Declarer Play - 4 Spades

Francine and Adair tied for first today with Anne coming in 3rd.  Good job ladies!

There were some tough hands to play today.  Let's look at an example of what can go wrong.

The contract is 4♠ and the opening lead is the K♦.  Try dealing out the cards and playing along.

Dummy:
♠KT2
♥A932
♦A43
♣762

Declarer (me):
♠AQJ73
♥K852
♦8
♣AJ3

Since I am in a trump contract I will start with counting my losers. I will look at my hand (since I have more trump than dummy) to see where my losers are:
♠ 0 losers
♥ 1 or 2 losers depending on if the suit splits 3-2 or not
♦ 0 losers
♣ 2 losers

There really shouldn't be a problem on this hand.  Hopefully the ♥ will split 3-2 and then I only have 1 loser in that suit.  If the suit doesn't split well then I have 2 losers there and also 2 losers in ♣.  But there is not really anything I can do about that.  Hmmm.  What could possibly go wrong?  Declarer went down in this contract when ♥ split 3-2

Well I suspect what happened to declarer was that they won the ♦A at trick 1 and immediately played another ♦ and trumped it in their hand.  I find people just LOVE to trump things right away.  I guess it's a little bit of a thrill.  This is when things started to go wrong.  First of all the trump did not split so nicely.  One opponent had FOUR of the little suckers.  That means that once you win the ♦A and then trump a ♦ they have as many trump as you do.  If you then have to take out all their trump you come down to this ending:

Dummy:
♠
♥A932
♦4
♣76

Declarer (you):
♠
♥K852
♦
♣AJ3

So now the opponents don't have any more trump -- but neither do you!  You've taken 6 tricks (5♠ and 1♦) but you need 4 more.  You only have 3 more.  "Well, no problem" you say.  I play the A♥ and the K♥ and then lose a ♥.  Now my last ♥ is good and so is my ♣A.

This is all true.  BUT when the opponents win their ♥ trick are they going to be nice and play a ♣ or are they going to continue with their ♦?

Probably ♦ and you don't have any more trump left to stop them.

So let's rewind back to the beginning of the hand.

Dummy:
♠KT2
♥A932
♦A43
♣762

Declarer (me):
♠AQJ73
♥K852
♦8
♣AJ3

Win the A♦ and the first thing you should do is take out ALL the trump.  You should come down to this:

Dummy:
♠
♥A932
♦43
♣76

Declarer (me):
♠3
♥K852
♦
♣AJ3

All the trump are gone from the opponent's hand.  But you still have one left.

The next thing you should do is to try to set up your best suit.  This is the ♥.  Play your A♥ and then your K♥.  Lose a ♥.  You come to this:

Dummy:
♠
♥9
♦43
♣76

Declarer (me):
♠3
♥8
♦
♣AJ3

Now here your ♥9 is good because the opponents don't have any more.  The opponents are in because you let them win their good ♥ but what can they do?  If they play a ♣ you can win your A♣ and also win your ♥9.  But they will probably play a ♦.  That was their strong suit.  Here's your chance to do what you wanted to in the beginning -- trump it!  Now you are in and you can win your A♣ and also win your ♥9.  You have no trump left but that's not a problem.  Your winners are all set up for you.  Enjoy them!

Question:  Is there a better contract than 4♠?