Tina's Tips

Solution to Problem 5

You have 8 tricks -  5 diamonds, 2 clubs and the ♥A. You need another trick and the club postition is precarious to say the least! You only have 2 entries to dummy so you need to use them wisely.

There are 2 possibilities for an extra trick - the ♠K and the heart finesse. You need to take your chances in the correct order. Cross over to dummy with a diamond honour and lead a spade towards the King. If it wins or the Ace is played on your right, your troubles are over. If it loses, you can go back to dummy and take the heart finesse.

Why do you need to play the spade first? The reason is that, if you take a losing heart finesse first, it doesn't matter where the spade ace is. The defence will win the ♥K and return a club, leaving you wide open in clubs. Now when you play a spade, the defender can rise with the ace and carry on with clubs. You will lose 3 clubs at least, a heart and a spade.