Henry David Thoreau said, "Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence."

In bridge, pursue some path (trick order), however narrow and crooked, that gives you a chance to make your contract.

In this example deal, South is in four spades. How should he step after taking West's heart-queen lead with his ace?

South's hand was full value for a two-no-trump opening, with a good five-card suit and all of its points in aces and kings. North used Stayman in the hope of uncovering a 4-4 spade fit. He did even better when it turned out that South had five spades. A nine-card fit usually plays a trick better than an eight-card fit.

South seems to have a superfluity of winners. Four or five in spades, two in hearts, maybe one in diamonds and four in clubs. What is the danger?

That he might lose one spade and three diamonds. But that will happen only if East gains the lead and West holds the diamond ace.

Declarer has to play the trump suit to make sure that East cannot win a trick there when he holds queen-third or queen-fourth. It is time to ignore "eight ever, nine never." South leads a spade to dummy's ace, then returns a spade to his 10.

Here, declarer ends with an overtrick. But even if the spade finesse loses, the contract is safe because West cannot effectively attack diamonds.

Note that if South is in three no-trump, the play should follow the same path.

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