Dealer North. Both Vul.

                             ♠        A 9 5 4 2

                             ♥        J 6

                             ♦        9 6

                             ♣        A 8 5 4

          ♠        Q 10 8                             ♠        6 3

          ♥        10 7 4 3 2                          ♥        9

          ♦        8 5                                ♦        Q 10 7 4 2

          ♣        J 10 2                             ♣        Q 9 7 6 3

                             ♠        K J 7

                             ♥        A K Q 8 5

                             ♦        A K J 3

                             ♣        K

5© showed 2 key cards and no spade queen

Despite a wealth of high cards if you play this hand too quickly you will get yourself cut off from the dummy. The lead suggests that West has a stack of Hearts and that the Heart suit will not produce 5 tricks(only 4). Therefore you will have to rely on dummy’s Spades but you do not have any entry to dummy without wasting the top club.

Therefore what to do? You will have to duck a Spade and retain a low spade to get to dummy.

After winning the first trick with the ©J in dummy return to the Club King and then cash the Spade Ace to see if anything interesting falls. Nw play the ªJack and when West covers as he will you must now duck to keep communications with the dummy. You will now be OK as you can get to dummy with the carefully preserved Spade Ace.

You now make 4 Spades, 4 Hearts, 2 Diamonds and 2 clubs for a very well played hand.

You can also watch the following movie to see how the hand pans out. To view this programme you will need  to download htttp://www.haroldschogger.com/bridgevu.setup

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