Bridge Column for September 13, 1992
Dealer: West 
Vulnerable: Both
                              S: K Q 6 4
                              H: 9 7 6      
                              D: A Q 9 3 
                              C: Q 8    

            S: 10 8 5 3         N          S: J 2   
            H: Q J 10 5 4    W     E       H: A K
            D: K 7              S          D: 10 8 4 2 
            C: 9 3                         C: J 10 6 5 2 
                          
                              S: A 9 7
                              H: 8 3 2    
                              D: J 6 5
                              C: A K 7 4    

                 EAST    SOUTH    WEST    NORTH
                                  PASS     1D     
                 PASS     2NT     PASS     3NT 
                 (ALL PASS)
     The opening lead was the queen of hearts and declarer saw
seven top tricks and a wide open heart suit.  East played the
king of hearts and then the ace, everyone following with low
hearts.  East now led the jack of clubs, and the prospects for
this contract started to look up.  Declarer played low, as did
West, and North's queen won the trick.  
     At this point, West is considered the "danger" hand because
he holds the remaining hearts.  East must have started with the
doubleton ace-king of hearts, and there is no fast entry to the
West hand, so it is safe to take the diamond finesse.  Normally,
it would be right to lead small and insert the queen if West
plays low, but the nine in the North hand is just enough to make
leading the jack correct.  No matter who wins this trick, the
queen-nine combination will still be in dummy.  
     In order to get to hand, a small spade is led to the ace,
both defenders following low.  The jack of diamonds is now led
and West covers with the king and the ace wins the trick.  If a
second diamond is to be led, it will have to be led from the  
South hand towards the dummy, but that can wait.  Declarer is up
to eight sure tricks and if the spade suit splits evenly, dummies
last spade will be the ninth trick.  A spade is led to the king,
all following.  When the queen is played, East discards a low
diamond.  
     With spades splitting four-two, the ninth trick will have to
come from the diamond suit.  Before declarer decides how to
proceed he should stop and review the information that he has. 
East is known to have started with the ace-king of hearts and two
spades.  If declarer can determine the distribution of the club
suit he will have a full count on the hand.  Accordingly, a club
is led to the ace, East and West both following.  The king is now
played. West discards a heart and dummy discards a small spade.
     Declarer now has a picture of East's hand.  He started with
four diamonds and five clubs, along with his doubleton spade and
doubleton heart.  East has followed to three rounds of clubs, one
round of diamonds, and has pitched one diamond.  Therefore, he is
left with two clubs and two diamonds.  Declarer now plays his
last club, pitching a heart from dummy.  East wins, cashes his
last club, and then must lead a diamond.  This is ducked around
to the queen-nine in dummy, making three no trump.
     This is a simple end play made possible by careful counting
and by preserving entries in both the North and South hands. 
Remember, all you have to be able to do is count up to 13, but
you have to practice that skill on every hand to be ready when a
hand like this one comes up.