Deal 90
 
 
 
♠ ?
?
?
♣ ?
 
 WEST  NORTH  EAST  SOUTH
1NTpass BID 
 
 

You are South and it is your bid.
Decide what you would say, then click on BID .
   
  ♠ K 8 6
A 8 4
A Q 8
♣ Q J 10 7
 

 
Deal 90
 
 
 
♠ J 10 5
K Q 6
K J 10 3
♣ A K 9
 
 WEST  NORTH  EAST  SOUTH
1NTpass4NT
pass6NTpasspass
pass

You have 16 points - a pretty solid 16 in fact.
Partner has 15, 16 or 17, so together you have 31, 32 or 33.
You want to invite partner to bid 6NT if he has 17, but to decline if he has 15.
The correct bid for this invitation is 4NT. It is called a "quantitative" 4NT since it is just an invitational raise. It is NOT Blackwood - if you wanted to ask for Aces you would use Gerber.

Partner bids the slam.

North would play 6NT.

Click ROTATE 
   
  ♠ K 8 6
A 8 4
A Q 8
♣ Q J 10 7
 

 
Deal 90
 
 
 
♠ K 8 6
A 8 4
A Q 8
♣ Q J 10 7
 
 WEST  NORTH  EAST  SOUTH
1NT
pass4NTpass6NT
passpasspass

South plays 6NT. West leads the ♠3.

Make a Plan, then click NEXT .
   
  ♠ J 10 5
K Q 6
K J 10 3
♣ A K 9
 

 
Deal 90
 
 
 
♠ K 8 6
A 8 4
A Q 8
♣ Q J 10 7
  South plays 6NT. West leads the ♠3.

Winner count: ♠ 0 : 3 : 4 : ♣ 4 : Total = 11

It's pretty clear which suit you have to worry about! Your goal is simple, you must win one ♠ trick before you lose two. So the crux of your problem is: Who holds the ♠A and ♠Q?

If West has both of them you are guaranteed to win the first trick no matter what you play.

If East has both of them you are going to lose the first two tricks no matter what you play.

The problem is to decide what to do if they are split. The answer relies on psychology, not on probability. West has made an attacking lead. But if you were West would you start out leading a low ♠ from a suit like ♠ A 9 7 3? That would be incredibly foolhardy, you would probably lead a different suit and save your ♠A for catching something high from declarer. On the other hand you would be quite likely to lead a small card from ♠ Q 9 7 3.

Your PLAN should be to play low in dummy and win your ♠10 if East withholds the ♠A.

Click NEXT to see the full deal.
   
  ♠ J 10 5
K Q 6
K J 10 3
♣ A K 9
 

 
Deal 90
 
 
 
♠ K 8 6
A 8 4
A Q 8
♣ Q J 10 7
  If you think West has ♠ A 9 7 3 then you should play the ♠K from dummy. But if you think West has ♠ Q 9 7 3 you should play low from dummy.

Since West is unlikely to underlead an Ace against 6NT you play East for the ♠A.

 Deal 91 
♠ Q 9 7 3
J 7 2
9 6 5
♣ 8 6 2
♠ A 4 2
10 9 5 3
7 4 2
♣ 5 4 3
  ♠ J 10 5
K Q 6
K J 10 3
♣ A K 9