From                   1st November, 2006, Board 24

                                          Theme                 Establishing Side-Suits

                                          Difficulty            * * *

                                          Dlr East             None Vul

Your bright idea to open that Weak Two on a 5-card suit has landed you in an awkward contract.  West leads the Q♥, won by the Ace.  If trumps are 3-3 you can make this with a little bit of luck in the minor suits.  But the question is "Can you make 9 tricks if Spades are 4-2?".

SOLUTION

When control is an issue it's often a good idea to establish side-suit tricks before drawing trumps, while there is still a trump in Dummy to take care of the force.  This is such a hand.  Win the Heart Ace, and lead a Club towards the Jack.  As it happens, the Queen is played by East, who continues Hearts.  You ruff and lead the J♣, losing to East's Ace.  Now, on the Heart continuation, you pitch a Diamond from your hand.  Dummy is now out of Hearts and can handle the 4th round of the suit if need be.  When the smoke has cleared, you'll have lost 2 Clubs, a Spade and a Heart.  The full deal:

Keys to Success

   - Realizing the danger of a 4-2 trump break

   - Playing Clubs early and playing them from the board

Post Script

Doesn't the suggested line risk running into a Club ruff?  Yes, but the opponents won't always be able to find the ruff when the suit is 4-2, and even when they do the ruff is likely to be at the expense of a natural trump trick.