1. What is the meaning of partner's lead?
   Either top of a sequence or a doubleton.
   
2. What do you play next?
   Try a third Heart. If partner led from a doubleton, partner will ruff now. If partner led from ♥J102, the ♥10 will score a trick at this point.
   
3. You tried a third Heart but declarer ruffed and continued with a Spade to dummy's ♠K, and partner followed with the ♠3. How many tricks do you count for the defense?
   Three: ♥A and ♥K and the ♠A.
   
4. How many trumps does partner have?
   One. Declarer has shown at least five from the bidding. Only five, since partner followed to the Spade now.
   
5. Where does the setting trick come from?
   Since declarer has a relatively poor trump suit (QJxxx) and two Heart losers, it is unlikely that declarer holds any losers in the minor suits when bidding four Spades. So to defeat the contract, you need to score your fourth Spade trick as the setting trick.
   
6. How will you continue?
   Hold up this trick and the second trump round as well. Win with the ♠A only on the third trump round and then continue with your fourth Heart. With no more trumps in dummy, declarer will need to ruff from hand with the last trump and your remaining trump becomes promoted. If you shift to another suit instead, declarer will win, draw trumps, and the rest of the hand becomes high. If you win the first or second Spade round and play your fourth Heart, declarer will ruff in dummy and preserve the trump length in hand to remain in control. Declarer can then draw your trumps and avoid losing to your fourth trump.

Things to remember:

1. How are the points between the opponents divided?
   About 12 to 13 with East and 6 to 7 with West. East opened the bidding and West made a negative double, which shows some values as well.
   
2. How are Diamonds divided?
   Five with West and one with East, because East ruffed the second Diamond.
   
3. How are Clubs divided?
   Four with East and two with West. West has already shown two Clubs, which means East cannot have more than four. This gives East at least eight cards in the major suits, which must be a 4–4 shape. East cannot have three Clubs, because that would give East nine cards in the majors, meaning a five card major, and East would have opened one Heart or one Spade instead of one Club.
   
4. How are Hearts divided?
   Four with East and six with West, based on the earlier conclusion that East has four Hearts.
   
5. How are Spades divided?
   Four with East and zero with West, again based on the previous distributional analysis that places four Spades with East.
6. How will you continue?
   After winning with the ♣K at trick four, play a Heart to dummy’s ♥A and continue with the ♠10, planning to let it run if East plays low. If East covers with the ♠J, win with the ♠K, ruff your second Heart, and finesse East’s ♠Q. You can then play the ♣Q and ruff your fourth Club in dummy, or play the ♦K in dummy and overruff East, or discard a Club if East discards. In every line, you lose only the first three tricks.

Things to remember:

1. Count points and distribution. The bidding, the opening lead, and the play in the early tricks can reveal the full layout. In this deal, you learned at trick three that East has a singleton Diamond, and at trick four that West has at least two Clubs. From the bidding you also knew that East does not have a five card major, since East opened one Club. With this information you can complete the analysis and know with certainty that East holds a 4–4–1–4 shape, which makes West 0–6–5–2.
2. A negative double after a one level overcall shows six or more points and at least four cards in the other unbid major. It can be four cards with any strength of six or more points, or five or more cards with six to nine points, since with ten or more you would bid the suit at the two level. So if you have a long major that you cannot bid at the one level and fewer than ten points, you double first and later rebid your suit to show length and six to nine points. If the opponent overcalls at the two level, you need nine or more points for a negative double.
   • If the auction one Club by opener and one Diamond overcall by the next hand, then double shows both majors, and one Heart or one Spade now shows at least four cards.
   • If the auction goes one Club or one Diamond by opener, followed by a one Heart overcall, double shows four Spades and one Spade shows five or more Spades although pairs may agree otherwise.
   • If the auction one Heart by opener, followed by a one Spade overcall, double shows the minors.
3. Note North’s four Spade bid. This bid was not only aimed at making four Spades, since South could have overcalled with much less and then four Spades would not succeed. The bid also disrupts the opponents and makes it difficult for them to reach their excellent five Heart contract when both opponents are vulnerable. Some pairs will still bid on with West’s hand and reach five Hearts.
4. Assuming the auction goes:

*mixed raise, 7 to 11 points, four Spades

Now East can rebid Hearts more comfortably over partner’s negative double and West has a clear action too. Suppose South leads the ♠A. How should East play the hand?

Ruff the lead, play the ♦A and ruff a Diamond, then play the ♠Q and ruff South’s ♠K if South covers. Play a Club to the ♣A and discard the Club loser on the ♠J. Ruff the fourth Spade in dummy and ruff the third Diamond with the ♥10. Continue with a Club ruff, ruff the fourth Diamond with the ♥J, and ruff the third Club in dummy. Ruff the fifth Diamond in hand with the ♥Q and you make twelve tricks, losing only the final trick to the ♥A.