On the surface this is a nice easy hand. You have no losers in Clubs, Diamonds and Spades and as long ads the trumps break 3:2 what could go wrong ?

You win the first trick in dummy and start to draw trumps making a mental not of East dropping the Heart Eight. If East has a doubleton Honour then there will not be a problem- You can afford to lose a trump trick. But what if East has no more, then West started with four headed by the QJ.

Therefore if East has no more Hearts you must NOW WAKE UP and take the SAFETY PLAY in the TRUMP SUIT.

At trick 3 you play a second heart and when West smoothly plays low you must insert dummy’s trump 9. Because of this careful play you will now only lose one trump trick.

 You will eventually amass 3 Spades, 4 trumps, 3 Diamonds, 1 established Diamond and 1 club.

(NB As it happens the club finesse works but you don’t need it But you do need the safety play in trumps to get home, West must play smoothly and quickly a low card on the second round of trumps and not split his honours J)

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

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

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