would be promoted to the setting trick. On the actual deal, we could have ruffed low twice, but it wasn't necessary. Afterall, west might have been void in hearts (not likely, but possible). Perhaps you noticed a heart lead beats the contract two tricks...you have received a break. It happens.

One final point: Why draw only one trump initially, after discovering the 3-0 break? Because if, for example, east has four clubs to the ace, and west has the queen doubleton, what happens if you lead the first club to the ten (or jack), losing to east's queen? Well, west will win the second (or third) club with the ace and lead a trump! Now you have no trump left in dummy for that last losing club.

How about the the modified hand?

The best line here is similar to before. It is still best to discard the king and queen of hearts on your spade winners. This time, however, after drawing trumps in two rounds, lead a club toward dummy, intending to finesse the nine if west follows low. Of course, if west produces an honor, your troubles are over (because you can cover and guarantee no more than two losers in the suit), so assume he plays low. You finesse and it loses to, say, the jack or queen. Now, when you regain the lead, lead another club toward dummy and, again, finesse if west plays low. The double finesse limits your club losers to two tricks whenever west has either the queen or jack or both (3-to-1 odds in your favor). You also make your bid when the queen and jack are both offside if west has the ace of clubs and plays it when you lead toward dummy (which he must holding a singleton or doubleton). Finally, if trumps are 3-0, follow the logic outlined in the previous hand.

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