The ♦A was led, East signalled with the Queen to indicate possession of the Jack. West played another diamond, which you ruff in hand. There are 10 winners (4 clubs, 4 hearts and 2 spades), but trump control is the main issue. What are your thoughts?

Solution:
In today's deal, the best way to maintain trump control is to not touch trumps at all. You ruff the diamond return at trick 2, and play three rounds of a rounded suit, say hearts. If trumps break 4-2 (which is the case 48% of the time) and the person with four trumps ruffs anytime, you are okay. You will win any return, play a diamond yourself and ruff it in hand, play the top trumps, and play the fourth heart and discard dummy's last diamond. Even if trumps are 3-3, this line works.

If the player with four trumps(West) has exactly three hearts, you will repeat this maneuver in clubs. If clubs are 3-3 as well, you will ruff a diamond and make your game by scoring 2 top spades, 3 hearts, 2 diamond ruffs and 3 clubs. If West ruffs the third round of clubs, you will follow the familiar line of ruffing a diamond, cashing the top trumps and pitching dummy's last diamond on the other club winner.

This line of play fails only if the hand with the short trumps (East on this deal) has a doubleton in either rounded suit. This scenario is well against the odds, which makes the recommended line of play a favorite to succeed.

Analysis:
Bridge Baron's double dummy solver agrees that the suggested line of play yields 10 tricks.
Par Contract Analysis:
The par contract is 4♠ by North-South.

Bridge Baron deal No : 30199530445581312964900576233