This is aHand:

So many lines to choose from!
By Barry Rigal

This deal from round 35 did not create a swing but I thought it deserved to. I’ll give you the problem first as a single dummy one – and rotate it to make South declarer.

Brink showed Diamonds and at least invitational values, so did not need to make a slam try at his second turn. How should you play 4â™  on a low Heart lead to the Queen?

One possibility is to duck a Club early, then play ♠K and ♠A and arrange to ruff a fourth Club. Multon in the same contract took an early Diamond finesse. Then he drew trump and fell back on the Diamonds breaking 3-3. Not a bad line but hardly a claimer…This line worked, but here is the full deal.

Drijver took a completely different tack. He won ♥A, ♠K (Helgemo dropping a deceptive eight), led a Spade to dummy, and might now have ducked a Club as well. Instead he cashed two rounds of Clubs, unblocked ♦K and exited with a Heart. East was thrown on lead and had a choice of giving a ruff sluff or returning a Diamond into the tenace. Had he started life with a 3-6-2-2 pattern he might have been able to cash the long Spade and exit in Hearts but then declarer can fall back on the Diamond finesse – and if he loses to the doubleton ♦Q he can console himself that the line chosen in the other room would have failed too!

At another table Elke Weber reported the nice play by her opponent. On a similar auction Marilina Vanuzzi for Italy won the ♥A and played ♣A, ♣K and a third Club. When Weber led the fourth Club, Vanuzzi discarded dummy's losing Heart to ensure the ruff in dummy. Had the defenders cashed their Heart, they would have been unable to lead the fourth Club.