West led the ten of diamonds, taken in hand with the ace. Declarer could count eleven top tricks after the ace of spades is dislodged. The twelfth trick could come from the club suit or the heart finesse. As declarer, it is important to play your cards in an order that will give you the greatest chance to make your contract. Follow the play (and reasoning) of this expert declarer.
The queen of diamonds revealed the six-one break, suggesting that if anyone was short in clubs it would be West. Some might play on clubs now but this declarer saw that it couldn't cost to play on spads first. East ducked the king of spades but took the queen of spades with the ace and returned a spade to dummy's jack.
As there were now six unknown cards in each defender's hand, it seemed to be a guess as to which defender could have four clubs to the jack. (If clubs divide 3-2 it will not matter how the suit is played.) However, if East had a singleton club, he would have started with 6-5-1-1 distribution, making the heart finesse a five in seven chance to win. If it were West who had only one club, his original distribution would have been 1-5-6-1, making the heart finesse only a two in seven chance.
With this is mind, it is correct to cash the ace and king to start the club suit, because if East started with only one, then the heart finesse should be a heavy favorite.
As you can see, West could not follow to the second club so Declarer cashed North's two top diamonds, discarding hearts, and took the marked club finesse to score up the slam contract.
Eddie Kantar is a World Champion Bridge Player and a member of the Bridge Hall of Fame. He is the author of dozens of excellent bridge books and has been writing about the game for over forty years. His newest offering is "Kantar On Kontract" which is a collection of some of his favorite articles, many featuring great tips to help your game. Kantar's articles are extremely readable and highly recommended for players of all levels.
Kantar On Kontract is available from your favorite bridge
book seller for $16.95. For more information go to
www.masterpointpress.com
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon.