Experience is surely the best teacher — and considering what she costs, she should be. A learning player might fail at today’s contract; a player with a bit of experience might see the winning line.

Against 3NT, West leads the deuce of spades: five, queen, king. A learning declarer would know about finesses and lead a diamond to dummy and let the nine of hearts ride. West would take the queen and exit with a diamond.

South wins in dummy and tries a second heart to his ten, losing to the king. He wins West’s diamond return in dummy and leads a club: jack, queen, king. West returns a club, and South ends with only the eight tricks with which he began.

A more experienced declarer knows the benefits of getting the defenders to help him. After he wins the first spade, he cashes three diamonds, then lets the nine of hearts ride.

When West wins, anything he leads assures declarer of a ninth trick. If declarer had a crystal ball, he might even make an overtrick.

Daily question: You hold: ? J 9 4 2 ? K Q 5 ? 9 6 2 ? K 5 2. Your partner opens one heart. The next player passes. What do you say?

Answer: New players often go wrong in this situation. It is correct to raise to two hearts, which confirms a trump fit and limits the strength. A response of one spade would do neither. It’s true that if the opening bidder has spade length, a spade contract might be superior, but to ascertain that is impossible and to try is impractical.

South dealer

N-S vulnerable

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