A LARGE part in winning declarer play is about keeping your focus during the hand and not getting distracted when something unexpected comes along.This hand from a high stakes rubber bridge game is a great example of this.North

[spade]Q 9 7

[heart]8 6 2

[diamond]A Q 6 5

[club]Q 5 >

West East

[spade]6 4 2 [spade]8 3

[heart]Q J 10 7 3 [heart]9 5 4

[diamond]K 10 7 3 2 [diamond]J 9 4

[club] — [club]10 9 8 7 3

South

[spade]A K J 10 5

[heart]A K

[diamond]8

[club]A K J 6 2After South opened two clubs and North’s 2NT response there was no stopping North-SoutB>South No<$>

2[club] (1) 2NT (2)

3[spade] (3) 4[diamond] (4)

7[spade] (5)1. Strong

2. Values in a balanced hand

3. Suit

4. Cannot be a suit after the 2NT bid. Must therefore be a cue-bid agreeing spades

5. Not at all unreasonable.

West led the heart queen and it all looked rosy — declarer won, drew trumps and played a club to the queen. When West showed out declarer went through the motions and eventually gave up a club for down one.

Of course, once declarer sees the club break he should fall back on the diamond finesse which works here and the slam makes. This is one of those hands where the weaker players would fail, the intermediates / senior players will succeed and the expert may also fail! Why?

The expert may decide to play East for the diamond king and go for a squeeze instead of a finesse coming to this three card ending!North

[spade]None

[heart]8

[diamond]A Q

[club]e

East

[spade]None

[heart]None

[diamond]K 9

[club]10

South

[spade]A

[heart]None

[diamond]8

[club]6If the squeeze is on declarer cashes the last spade and throws a heart . . . curtains for East! Easy!