This is a hand from a recent Swiss Teams game:

Auction

South		West	North	East
1K		PASS	IM	IN
1NT		PASS	2L*(nmf)	PASS
3NT		ALL PASS
DUMMY					DECLARER
N	65				N	AQ
M	A7543				M	K9
L	Q73				L	10652
K	A87				K	KQ954

Of course with a N lead a monkey can take 9 tricks if the K suit behaves.

The first question that you should ask yourself is: “What can go wrong?” of course the answer is simple. The Ks can split 4-1.

You can give yourself two chances to prevail! At trick two – lead a small M and duck it. Presumably, the opponents will lead a N to clear the suit. You win it and try the M suit first. Lead the M K. Cross the dummy with the K A. Lead the M A If they break 3-3 you have 9 tricks if they don’t you still have the K suit to fall back on. If neither one works you can still say you did your best.

This is the type of winning bridge tips that you can receive every Friday morning at 9:45 a.m. before Curt’s Stratified Pairs game