{"id":132128,"date":"2026-08-27T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funbridge.com\/blog\/?p=132128"},"modified":"2026-08-26T05:03:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T03:03:58","slug":"winning-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funbridge.com\/blog\/en\/winning-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Find the Winning Line"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese National Division 1<\/strong> – Teams<\/strong>
Dealer East, None Vul, you have the following hand as South:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

You overcall 1♠ over East\u2019s 1♦<\/span>, which as part of a system based on strong Club openings does not show a minimum number of Diamonds. This is how the auction continues:
<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Contract: 4♠.<\/strong>
Lead: 2♥<\/span>. Four, Queen, three.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

At trick Two, East plays the Queen of Diamonds, which you duck, and then continues with the Spade two, which you win with the Ace while West follows with the three. You have five top tricks<\/strong> with Ace-King of Spades and three Aces.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where will you find the missing tricks?<\/strong>
You will get two or three more from the trump suit<\/strong>, depending on whether or not you lose a trick to the Queen. You can also ruff Hearts in the short hand<\/strong>, and the Queen of Clubs may play a role in the success of your contract.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you immediately decide on how to play trumps?<\/strong>
No, it is better to collect more information first.<\/strong> Let\u2019s watch Dutch international Sjoert Brink in action.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does he continue?<\/strong>
He unblocks the Ace of Hearts<\/strong> and then cashes the Diamond Ace and ruffs a Diamond<\/strong>. East, who opened 1♦<\/span> on a doubleton, discards the Club five. Sjoert ruffs the Heart nine<\/strong> (West follows with the ten and eight) and calls for the Spade eight. When East plays the ten, he is at a crossroads.
<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Should he attempt the finesse against the Queen?<\/strong>
Perhaps East opened with 11 HCP (King-Queen of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds and King-Jack of Clubs) and he may as well have had Q102 as 102.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what must South do?<\/strong>
It does not matter how the suit breaks. He will make his contract if he takes the King of Spades.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/strong>
Even if East had the Queen, all South has to do is ruff his last Heart with dummy\u2019s last trump, then ruff the last Diamond before putting East on lead with a trump<\/strong> and see him lead away from Kx in Clubs<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Did you like article?<\/strong> Tell us in the comments.<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Follow Sjoert Brink as he finds the winning line in this contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":132129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14923],"tags":[14481,11653],"access":[13331,13334],"class_list":["post-132128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bridge-lessons","tag-bridge-news","tag-deal-analysis-en","access-premium-en","access-premium-plus-en"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":5}},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFind the Winning Line - Blog Funbridge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/funbridge.com\/blog\/en\/winning-line\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Find the Winning Line - 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