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How would you have played the contract?
 THERE
was little point in South mentioning his club suit. Even if North had a
good club fit, the hand was likely to play at least as well in the spade
game, one level lower. West led a diamond to the queen and East
persisted with the suit. How would you have played the contract?
Declarer ruffed the second diamond and drew trumps in three rounds.  All
now depended on his handling of the club suit. Do you know the best play
with this combination? Declarer led the 10 of clubs, planning to run the
card. If the finesse had lost, he would have played the king next. This
line is successful against all 3-2 breaks and loses to just two of the
the 4-1 and 1-4 breaks (when East has a singleton queen or jack of
clubs). No other line is better. At the table West declined to cover the
club 10. Declarer ran the card, gave up a trick in clubs, and soon had
ten tricks before him. Suppose, on some different deal, that East had
opened 3D. It would not be very unlikely that he had QJxx in clubs
alongside the diamonds. You would be more inclined to cash the ace of
clubs on the first round, guarding against single queen or jack with
East.
— David Bird
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