-	'Playing against Zia'

-  E/NS K Q 5  4 3  Q 9 8  A K 9 7 2   -      --- e A 9 7 3 2  Q 7 5  A 10 7 5  Q

-  WEST  -  Pass  2  Pass NORTH  --  21)   2  Pass  EAST  Pass  Pass -  Pass  Pass    SOUTH  1  2  4     1) 2/1 game force

You play a spade to the King. Your LHO follows with the ten. This card directly affects your original plan. Suppose spades are divided 1-4? In that case you have to finesse against East's trump Jack. But at the same time, you cannot end up in dummy anymore after drawing trumps. What to do?

You decide to cash another high spade from dummy to see what happens. Your LHO - a person called Zia Mahmood from Pakistan, nowadays living in London and New York - follows suit with the Jack. Your RHO follows low. You are sorry that you did not take your original line of play and you try a high club. West follows with the eight and RHO with a nondescript club. You continue with the third high club, but with a big smile Mahmood ruffs and returns a heart, whereafter you have to concede a diamond for down one.
"Still, not an unreasonable line of play," remarked the student. "A little unlucky that clubs were divided 2-5 and that LHO was Zia Mahmood." The student remembered that he watched the hand being played by Rosenblum Cup winner Lorenzo Lauria from Italy, who went down in similar fashion.

"Unlucky?," his student's superficial analysis caused Professor IMP's face to turn red with anger. "The bidding, young man, the bidding! White against red, with a good five-card hearts and the K, an agressive player like Zia no doubt would have entered the auction right away with a 2-overcall. But  he passed in the first round. So it's pretty certain that East, and not West possesses the K. Therefore, after cashing the first high trump the correct way to garner ten tricks is to play the Q from dummy!'
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-  E/NS K Q 5  4 3  Q 9 8  A K 9 7 2   J 10 8    A K 10 6 2    J 4 2    8 5 6 4  J 9 8----  K 6 3  J 10 6 4 3 e A 9 7 3 2  Q 7 5  A 10 7 5  Q

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