This hand was originally played on OK Bridge and partner escalated the contract to 4ª and got his just deserts when he went three down (-300).

However if you sensibly Pass 1NT, can you make 7 trick or more ?

Initially you have 6 winners – 3 from Spades and 3 from Diamonds. With very good Diamonds and a semi formidable club suit there doesn’t appear to be a problem if you LOSE the LEAD. Therefore rather than playing Spades which will not go away, you need to establish extra tricks elsewhere and the best place to start is with Hearts.

Therefore at trick 2 play a Heart which loses to West’s King who perseveres with another Diamond. You win with dummy’s remaining high card and continue playing Hearts. East ducks so you play another heart which East takes and continues with Diamonds (Why shouldn’t he ? Partner led them from the off). Your contract is now in the bag and you can cash your winning Heart. When you now tackle the Spade suit, you find it is 4:1 and you are glad you didn’t play Spades from the off.

You will make 8 tricks from 3 Spades, 2 Hearts and 3 Diamonds for a well above average score from not being greedy.

 You can also view  watch the following movie to see how the hand pans out. (You need bridgvu.exe programme  or BridgeBase programme on your machine already to view it ) and it is available free from   http://www.haroldschogger.com/videos.htm

 alternatively watch the film www.haroldschogger.com/movies2.htm