Dealer South Both Vul.

                                    ♠          A J 9 6 4 3

                                    ♥          A 9

                                    ♦          9 8

                                    ♣         A J 4

            ♠          —                                            ♠          10 2

            ♥          Q J 5                                      ♥          8 7 6 2

            ♦          J 10 5 3 2                              ♦          K Q 6 4

            ♣         9 8 7 6 2                                ♣         K 5 3

                                    ♠          K Q 8 7 5

                                    ♥          K 10 4 3

                                    ♦          A 7

                                    ♣         Q 10

On this hand North bizarrely replied 2¨ presumably,  trying to put the opposition off leading a Diamond and then even more bizarrely led rebid 6ª.

West was not put off leading a Diamond and decided to lead the 5

Initially you have 10 winners- 7 Spades, 2 Hearts and 2 minor suit aces. Despite partner’s bid they have got off to the best lead and if the club finesse were to fail they would quickly cash a winning Diamond taking you one off before you can draw breath.

Apart from the club finesse to generate extra tricks can you see any other possibilities. It cannot hurt to test the Hearts- maybe the QJ will fall in 3 rounds and then you can dump your Diamond loser on the established Heart Ten. With this in mind after winning the first trick go straight after the Hearts and your wishes come true. In 3 rounds the QJ fall and now you no longer need to worry about the Diamond loser as its despatched to  the established Heart in hand after you have of course drawn trumps..

You now turn your attention to the Club finesse. It fails but because you dumped your diamond loser they  cannot now get a second defensive trick.

You will ultimately make 6 trumps from the dummy, the long hand, 2 Hearts. 1 Diamond, 2 Clubs and 1 Diamond ruffed in hand the short hand.

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

alternatively watch the film of the hand being played out by going to www.haroldschogger.com/movies2.htm