Dealer West Both Vul

                             ♠        Q 7

                             ♥        7 6

                             ♦        A Q J 7 6

                             ♣       K 10 9 4

          ♠        K 9 8 6 5 4                     ♠        10

          ♥        J 10 3                             ♥        Q 9 4 2

          ♦        5                                     ♦        10 8 4 3 2

          ♣       A J 8                                ♣       Q 7 5

                             ♠        A J 3 2

                             ♥        A K 8 5

                             ♦        K 9

                             ♣       6 3 2

If you play this hand too quickly without due care and attention you could easily go off especially if you are an optimist.

After the Spade lead you seem to have 9 tricks in the bag:- 2 Spades, 2 Hearts and 5 Diamonds.

However when you win the first trick you start to play Diamonds suddenly the Diamond suit breaks badly with East holding five headed by the Ten and now you have a certain Diamond loser. So where do you go for your 9^th trick/ You will have to rely on the Club finesse and not to lose control of the hand, being in the right hand at the right time to take the Club finesse. Why is it likely to succeed? West made an overcall of 2♠ - surely he would not do so without the Club Ace?

So after winning first trick with dummy’s Spade Queen play two rounds of Diamonds unhappy to see the bad break. Return to hand with a Top Heart and take the Club finesse. When it wins now cash out the Diamonds and claim

You will have made 2 Spades, 2 Hearts, 4 Diamonds and 1 Club

(NB players are clumsy and on second round of Diamonds West should drop a Heart on the Diamond and many optimists will not notice that West has not followed suit and miscount the Diamond suit.

You can also watch the following movie to see how the hand pans out  htttp://www.haroldschogger.com/bridgevu.setup