Your options are very limited. You’ve lost two spade tricks, you have a trump loser and East must have the ♣K, given West’s original pass having already turned up with 10 HCP, not to mention East’s signal. You might try a swindle play like leading the ♣Q to the ace and then a low club to your jack or vice versa. But in either case, it can’t hurt East to go up with the ♣K. There is a legitimate play for the contract, however, if West started life with a singleton or void in clubs. Lead a club to the ace. West can’t afford to ruff a loser with the ♥Q if he is void, so he discards instead. But even if he follows to the first club, win the ♣A, cash your four diamond winners and toss West in with the ♥Q. If you get lucky and find West with, say, a 4351 or a 3361 pattern, he will be endplayed and forced to give you a ruff and discard, eliminating your club loser.

The lead made it likely that the hearts were breaking kindly so playing the Ace was to safeguard against a diamond switch. The club finesse at trick two gives you 7 top tricks when it holds. Now either a 3-2 club break or a 3-3 spade break gives you 9 tricks. It is tempting to play off the ♣A and if the clubs don't behave, then turn your attention to spades. However, close examination of the club spots points to a better line. Cross to dummy with a low spade to the Queen and then play a club to your 9. If it loses then the clubs have broken and you have the ♠K as an entry. When the clubs are 4-1, you can now handle the bad break and bring in the suit for the loss of just one trick.

There is a chance that the lead is a singleton (or perhaps a doubleton) and that you may suffer a spade ruff. Then if the ♦K is offside you may find yourself with 4 losers. The best line is to win the lead in hand and play 3 rounds of clubs, ruffing, before exiting in trumps. The defence might be able to win the trick and get a spade ruff, but then on the layout shown, they can only take one more high trump before being end-played. No guarantees of course, but the club play improves your overall chances of success.

Spades looks like an obvious place to generate an extra trick to add to your nine top winners. However, putting all your eggs in the spade finesse basket is an unnecessary risk. Win the opening trump lead in hand and play a club to the ten. Suppose this loses and a trump is returned. Now you can play ace and another club. As the cards lie, the club suit gets established and you finish with eleven tricks. If the club suit was less favourably divided (♣Hxx onside also works), you can always fall back on the spade finesse.

Jack wrote: Does the line given not give up on finding the spades 3-3 with the Queen offside? How about win the lead in hand, club to the Ace and a club ruff (supposing a club honour falls) followed by a spade finesse. When you are put back on the table with the ♥K, then ruff a club high, hoping for the other honour to fall, but risking nothing in case West started with a doubleton. If all else fails, you can hope spades are 3-3 and the 3S will be your tenth trick. This line gives up on finding West with Hx or Hxx in clubs, but that's only roughly 25% of the time compared with the roughly 35% of the time the spades will split evenly.

Garry wrote: this new line succeeds when one hand has ♣KQx or ♣KQ doubleton or singleton club honour and also when spade finesse works or spades are 3-3. This gives 11% for the club position and 70% of the remaining so a total success rate of 74% The suggested line scores in 55% of club positions and 52% of remainder so around 77% success rate.

Th spade finesse is one possible source of a ninth trick, and something favourable might happen in the heart suit. The way to play hearts is to start with a low one to the Ace and then duck the second round completely. Later you play a heart towards your Knave and cover East's card. This only fails if West started with ♥KQT9 in which case he would have led the suit, or if East started with ♥ KQxx and had the skill to play low on the second round of hearts. If that was the case, play against different people in future - these opponents are just too good!

You have 8 tricks with many extra chances. You need to keep East off lead to prevent a killing diamond return. Start with a low spade from dummy. If East plays something lower than the 7, insert the 7. Say it loses and a low heart comes back. Win the king, cross to the ♠K, re-enter dummy with the ♣K and play the ♠A hoping spades are 3–3 or that the ♠Q is doubleton. If that doesn’t work, lead a club to the 9, guarding against four clubs to the 10 or jack with East. You also bring in a ninth trick if clubs are 3–3. If East plays a higher spade than the 7, win the king, cross to the ♣K and lead a club to the 9 if East plays low. Assuming West wins, you have four club tricks for nine in all. If East started with ♣JTxx and splits his honors, you have to fall back on the spade finesse.

You have  1 spade, 2 spade ruffs, 5 trumps and a club for 9 tricks. You can generate a tenth trick even when all the key cards lie badly for you. Win the lead and eliminate the spades whilst drawing trumps. Now lead a low diamond from your hand. If East wins cheaply and plays a club through, you cover his card and West is end-played. A diamond through is no better for the defence. You always make an extra minor suit winner however the cards lie.

You need the heart finesse to be right to have any realistic chance, so at trick 2 you play a heart to the Queen and it wins the trick. The key play is to now duck a heart. Later, you will always be able to ruff your heart loser with the ♠K and bring home the slam. If you carelessly play the ♥A at trick 3, youn run the risk that West will ruff and lead another trump, leaving you with another losing heart that isn't going anywhere.

Jack writes later : maybe it doesn't matter if we make the mistake that we supposedly need to avoid? Either we will have a squeeze against East in hearts and clubs, or a double squeeze where West will have to keep clubs and East will have to keep hearts, allowing us to score a second diamond trick.  Might need careful reading, though!

As you have no side-suit losers, you need concern yourself only with the situation in the trump suit. In such circumstances there is really no excuse for failing to work out the safety play required. On this deal, you can easily make the slam if trumps break 2-2 or 3-1, so you must make up your mind what can be done against a 4-0 break.

The bad news is that if East holds all four trumps it's time to concede down one and move on to the next deal. When West holds four trumps you can pick them up for one loser, but only if you play the jack on the first round of trumps! In this case, West wins with the ace and you can later run the 8 and then the 7 through West, avoiding the loss of a further trick to the 10 or 9 of trumps.

The same sort of play would have been required if all the pips were moved up one and you held like A-K-5-3 opposite Q-9-8-7-4. You can only pick up ♠J1062 on one side, so you should begin by playing the queen.

The answer is that both of these declarers played the hand correctly. After winning the diamond lead, your contract is easy unless the clubs break 4-0, and you can cater for this, no matter where the void lies.  How?

By taking a finesse on the first round, either running the 7 or leading up to the 7.  This does result in losing a club trick on this occasion, but you will reap your reward when that suit breaks badly and half the others have had to lose two club tricks.

Safety plays in action!

When thinks look easy, ask yourself what can go wrong. On this hand, a bad trump break is your only worry. Ruff the lead and play the ♠8. If an opponent shows out you cannot draw trumps. Instead, you cash the ♦A and two top hearts. Now you can crossruff the hand for 10 tricks. You must not play the a high spade from dummy on the first round because then you will not be able to ruff 2 hearts on the table without suffering an overruff.

With West marked with all the missing high cards, the danger is that spades break badly.  You should therefore win the ♣A and play a spade towards dummy.  When the Jack holds, return with a diamond to play another low spade towards dummy's Queen.  All that West can do is win one spade, one heart and one club trick.

On this hand it is all too easy to allow the first trick to run round to your hand and to win cheaply with the ♠10.  This is careless play.  If your ♠10 is forced out at trick 1, when you knock out the ♣A, West will win and play ♠ AJ.  This sets up another spade trick for when he wins the ♦A.  On the reasonabkle assumption that West hold all the missing Aces, you must play the ♠Q from dummy at trick 1.  Now West cannot attack spades again without conceding 3 tricks in the suit, bringing your total winners to 9.

You have 6 trumps and a trick in each black suit. Diamonds are sure to produce 2 tricks and probably more, so the contract looks easy. Now is the time to play carefully. Win the lead and draw trumps. Then run the ♦T. Let's say this loses to the Knave and a spade is returned. The critical point of the hand has been reached. If you play low from hand and win the King as West ducks, you can return to hand with a club ruff to repeat the diamond finesse. However, if this loses and a spade is returned, you lose 2 spades and 2 diamonds. When the first spade comes through, you must rise with the Queen. This limits the defence to one spade trick if the second diamond finesse fails, as you have severed the link between the defensive hands. 

It looks like you can win, draw trumps and claim. On hands that look easy, you should consider what can go wrong. If trumps are 4-0 then you have a potential diamond loser to dispose of. You might be able to ruff it in dummy, but for this to work, you need West to hold at least 3 diamonds. There is a more elegant line which is 100%. Take the lead and ruff a heart with ♠A. Now a spade to dummy revealing the bad break allows you to ruff another heart high. Now is the time to draw the remaining trumps throwing a loser from hand. You make 6 trump tricks to go with 4 top red suit cards. A simple dummy reversal but a play that might easily be missed at the table.

If either black suit breaks, 13 tricks are available. Hence you should take out insurance in case neither suit breaks. You cannot afford to give up a club if that hand can then cash the fourth spade, so your safest choice is to win the lead, cash the ♠A and duck a club. On the layout shown, no return can harm you.

If you ruff the club in dummy, you will be able to set the spades up whenever they are 3-2, but you will be short of an entry to cash them after drawing trumps so you will be reduced to finding the ♦A onside. A far better play is to discard another diamond fom dummy on the club lead. If the defence plays a further minor, you then make 2 minor suit ruffs in dummy, whilst on a trump switch,you make whenever the majors break.

You have 3 hearts and 2 diamonds so need 4 club tricks. This layout offers a classic safety play for 4 tricks in the suit. Lay down the King and then play towards the A9 allows you to make 4 tricks whenever the suit breaks 4-0. However, there is a further consideration on this hand. If you lose a trick to East, the defence can never take more than 3spade tricks whereas if you lose a club to West, you may find that you have 4 spade losers if a clever West switches to the  ♠T from ATx say. This influences the way you play the club suit. Start with a low club from hand and if West plays the 7 or eight, insert the 9 from dummy. Even if this loses to a singleton ten (when the standard safety play would have gained an overtick) you are still home. In theory you can't keep West off lead if he started with ♣ QTx as he can always insert the ten on the first round. In practice, he may not do this as it would burn a trick if his partner started with a singleton King. 

You don't want West switching to a diamond so your first move must be to cover the lead with the ♠J. Say East wins and continues the suit. You ruff and draw trumps. The diamond finesse is unlikely to win and you might consider an endplay on East. This line is fraught as West may be able to gain an entry for a diamond through. Although you can always ruff 2 hearts on the table, the safe line is to run the ♥J. It may lose but then you discard 2 diamonds on your hearts and ruff 2 diamonds in dummy. If the heart finesse wins, you only need one discard so either way you score your game.

This hand is a sure thing provided trumps aren't 5-0. To retain control of the diamond suit, play low in dummy and ruff in hand with a high trump. Now cross to dummy by playing the ♠8 to dummy's 9. Now ruff a second diamond high before drawing trumps by overtking your ♠J. Cash the remaining trumps, discarding your 2 losing clubs. Now you can finesse in hearts and lose at most 1 heart trick - all without having to touch the ♦A, so that you have protection in that suit if the heart finesse loses.

A friendly trump break gives you 11 tricks, so you must guard against a 4-1 split. Clearly if you play off 2 top trumps, the defence may be in a position to draw your trumps when in with the Ace of spades. They would then be able to cash a load of clubs. Take just one top trump and then play on spades. That way you retain control of trumps and cannot lose more than 3 tricks

You can afford a loser in each minor but not 2 hearts in addition. You must play low from dummy at trick 1 and win with the Ace. This way you avoid 2 immediate heart losers. Now draw trumps and run the ♣J. When it loses, the defence cannot play a second heart and if they play a diamond through, you must be careful to rise with Ace and cash the clubs for a heart discard before conceding a diamond trick to West.

On the lead given the contract is secure provided you play properly. If you cover with the ♠Q and East plays the King, you can win and knock out the ♦A. You have an entry to dummy with the ♠T and must make at least 5 diamonds, 2 hearts and 2 spades. The problem arises if East does not play his ♠K on your Queen at trick 1. Now the defenders can duck a round of diamonds and prevent you from entering dummy. The mistake on this hand is to play the ♠Q and West's lead as this gives the defence a chance to shine. If you play low from dummy and win the Ace, you will later always be able to force a dummy entry in spades and make your contract. Always consider the play to trick 1 carefully as this is where many a solid contract is lost.

There will only be a problem if diamonds are 4-1 or 5-0. You can cater for a bad diamond break as follows; eliminate the hearts and cash the ♦K. Now exit with a spade. Whoever wins this trick will have to give you a ruff and discard else they must play a diamond. If they can play a diamond then they must be the only hand with diamonds if the suit is breaking badly. Hence it is now trivial to pick the suit without loss.

The obvious danger on this hand is that East will gain the lead in hearts and push a diamond through, spelling defeat when the ♦A is over you King. If hearts are 3-2, you can make this contract by ducking the club in dummy at trick one and discarding a heart. A second heart goes on the ♣A and you use the trump entries to set up and enjoy the heart suit.

You are in danger only if trumps break badly. You might cross to dummy with a spade and finesse trumps, but West might duck holding four and on the second round, if you duck, West can win and switch to a singleton diamond, meaning you can't draw all the trumps without suffereing a ruff. Alternatively, if you rise with the ♥A on the second round, West can force dummy with a club when you play the next round of trumps. The correct play is simply to duck a heart at trick 4. If West wins the second heart, you still have the ♠A in dummy as an entry if he tries the diamond switch.

You are safe even if both finesses are wrong. Duck the heart in both hands. Win the continuation, draw trumps and ruff a low diamond. Now eliminate the hearts and exit with the ♦Q to endplay West.

In isolation, playing for the drop in clubs is the percentage way to make 5 tricks in the suit. However, you only need 4 club tricks to make the contract so that point is not relevant. If you lose a trick to West, he might defeat you if he finds a switch to the ♠9 from say ♠K9x, as you will then lose 4 spades and a club. You should play the clubs by taking a finesse into the East hand. If doesn't matter if this loses as the defence cannot take 4 spade tricks if they start the attack from East.

Diamomds is the obvious source of tricks on this hand but the only entries to dummy are in trumps. If you ruff the heart lead you will need to find the trumps 2-2 as well as a friendly diamond break. Best is to discard from dummy at trick 1 and let the opponents have the trick, Then you can win any continuation, draw 2 rounds of trumps before cashing ♦AK and entering dummy with the ♠A to enjoy the long diamonds

On this hand you probably don't expect the suits to break well. A 5-0 break in spades or diamonds will probably prove fatal but you can cope even if both suits are 4-1. Ruff the second heart and cross to the ♦A. Now a spade to the King is followed by a diamond ruff with dummy's Knave. Now lead the ♠Q and overtake to run the diamonds. All the defence can take is 2 trump tricks to go with their heart.

This hand hinges on how you play the club suit and that in turn depends upon how many club tricks you need. There is a standard safety play in clubs to ensure 3 tricks - Cash the King and then low to the 9. To find out how many club tricks you need, first play on spades. Win the heart lead in dummy and take the spade finesse. If it wins it looks like you have 3 spade tricks and can make the club safety play whereas if the spade finesse loses, you will need to play the clubs for 4 tricks. However, a clever defender might duck the first spade finesse. There is of course, no need to be fooled. When the spade Queen holds, cross to dummy to repeat the finesse. If that wins you safety play the clubs with impunity as you now have your 3 spade tricks wherever the King lay.

Your hearts are good enough to overtake the ten and draw the enemy trumps. However, you will be in trouble if the diamonds break 4-1 and the Queen is withheld when you play three rounds of the suit as you would then lack the entries to set up the diamonds. The solution is to cash one top diamond before drawing the remaining trumps, and to discard the other 2 of dummy's diamonds in the process. Thereafter you can simply concede to the ♦Q. This line only fails on a 5-0 diamond split, but in that case the contract was unmakeable. 

You have to ruff the third diamond and are in danger of losing control if the spades are 4-2. The right play is to lead the ♠Q at trick 4. If the King is taken, the ♠8 can take care of any further diamond lead. If the ♠Q holds, cross to dummy with a club to finesse the spade. Then cash the ♠A and play winners. You just lose the spade King at some point.

Ruff the second diamond and play off your ♥AK, discarding dummy's last diamond. Now exit with ♠T. The defence may win but dummy's ♠9 remains to deal with a further diamond lead. Later you can return to hand with a club and draw trumps. Your heart losers will ultimately be discard on the long club suit.

If West has led a fourth highest spade, then this contract is 100%. You need to be careful with entries. Win the first trick with dummy's King and play off Ace and Queen of clubs. Now if the ♣K has not appeared you cross to the Ace of spades and clear the clubs. The defence cannot take more than 3 spades and one club.

If you make 5 diamond tricks you are home and if the diamond finesse fails you have the spade finesse to fall back on, giving you around a 75% chance of success. Can you improve on this?

Try the effect of winning the first heart with the King. Now cross to dummy with a club and run the ♦T. If it loses, West will probably play either a low heart to partner's presumed Knave, or will play hearts from the top, expecting his partner to unblock. In either case your ♥J will win your ninth trick. 

If trumps are 3-2 a diamond ruff will see you home. Can you cater for a 4-1 trump break? 

You will be alright if you can score the low trumps in your hand. To start this process, your first move should be to play 2 rounds of hearts. Suppose East wins the heart and switches to the ♣T. You win, play the ♠Q and a spade to the King. If trumps have broken you can revert to your plan of ruffing a diamond in dummy. If West shows out on the second trump, cash the ♦K and ruff a heart. Now a diamond ruff puts you in dummy to play another heart. If East ruffs, you discard a club and later make 2 trump tricks. If East discards, you ruff with ♠8 and still have the ♠A for your tenth trick.

The contract is in danger only if you lose a diamond and 2 club tricks. It looks routine to play a club towards dummy at this point, but that is not the correct play. The bidding indicates that East will have one of the key missing high cards but not both. The safe line is to play a diamond towards the Queen. If this loses to East's King, then the Ace of clubs is surely onside. If West has the King of diamonds and plays it, you have 2 club discards available. If he ducks, then you have avoided a diamond loser and are happy to lose 2 club tricks.

You could take 2 diamond finesses. Alternatively, you could knock out the ♣A and hope the hearts are 3-3. The double diamond finesse offers far better odds but of course you can have your cake and eat it on this hand. Win the opponing lead in hand and play 3 rounds of hearts finishing in dummy. If hearts have broken, you can drive out the Ace of clubs. If the heart suit has not been kind you are in the right hand to tackle the diamond suit.

As always, when the contract appears simple, think what might go wrong. If East is void in diamonds and the club finesse fails you might lose 2 diamonds, a ruff and a club. The solution is simple. Duck the opening lead and if East shows out, duck the diamond continuation. That way you can never lose more than 2 diamonds and 1 club. You need to guard against the hand shown. 

On the bidding, West is very short in the black suits, so discarding a diamond on the ♥A and trying to limit the spade losers to one probably wont work. You have chances, of course. If West holds a singleton or doubleton ♠K then you you can play trumps until West shows out, discard a spade on a top heart, ruff the small heart and lead a spade towards dummy, ducking if West plays the King. No return could then harm you.

A better line of play is simply to duck the first trick. You can later throw 2 spades on the top hearts and set up the spades using the trumps as entries. This line succeeds when spades are 3-2 and also 4-1 if West doesn't switch to a trump - and he may have no trump to lead. Eventually you will discard a diamond on the long spade and make your contract for the loss of 1 heart and 1 diamond trick.

You have 11 top tricks and a successful finesse in herts or clubs will see you home. One of 2 finesses is 75% but you can raise this to 100% if you spot the safety play in clubs. This combination of cards offers a guarantee of 3 tricks. Play a club to the Ace and a club back towards hand. If East follow, you just cover their card and if East shows out, you rise with the King and play one back to the Jack - either way 3 tricks are assured.

You have lots of tricks on this hand but are in danger of losing trump control if the hearts break 4-2 as is most likely. Your first move should be to discard a diamond on the third round of spades and win the diamond switch with the Ace in dummy. Now you can't afford to play off 3 top clubs before drawing trumps else you will suffer a ruff and if you draw the trumps and they are 4-2, then you will have no way back to hand to enjoy the clubs. The solution is to cash just 2 high clubs before playing trumps. On the 4th round of trumps, you discard dummy's last club, clearing the way to cash 3 more club winners in your hand.