North opens 1 and rebids 2 , showing five hearts and at least four clubs. With a heart fit it is probably reasonable to jump to 4 , but I wanted to keep my options open, thinking that 3NT might still be an option. I bid the fourth suit forcing, but over North's leap to 3 I settled for a 4 contract.

3NT is the winning contract on this board, but only because of dummy's J. I think 4 is normal, but it is important to try to make 11 tricks.

East led the J, which you win in dummy and try a heart to the queen which wins the first trick. A heart back to your ten allows East to take two tricks in the suit: his jack and then his ace. East exits with a diamond. You are hoping to make three more spade tricks, but there is a little tactic that might help you. When there are no options other than hoping a suit breaks well for you, contemplate playing off the rest of your trumps first just to see whether you might get favourable discards.

You win the AK and then take the AK. Next you play your two trumps throwing a club and diamond from dummy. East is genuinely squeezed: he has the only club left to beat your 6, so he keeps his J and throws a spade instead, allowing you to take the last three tricks in the suit. A neat play, but as it happens since West drops the 9 on the second round of the suit, you would have been able to take a finesse for East's 10 on the third round anyway.

TIP FOR THE WEEK

When most of your options have gone and you are relying on a 3-3 break in a suit, sometimes delaying the play of the suit will give the opponents the chance to make a wrong discard. Playing out your trumps can have two effects: it can genuinely squeeze an opponent or perhaps more likely is that a defender might make a mistake!