1. Win the heart king with the ace, draw trump and lead a low diamond toward dummy’s J-4! This gives you about a 75% chance for the contract, which is much better than the 50% chance you’d have if you started the diamonds by leading one from dummy.

The recommended play makes the contract whenever North was dealt the queen of diamonds, which happens 50% of the time. He has no choice but to take the queen, and after that you can force out the ace of diamonds by playing the jack. You can then discard a club from dummy on the king of diamonds and wind up losing only a heart and two diamonds.

Even if South has the queen of diamonds and takes dummy’s jack with it, you are still in contention. You have plenty of time later on to lead a diamond toward your K-7, and if South has the ace, you make the contract that way.

The suggested method of play fails only when South has the queen and North the ace — about a 1-in-4 chance — but in that case any other method of play is also likely to fail.

2. Here you’ve got a sure thing. Cash the A-K of hearts, cross to the ace of clubs, then play the queen of hearts and discard a spade. If North turns up with either four or five hearts, play another one and let him cash his heart trick (or tricks), discarding one or two diamonds from your hand. North must then hand you trick No.9, whether he returns a spade, a diamond or a club.

If North started with only one or two hearts — unlikely, but anything’s possible — you still have him on the hook. After cashing dummy’s queen of hearts, you next lead a diamond to the nine (or queen, if South plays the ten or jack). Assuming North wins, he is then forced to give you your ninth trick whether he returns a spade, a diamond or a club.

Tomorrow: Fall of a monarch.