Declarer Play - 6 Hearts

Contract is 6♥
Lead is the 6♣

Dummy
♠AKT9763
♥AT64
♦7
♣3

Declarer:
♠2
♥K8752
♦AJ3
♣A942

So I have arrived in a contract of 6♥

Dummy is quite nice. Since it is a trump contract I need to count my LOSERS. I can count losers from either hand. Normally I would do the hand with the longest trump but this time I think I'll count the losers in Dummy since that ♠ suit is so powerful!

♠3 losers if there is a really bad break -- I'm not expecting a bad break though.
♥2 losers if there is a really bad break
♦0 losers
♣0 losers

This is an easy hand to play. First I need to draw the trump. If one opponent has all four of them I will go down but I'm not expecting that and really can't do much about that anyhow. I win my A♣ and play two rounds of trump. Luckily both opponents follow suit to both rounds so I have no trump losers! Now what should I do next? Here's where we are at:

Dummy
♠AKT9763
♥T6
♦7
♣

Declarer:
♠2
♥875
♦AJ3
♣942

At the table Declarer went about trumping her losers in Dummy. So she trumped a ♣ in Dummy and then played a ♦ back to her A♦ and then trumped another ♣ in Dummy. So now she came down to this:

Dummy
♠AKT9763
♥
♦
♣

Declarer:
♠2
♥875
♦J3
♣9

Do you see the problem with this? She is now in Dummy. Which is great BUT those ♠ are not all good. Declarer needs to trump at least one ♠ to set them up. Once Declarer leaves Dummy there is NO WAY BACK.

That is NOT the way to play this hand. What would YOU do at this point in the hand? Trump are all gone. You are in your hand. What do you do next?

Dummy
♠AKT9763
♥T6
♦7
♣

Declarer:
♠2
♥875
♦AJ3
♣942

The key here is to set up your next best suit. If I can set up all those ♠ in Dummy my Dummy will be all good. But I'll need trump to get back to Dummy so I can't waste them by trumping ♣.

So right away I play the A♠ and then the K♠ and trump a low ♠. The ♠ split 3-2 so now I have come down to this ending:

Dummy
♠T976
♥T6
♦7
♣

Declarer:
♠
♥87
♦AJ3
♣94

I am in my hand (I trumped the ♠ remember?) but my Dummy is good. I just have to get back to Dummy and run the rest of those ♠. I can easily get back to Dummy by trumping a ♣. Making 7!

Here are the four hands.

	Dummy ♠AKT9763 ♥AT64 ♦7 ♣3
LHO ♠Q54 ♥Q3 ♦T642 ♣QT76		RHO ♠J8 ♥J9 ♦KQ985 ♣KJ85
	Declarer ♠2 ♥K8752 ♦AJ3 ♣A942

If I had started to trump in Dummy before setting up my ♠ suit I could have gone down. Generally it's a good idea (once you have taken out trump) to set up winners in your next best suit right away. When you trump other suits you shorten your trump and it's always nice to have lots and lots of trump.