AS I’ve written many times before, successful declarer play and defence are a matter of trying to visualise the unseen hands and then trying to figure out a plan that works. The problem, however, is that most players don’t want to put in all that effort so many an opportunity goes begging. Well, today I’m going to force you to go through the building block process and defend this hand successfully!

You hear this bidding:

South North

1[diamond] 1[spade]

2NT (1) 3[club]

3[diamond] 4[diamond] (2)

5[diamond] Pass

Partner leads the spade queen and you see this dummy:North

[spade]9 7 6 5

[heart]8 5

[diamond]A 8 3

[club]K 10 8 7

East<$> (You)

[spade]10 8 4 3 2

[heart]A Q 6

[diamond]5

[club]J 9 5 4Declarer wins the spade and runs the queen of diamonds. He now plays a diamond to the eight and leads a low heart from dummy — over to you!

Right, time to do some thinking. It looks like partner has queen-jack of spades and the king of diamonds — 6 HCP. Since you can see another 14 HCP between you and dummy, declarer must have the AK of spades, K of hearts. QJ of diamonds and AQ of clubs to make up 19 HCP. Also, declarer probably has five diamonds (his 3D bid), only two spades (he didn’t offer secondary support over 3C) and only three clubs (he didn’t support partner). So you can be pretty sure he has:

[spade]AK [heart]KXX [diamond]QJ10XX and [club]AQX!!!

The full handNorth

[spade]9 7 6 5

[heart]8 5

[diamond]A 8 3

[club]K 10 8 7

West East

[spade]Q J [spade]10 8 4 3 2

[heart]J 9 4 3 2 [heart]A Q 6

[diamond]K 7 6 2 [diamond]5

[club]6 3 [club]J 9 5 4

South

[spade]A K

[heart]K 10 7

[diamond]Q J 10 9 4

[club]A Q 2So now what? It is clear declarer wants to try to ruff a heart and the only way to stop him is to allow partner to play a trump — but how? Your only hope is that partner can win the second round of hearts with the jack and knock out dummy’s last trump. So, dear one, you cannot win the ace and you cannot play low as you will be forced to win the next heart.

Bingo! You play the queen of hearts and when declarer wins the king and plays another partner swoops to play a trump. You are really so good . . . !

LATEST RESULTS

Bermuda Bridge Club

Monday morning, June 12, N/S: 1. Bea Williams-Aida Bostelmann, 2. Judith Bussell-Margaret Way, 3. Magda Farag-Gertrude Barker. E/W: 1. Vera Petty-Roman Smolski, 2. Jean Bath-Lyn O’Neill, 3. Elma Anfossi-Mabs Turner.

Monday evening, N/S: 1. Alan Douglas-Barry Rahman, 2. jt. David Sykes-Sally Sykes and Wendy Gray-Richard Gray. E/W: 1. Very Petty-Roman Smolski, 2. David Cordon-John Burville, 3. Charles Gambrill-Tony Saunders.

Wednesday afternoon, N/S<$>: 1. Magda Farag-Stephen Ball, 2. Florin Patriciu-Annabella Fraser, 3. Pat Siddle-Vivian Siddle. E/W: 1. jt. Vera Petty-Roman Smolski and Nea Willits-Eileen Sharpe, 3. Louise Mellor-Sally Godet.

Wednesday evening, N/S<$>: 1. Alex Moir-Dorothy Moir, 2. Joan Ross-Ron Ross, 3. Stan Turner-Mabs Turner. E/W: 1. Dan McCleary-Jane McCleary, 2. John Evans-Judith Evans, 3. Jonathan Clipper-Lane Martin.

Friday, N/S: 1. Tony Saunders-David Pereira, 2. Charles Gambrill-Alice Palmer, 3. Bill Pare-John Glynn. E/W: 1. Alan Douglas-Barry Rahman, 2. Stephen Ball-Jane Smith, 3. David Cordon-John Burville.