It’s the Tollemache (the inter-county event). You are in 6 clubs. The trump suit is:

♣  8 5 4 3  (north)

      ♣  A J 9 7 6 2  (south)

With only three clubs missing, it looks right to bash out ace and another. This is fine if the clubs break 2-1, but what if they break 3-0? Well, if east has all three, we can still get home – play a club from dummy and if east plays the 10, cover with the jack. If it loses, we can drop the remaining honour when we regain the lead, but if east started with K Q 10, we will still make the contract. There will be hands when we couldn’t afford the safety play, but on this occasion the outside suits were buttoned up and there was little risk of a ruff.

Tip: If the contract appears cold, look for possible snags and see if you can deal with them.

What happened in practice: Having planned the safety play, on leading a club from north towards the jack, east showed out. It was west who had all three, so it was one down – that’s life!