Hand of the Month
April 2003

                                          J1095
                                          A64
                                          975
                                          AJ4
        6432                                                         -
        Q853                                                        KJ2
        KQJ8                                                       A106432
        8                                                              7632

                                         AKQ87
                                         1097
                                         -
                                         KQ1095

The contract is 7 spades by South
Opening lead King of Diamonds

You trump the opening lead and play the Ace of Spades.  East discards a diamond.

This isn't too tough a hand for someone who counts!  South has 6 tricks (one heart and 5 clubs) outside trumps.  So, he needs 7 spade tricks.  There is only one way to do this: four winners and three ruffs in hand.

After ruffing the King of Diamonds lead and cashing the Ace of Spades, getting the bad news, you should play a club to dummy, ruff a diamond with the spade Queen, play a heart to dummy's ace, ruff the last diamond with the spade King, lead the spade 8 to dummy's 9, draw trumps and claim.  You play a beautiful dummy reversal!

Never stop counting - its what separates the experts from the rest.