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Dlr: West	♠ 10 9 7 3 2
Vul: E-W	♥ K 6 4 3
	♦ A 2
	♣ J 3
	♠ K Q J 8 4
	♥ 8 7 5
	♦ K 3
	♣ A K 6

West	North	East	South
1♥	Pass	Pass	1♠
Pass	2♥ (1)	Pass	4♠
All Pass

(1) Good raise in spades
West leads the ♥Q. You play low from the dummy and East wins with the ♥A, obviously a singleton. East continues with the ♣10. How will you play after winning with the ♣A?

Solution

Considering that East, who had passed his partner’s opening bid, took the first trick with the ♥A, declarer placed the ♠A on his left. Clearly there would not be a problem if West had at least two trumps, so declarer turned his thoughts to overcoming the problem of West having a bare ♠A.
Declarer’s plan was to strip the minor-suits from his hand and dummy before playing a trump. If East ruffed the ♥K he would then have no satisfactory exit card. So after taking the club shift at trick three with the ace, declarer cashed the ♦A and ♦K, then cashed the ♣K and ruffed the ♣6 high. Only then did he call for a trump from dummy. West took the ♠K with the ace and returned a predictable ♥J. Declarer covered this with the king and East ruffed with his remaining trump. With only minor-suit cards remaining, East had to play one, allowing declarer to throw his heart loser on the return and ruff it dummy for his 10^th trick. The full deal:

Dlr: West	♠ 10 9 7 3 2
Vul: E-W	♥ K 6 4 3
	♦ A 2
	♣ J 3
♠ A		♠ 6 5
♥ Q J 10 9 2		♥ A
♦ Q J 10 6		♦ 9 8 7 5 4
♣ Q 7 4		♣ 10 9 8 5 2
	♠ K Q J 8 4
	♥ 8 7 5
	♦ K 3
	♣ A K 6