North-South vulnerable.  
East deals.
                              NORTH
                              S: 8 6               
                              H: K 9 3       
                              D: A K J 7     
                              C: J 9 8 2 

                              SOUTH                         
                              S: A 7 3  
                              H: Q J 10 2   
                              D: 10 9 2   
                              C: A K Q  
                   EAST   SOUTH     WEST   NORTH                  
                    1S     1NT      Pass    3NT 
                   Pass    Pass     Pass
     Opening Lead: SJ
     There is a new, quality, bridge magazine now available from
Norway.  The english edition of European Bridge is a hundred
pages of excellent articles about our favorite game.  For the
most part, we don't get a lot of exposure to the European bridge
writers and this vehicle will introduce you to some of the very
best.
     The hand shown above comes from an article on card reading
by Berry Westra of The Netherlands.  The opening lead is the jack
of spades which East overtakes with the queen.  Declarer decides
to hold up the ace and East continues with the king and then the
ten.  Declarer wins the third round of spades with the ace while
West contributes the three of clubs.
     Westra says that the art of card reading starts with asking
yourself the right questions; if you ask the appropriate
question, you will get the correct answer.  Put yourself in the
South seat and answer these questions.
     1. How many points are missing? 2. How are they divided?  3.
Who has the ace of hearts? 4. Who has the queen of diamonds?
     You should make a plan step by step.  First, count your
winners (seven in this case).  Then look for where the rest of
the tricks may come from.  On this hand, hearts is the most
attractive suit with diamonds a good second.  If you have found
the answers to the above questions, you should be able to make a
suitable plan.
                              NORTH
                              S: 8 6               
                              H: K 9 3       
                              D: A K J 7     
                              C: J 9 8 2 
            WEST                             EAST
            S: J 5                           S: K Q 10 9 4 2 
            H: 7 6 5                         H: A 8 4      
            D: 8 6 5 3                       D: Q 4               
            C: 7 6 5 3                       C: 10 4        
                              SOUTH                         
                              S: A 7 3  
                              H: Q J 10 2   
                              D: 10 9 2   
                              C: A K Q
     Combined with dummy you have 28 high card points.  In view
of the opening bid, East must have all of the missing points,
especially since West has already shown up with the jack of
spades.  You also know the layout of the spade suit:  East has
six of them.  This means that the normal play of knocking out the
ace of hearts will surely lead to a two trick set.
     You will have to make nine tricks without the heart suit. 
That's possible if you can manage to make four diamond tricks. 
Unfortunately, you know that the diamond finesse is going to
fail.  So there is only one chance.  East must hold the doubleton
queen of diamonds.
     Did you figure that out in time to make the contract?  Did
you realize that there is more to this hand?  In order to
succeed, you must unblock the ten and nine of diamonds under the
ace and king, leave a club entry back to your hand, finesse the
eight of diamonds after clearing the top three clubs, and then
score the eighth and ninth tricks with the minor suit jacks in
dummy.
     For a free trial issue of European Bridge, call the editor,
Stein S. Aker, in Norway.  The international number is 011-47-3-
331-9770.  The address is Ace International AS, Munkegarten 12 D,
N-3110 Tonsberg, Norway.  Subscriptions are $39.50 per year for
six issues.
__________________________________________________________________