THURSDAY FEBRUARY 9

North's 4H was a transfer to spades and the 4NT continuation a natural slam invitation. West leads the ten of hearts to East's queen and your ace. The jack of trumps runs to East's king and you win his club return in dummy. When you draw the remaining trumps, you find that East began with thee trumps. How will you continue? You can already place East with 3-7 shape in the majors. When you play the ace of clubs and the ace of diamonds, East follows twice more, marking him with 3-7-1-2 shape. You know that West's remaining diamonds are the J-10-4. You lead the eight of diamonds and run the card if West follows with the four. It makes no difference if West decides to split his J-10 because you still have the king of clubs as an entry to your hand, to repeat the diamond finesse. It is an example of how important 'counting the hand' can be. Without knowing East's hand shape, you would have no reason to play the diamond suit successfully.

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 8

South's leap to 4S may have seemed reasonable at the time, with 18 points in his hand. North was minimum, however, and the game was a poor one with three top club losers and finesses to be taken in both major suits. How would you handle the play when West leads the ten of diamonds? You win with dummy's king and lead the nine of trumps. East plays low and you underplay with the five in your hand. Since you have no further side entry to dummy, you must now turn to the hearts. You lead the queen of hearts, hoping that East will help you by covering with the king. If he does, all will be well. You can win with the heart ace and return to dummy with the ten of hearts to repeat the trump finesse. What if East plays low instead? You must then unblock the jack of hearts from your hand. You continue with dummy's ten of hearts and East has no good defence. If he covers with the king, you will win and return to dummy's nine of hearts to take another trump finesse. If East declines to cover, you will stay in the dummy to take a second trump finesse.

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 7

This heart game was very well played by Vitas Vainikonis at last year's European Open championships. West began with the ace and king of diamonds, continuing with a third round. If East could ruff with the jack of trumps, this would beat the contract. No, East could produce only the six of trumps and a relieved declarer overruffed with the seven. How would you continue the play from this point? Vainikonis drew the remaining trumps in two rounds. East's 2S weak-jump suggested a 6-card suit, so West could be placed with 0-2-6-5 shape. Taking advantage of this precious information, declarer cashed the king and ace of clubs and led a spade to the king. If East won this trick, he would be end-played, forced to lead a spade into dummy's K-9 tenace. East held up the ace and declarer played a second round of spades to the jack, also ducked. With two spade tricks in the bag, declarer then exited in clubs. West won with the queen of clubs and had to give a ruff-and-discard. Declarer ruffed with dummy's queen of trumps and discarded the last spade from his hand. Game made!

MONDAY FEBRUARY 6

How would you play 4S, bid after East has opened with a 12-14 point 1NT? West leads the six of clubs and your first decision is where to win this trick. Suppose you win with dummy's 8 and finesse in trumps. If you return to dummy by overtaking the queen of clubs, for a second trump finesse, the club suit will be blocked and you will lose too many heart tricks. It is not easy to see how to make ten tricks. To succeed, you must win the club lead with the ace, in your hand. You then lead the queen of trumps, happy to let East win a trump trick while dummy's remaining trump protects you in hearts. Suppose East takes the king, cashes a diamond and switches to hearts. You can ruff the second heart in dummy, return to your hand with a diamond ruff and draw the trumps. Then you can enjoy dummy's remaining clubs. Why is it necessary to win the first club with the ace? If East refuses to win the queen of trumps, you will be able to cross to dummy with the jack of clubs and pick up the trumps with a finesse. After drawing East's last trump with the ace, you will still have a club entry to enjoy the remaining clubs.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3

How would you play 3NT when West leads the seven of spades? The original declarer won the spade lead and immediately ran the ten of clubs. East won with the king and cleared the spade suit. With only eight tricks available, declarer has to play a diamond eventually. East won with the ace and cashed his remaining spades to put the contract one down. What did you make of that? There was no hurry to take the club finesse and declarer had nothing to lose by establishing the diamonds first. When East takes the ace of diamonds and returns a spade, declarer wins with the king and cashes the rest of the diamond suit. East follows four times and follows twice when the ace and king of hearts are played. If declarer reads the cards right, he can now exit with a third round of spades. East is welcome to win and score two more spade tricks. He will then have to lead a club from his K-x into dummy's tenace. East was likely to hold the king of clubs after his overall. Unless it was a singleton, his shape would be 5-2-4-2. Declarer had every chance of reading the cards as they actually lay.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 2

How will you play 3NT when West leads the jack of spades? Many players would win with the ace and finesse the queen of diamonds. If East won with the king, they would survive. When they regained the lead, they would play the ace and jack of diamonds and then give up a diamond, setting up a ninth trick. (If East switches to a club, declarer ducks and has a second stopper.) However, if East is a strong defender and refuses to win the first round of diamonds, declarer would be held to only two diamond tricks and would go down. That line of play gives you a 62.7% chance (I am assured by those who understand such matters). A better line of play, after winning with the spade ace is to duck a round of diamonds, playing a low card from dummy. When you regain the lead, you play a diamond to the queen. By forcing the defenders to win the first round, while you still have diamond communications with the dummy, you increase your chance of making the contract to 89.5%.

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 1

South had a full 18-count for his 2S overcall and could visualize a slam when North raised to game. He knew from the East-West bidding that his partner would be short in hearts. How would you play 6S when West leads the two of hearts? Dummy is an unpleasant surprise. Only 4 points! To make the slam, you must exit in trumps at a time when the defender who wins the trump trick will be end-played. You ruff the heart lead in dummy and cross to the ace of trumps, all following. You then play the ace-king of diamonds and the ace of hearts, discarding a diamond from dummy. A second heart ruff in dummy followed by a diamond ruff completes the elimination of the red suits. You continue with the A-K of clubs. (If East had started with a singleton club, he could not ruff effectively because he would be ruffing a loser). Finally, you exit with a trump. East wins with the trump king and has nothing but hearts in his hand. He has to lead one, giving you a ruff-and-discard, and you dispose of the club loser in your hand.

TUESDAY JANUARY 31

North's 5H asks South to bid a slam if he holds some sort of control in the opponent's club suit. Despite holding no key cards (the four aces and the trump king), South trusts his partner and advances to 6H. How would you play this contract when West leads the two of diamonds to East's nine? You win with the queen and draw trumps in four rounds. East is already beginning to struggle and decides to discard his two clubs. When you play a second diamond, West shows out. You score tricks with dummy's ace and king of diamonds, discarding the nine of clubs. When you continue with a club to the bare king, East cannot afford to throw a spade. He therefore releases the ten of diamonds. West wins with the ace of clubs and plays the queen of clubs (a spade switch is no better). It is the end of the road for poor East. If he throws a spade, you will score an extra spade trick in your hand. If instead he throws the jack of diamonds, your twelfth trick will be a diamond winner in dummy.

MONDAY JANUARY 30

South's 2S was a long-suit game try, inviting partner to bid 4H. How would you play the heart game when West leads the king of spades? The original declarer could visualize ten tricks by way of: five trumps, three spades (with a finesse of the ten) and the two minor-suit aces. After winning the spade lead with the ace, he played the king and queen of trumps. If the trump suit had broken 3-2, declarer would have draw the last trump with the ten and finessed the ten of spades. As the cards lay, there was no way to recover the situation. Declarer drew one more rump with the ten and played a spade to the ten, hoping that the opening lead had been from K-x. No such luck. West ruffed and declarer still had a loser in each of the side suits. That was one down. Did you spot the correct line of play? Few players would realize it, but you have to let West's king of spades take the first trick! You can then win his continuation, draw trumps in four rounds and play a spade to the ace. The way is then clear to take a marked finesse of the spade ten.

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