Bridge

A good line often consists of finding the best way to combine all your chances. How would you tackle this 6NT from the Athol Cup Final?

West showed 18-19 points, and East simply blasted slam. North led the queen of diamonds. How would you plan the play?

There are ten Sure Tricks, and several places to look for two more. Spades might break 3-3, or the jack drop doubleton, or you could finesse against the jack in either hand – this is the sort of suit to leave aside till you have collected more information.

North is likely to have QJ10 of diamonds – leading from QJx is too dangerous – so you can develop an extra diamond trick, but you will have to lose the lead to do so. You can certainly make one extra trick in clubs, and that is the place to start. If North has the king a simple finesse will do, but if you run the queen and it loses to the king you can no longer afford to concede a diamond. Better to lead towards your QJ: if South plays the king you have 12 tricks; if he ducks you have an 11th trick without losing the lead. To keep all options open, cross to the king of spades and lead the low club from dummy. If the queen scores you can unblock hearts and lead towards the K9x of diamonds for your 12th trick.

What if North wins the king of clubs? He will probably return a diamond to dummy's king. Cash the ace of clubs, unblock the top hearts and discard a diamond from dummy on the jack of clubs. Cross to dummy with a spade to make two more hearts. When the last heart is led you have SA10 and a club; dummy has D9 and a spade. If South has the last club there is a double squeeze; if North has it you should have enough of a count to pick up spades.