1. How many losers do you have?
   You have 3 losers: If you take your hand as base – you need to count 2 Spade losers and 1 Club loser. If you take dummy’s hand as base you need to count 1 Diamond, 1 Spade and 1 Club. However, regarding play, you have 2 real losers as you can either ruff the 3rd Spade in dummy or the 4th Diamond in hand which leaves you with 1 Spade and 1 Club loser.


2. You have several options for making an extra trick; a) Diamonds could be 3-3, making the 4th Diamond good, b) a Club finesse, c) playing Spade to the ♠Q hoping to find the ♠K in West, thus promoting your ♠Q. What are the odds for each play?
   If you look at the probability for each option, then the chance for Diamonds to be 3-3 is 36%, the chance for succeeding a Club finesse is 50% and the chance to play Spade to the ♠Q and find the ♠K in West is also 50%.


3. Which option do you try first?
   Play Diamonds 1st. Why? Because you can test the Diamonds without losing the hand and avoid a failing finesse. If Diamonds are 3-3 (as they are here), you can throw the ♣Q on the 4th Diamond, lose just 1 Spade trick, and claim 12 tricks.


4. Which option do you try second?
   If Diamonds are not 3-3, then play low Spade to the ♠Q. If ♠K is in West, your ♠Q becomes the 12th trick. You’re able now to win the ♠Q next and later discard a Club from dummy on your ♠A, and then ruff the ♣Q in dummy. The reason you try Spades before Clubs is that if Spade fails, and ♠K is in East, you can still test the Club finesse. But if you try the Club before the Spade and you fail, you lose to both black Kings.


5. What option will you try last of all?
   Club finesse comes as the last resort. If you try for a Club finesse earlier and it fails, you always lose a Spade trick too.


6. How will you play?
   Cash 2 Heart rounds, then ♦ AKQ. If Diamonds are 3-3, win your 4th Diamond and throw the ♣Q on it. If not, play Spade to the ♠Q planning to discard a Club from dummy on the ♠A if West play the ♠K. If the ♠Q loses to East’s ♠K, then try the Club finesse as a last resort.

Things to remember

1) Counting loser: Losers you count from 1 hand, normally the long trump hand (but not always). If both hands have the same length, you need to take 1 hand as BASE (the long hand) and count from this hand. Taking your hand as base you count 2 spade losers and 1 Club loser. Taking dummy as base you count 1 Spade, 1 Diamond and 1 Club. In this instance it’s best to take your hand as base, planning to ruff 1 Spade in dummy, making your 12th trick with one of the above options.

2) Playing Jacoby 2NT means that 2NT jumps after 1♥/♠ opening shows at least 4 card fit and a game forcing hand. This convention is very helpful to reach a possible slam. After 2NT opener bids as follows:
– 3 in suit – shows singleton in this suit.
– 3 in the trump – showing a good slamish hand, with no singletons, asking responder to start control bidding (like the 3♥ bid here).
– 4 in a suit – 5 good suiter, a source of tricks (others play it as void – needs agreement between partners).
– 4 in the trump – minimum hand, no short suit.
– Some play 3NT as a hand between 3 and 4 in a trump bid.

3) Controls: In a game forcing situation, and after the trump is known, a bid of a new suit is a control. 1st control is Ace or Void. 2nd control is King or Singleton. There are several ways to play control bidding and this needs agreement between partners. The simplest one is to show either 1st or 2nd control below game level and 1st control above game level (unless 1st control was shown previously). Controls are shown up the line, meaning if you show a control in a suit by skipping a previous suit – you deny a control in the suit you skipped. In the hand above, the sequence was game forcing and 3♥ showed a good hand. 4♦ was a control, showing a Diamond control and also DENY Spade and Club controls (in which case bid 3♠ or 4♣). That’s why there was no need for declarer to explore a grand slam by asking Kings as he knows his partner doesn’t have any black kings.

4) Combining play: Many times you need to combine playing suits to increase your chance of making your contract. The right order will usually be to hold back your play, most likely to fail until last (Club finesse here: if it fails – you go down, losing to the ♠K too). First try the suit that keeps you in control (Diamonds here – you can test Diamonds without losing the hand). When you have to choose between an expass (playing to a card) or impass (normal finesse), choose the expass first. If it wins (like Spade to the ♠Q here) you wouldn’t need the Club finesse. If it fails, you can still try to finesse. You double your chance of making as you need just one of two finesses to work. All in all, if you play as suggested above you’ll have about 84% of success, as you only need one of the three situations to happen in order to make; Either Diamonds 3-3, ♠K in West or ♣K in East.

And why not play Spade to ♠Q before testing the Diamonds? What’s the difference? If it fails and East wins the ♠K and plays a Club, you won’t know whether to attempt the finesse or to win the ♣A and go for 3-3 Diamond split, meaning you’ll be unable to test all three possible options.

5) Squeeze: On this hand, there is another line of play which could work: Play Spade to the ♠Q first and if it fails and East returns a Club, you can win with the ♣A, ruff Spade in dummy and run all the trumps. This line will work if Diamonds are 3-3 and also works if they aren’t if the the opponent with the Diamond length also holds the ♣K. He’ll be squeezed in Diamonds and Clubs and on the last Heart will have to discard either the ♣K or a Diamond and by doing so promote your 4th Diamond.