In notrumps, focus on each opponent separately and ask yourself: ‘safe hand’  or ‘danger hand’?

What happened?

East’s overcall marked him with five (six) spades, leaving West with at most two. So declarer correctly ducked the first spade – to dummy’s ♠ J and East’s ♠ Q – and won ♠ K continuation with ♠ A. Needing to develop two more tricks, declarer played ♦ AK, planning to lose a third round. Had West retained ♦ Q, his plan would have succeeded because West, the safe hand, would have won the third diamond. Declarer could win any return from him and cash two long diamonds. However, West made the fine defence of throwing ♦ Q under ♦ K. Now East won the third diamond with ♦ J and was able to cash three spade winners. Down one.

What should have happened?

You as declarer need to keep East off lead and must hope West holds ♦ Qxx. You must lead through West, so that if he plays ♦ Q on the first or second rounds, you let him win the trick.Win ♠ A on the second round and lead ♦ 4. Assuming West plays low, win ♦ K. Then return to ♥ K and lead ♦ 8. If West plays ♦ Q, duck in dummy; assuming he plays low, win ♦ A and lead a third round. West wins ♦ Q, but dummy wins a club/return return and the two long diamonds can be cashed. Game made.

Tip: In notrumps, focus on each opponent separately and ask yourself: ‘safe hand’or ‘danger hand’?