At the first table, declarer played the two of trumps to his king and West’s ace. When West exited with the nine of diamonds, declarer won the trick with dummy’s ace. He cashed the ace of clubs, planning to ruff a club back to hand. However, when West cunningly dropped the king of clubs under the ace, declarer believed this had to be a singleton, so he ruffed a diamond with his seven of trumps. This allowed West to overruff with the nine of trumps to set the contract by one trick.

The second declarer appreciated that the only danger to his contract was if West held all of the outstanding trumps. He saw that  if he played a trump at trick four he might have to guess which minor suit to ruff to return to hand. In order to solve  such difficulties, declarer cashed dummy’s ace of diamonds and ace of clubs before playing the two of trumps to his king.

West won with the ace and when he tried to cash the king of clubs, declarer ruffed it, drew trumps and claimed. He made seven trumps, two diamonds and a club.

West started with the king of hearts, which held. Declarer ruffed the next heart and counted seven top tricks. Provided diamonds were 3-2, two more could be set up in diamonds. A tenth could come from clubs. One danger was that if he drew trumps and ducked a diamond the defenders would force him again, leaving them with the ace of clubs to cash a heart.

So, after drawing one round of trumps with his ace, declarer played a club to dummy’s king and East’s ace. After ruffing the heart return, declarer ducked a diamond to East’s nine. East could not see a trick in the minors for the defence, so he exited with a heart. After this exit was ruffed with dummy’s queen, declarer drew trumps and claimed ten tricks. He made five trumps in hand, a heart ruff in dummy, four  diamonds.

While declarer could have played the ace, king and another diamond on the above layout, that would have proved fatal if East had begun with (say) 3:6:2:2 shape. In that case, East could have discarded a club on the third round of diamonds and ruffed West’s club exit to defeat the contract by one.

West led the jack of spades after this agricultural auction.

Declarer won the first trick with the ace of spades and then cashed the two top trumps. Next he took dummy’s three club winners, discarding a diamond from hand. When the clubs were revealed to be 4-2, declarer ran the queen of diamonds. West produced the king of diamonds for down one.

“That was unlucky – my line had at least an 85% chance of succeeding,” said declarer.

“It was a pity you didn’t find a better plan,” proffered dummy. “After everybody follows to the ace of trumps at trick two, you should cross to dummy with a club to lead a trump, planning to cover East’s card if he follows. On this layout the jack would win and you would have had twelve certain tricks.”

Dummy continued, “Even if the jack of trumps lost tothe doubleton queen you would still be still well placed. You could win the return and cash the three top clubs, claiming the rest if the suit proved to be 3-3. If the clubs turned out to be 4-2, you would ruff a club high and re-enter dummy by playing the four of trumps to dummy’s six to cash the established club as your twelfth trick. Finally, if the clubs were 5-1 or worse, only then would you fall back on the diamond finesse.”

Declarer saw that if the trumps were at worst 3-1 he could ruff his fourth club in dummy if required. So declarer cashed the ace of trumps at trick three. The 4-0 break complicated things, making the idea of relying solely on the club suit for the extra trick unattractive.

Declarer saw that a safer plan was to play on diamonds, reversing the dummy, so he cashed the ace and king of diamonds and ruffed a diamond in hand. A trump to dummy's ten was followed by a second diamond ruff. Declarer then overtook the queen of trumps with dummy's king. After drawing East's last trump with the Jack, declarer had the three top clubs left.

Although there were only four top tricks, declarer saw that he could develop extra tricks in both hearts and clubs. The danger was that West might be able to establish his spades before declarer had knocked out both of the aces in West's hand. Declarer saw that if he played low from dummy at trick one, West would win the race to establish three winners in the spade suit. Consequently, declarer took the first trick with dummy's ace of spades and led a low heart to his ten and West's ace. West exited with the five of spades and East produced the ten. Declarer followed through on his plan by allowing East to hold this trick. Now the defence was finished: the best that West could do was to take his ace of clubs and king of spades. Declarer would now always make at least nine tricks.

West led the king of clubs. Declarer paused to consider his options before winning with the ace of clubs. If trumps were 3-2, he could draw two rounds and run the hearts, throwing a club from dummy.

Then, after conceding a club and ruffing a club with dummy’s jack he would have twelve tricks.

Declarer saw, though, that if trumps were 4-1, East would be able to ruff the second round of clubs and play another trump, to leave declarer a trick short. However, as West had ten cards in the minors and at most three in the majors, he was far more likely to have one trump than two as there were more hearts outstanding than trumps. So, declarer decided to play for trumps to be 4-1.

There was still a trap to be avoided: cashing one of dummy’s trump winners too early since South needed to make the low trumps in hand when trumps were indeed 4-1. So, declarer cashed the ace of diamonds at trick two, throwing a club from hand, and ruffed a diamond. A trump to the king was followed by another diamond ruff. Next declarer played four rounds of hearts, throwing a club from table. Only then did he concede a club. Declarer was left with the ace-queen of spades and a club; dummy held the jack-nine of spades and a diamond. East held the ten-eight-six of trumps, but declarer could ruff West’s exit with the jack of spades and make the ace-queen at the end.

You should note than any variation in the timing would have seen East make a trump trick.

The declarer for one team ruffed the third round of diamonds and cashed the ace of trumps. When East discarded a heart, declarer saw that he could still make his contract if West had begun with at least three clubs and one heart. In that case, declarer could cash three clubs and the ace of hearts and then ruff his remaining club in dummy for the tenth trick. Alas, West ruffed the third club. As declarer still had to lose a heart trick, he finished with only nine tricks.

At the second table, declarer saw that the main danger to his contract was a 5-0 trump division. As there was no way to avoid a heart loser, he discarded the four of hearts on the jack of diamonds. Now the defence would prevail only if West could give East a club ruff, a much-less likely chance than a 5-0 trump break. (There was no chance of a heart ruff on the auction, for surely West would have overcalled with seven hearts as well as his advertised diamond honours.) West shifted to the queen of hearts at trick four. Declarer won with his now-bare ace, drew trumps and claimed.

While North's raise to game was somewhat of an overbid.  However, the final contract did have only three top losers. West led the queen of diamonds. East took this with his ace and continued with the ace and another trump, West discarding a club on the second round.

Declarer noted that West had already indicated three points in diamonds with his opening lead. Also, if the contract was to have any chance, declarer needed West to have the king of clubs. If this were the case, East would require the ace of hearts to have an opening bid. If all this came about, declarer saw that playing a heart to the king would only succeed if both the jack and ten of hearts fell in three rounds, a rather unlikely possibility. Instead, declarer adopted a different approach to developing the heart suit: after winning the second round of trumps in hand with the jack, declarer led a heart towards dummy and finessed the eight. (Declarer's plan was to pin the jack or ten third with West on the third round hearts or to find East with exactly ace-jack-ten of hearts. East won the first heart trick with the jack and played another trump to dummy's queen.

Declarer continued with the king of hearts, which East covered with the ace. Declarer ruffed this with his last trump and played the king of diamonds, throwing the two of clubs from dummy. Declarer then took the club finesse. When that was successful, declarer drew East's remaining trump and cashed the queen of hearts. His careful play was rewarded when West followed with the ten. South took the two remaining tricks with the nine and four of hearts. As a result, he had ten tricks  three trumps, a heart ruff, three hearts, one diamond and two clubs to make this optimistic contract.

Declarer could count nine top tricks and saw that the outcome of the contract depended on playing the club suit for four tricks.

If the club suit were 3-3, it would be a matter of guessing who had the queen. However, declarer turned his attention to managing four tricks from clubs if the suit were 4-2. In that case, declarer would need either to drop a doubleton queen with West or finesse twice against East for the queen. As the latter was the better option, declarer took the first trick with dummy’s ace of spades and led the three of clubs from the table. When East followed with a low card, declarer inserted the ten.

When that held, declarer drew trumps in three rounds then crossed to dummy with the two of clubs to the king and then took a second finesse in clubs. With just two entries to the dummy, if declarer had drawn trumps before playing on clubs, he would have failed to make his contract against competent defence on the above layout.

West led the king of clubs.

Declarer paused to consider his options before winning with the ace of clubs. If trumps were 3-2, he could draw two rounds and run the hearts, throwing a club from dummy. Then, after conceding a club and ruffing a club with dummy's jack he would have twelve tricks.

Declarer saw, though, that if trumps were 4-1, East would be able to ruff the second round of clubs and play another trump, to leave declarer a trick short. However, as West had ten cards in the minors and at most three in the majors, he was far more likely to have one trump than two as there were more hearts outstanding than trumps. So, declarer decided to play for trumps to be 4-1.

There was still a trap to be avoided: cashing one of dummy's trump winners too early since South needed to make the low trumps in hand when trumps were indeed 4-1. So, declarer cashed the ace of diamonds at trick two, throwing a club from hand, and ruffed a diamond. A trump to the king was followed by another diamond ruff. Next declarer played four rounds of hearts, throwing a club from table. Only then did he concede a club. Declarer was left with the ace-queen of spades and a club; dummy held the jack-nine of spades and a diamond. East held the ten-eight-six of trumps, but declarer could ruff West's exit with the jack of spades and make the ace-queen at the end.

You should note than any variation in the timing would have seen East make a trump trick.