Iveta Radicova, a former prime minister of Slovakia, said, "In some countries, we have had the right to vote for less than 100 years, so the entry of women into political leadership has caused a tsunami."

That sounds melodramatic; surely it is nothing more than a very choppy sea.

This week we are looking at the handling of trump suits. In today's deal, South is in four hearts. West leads the club king. When East encourages enthusiastically with his nine, West continues with the club queen and his last club. East wins with his ace and shifts to the diamond 10. How should South steer from there?

On the second round of the auction, North bid what he thought would be the best contract. Yes, here three no-trump is easy, but it is never easy to reach that contract with assurance when holding an eight-card major-suit fit.

If South just assumes everything will be favorable, he will draw trumps, take his spade king, play a spade to the ace, and cash the spade queen. Here, though, he will lose one diamond and three clubs to sink without a trace.

Although South is a slight favorite to gain five spade tricks, he needs only four. He should draw only two rounds of trumps, leaving an honor on the board, cash his spade king, play a spade to dummy's ace, and ruff a spade in his hand. Then he can lead a trump to the dummy and cash the last two spades, discarding his diamond losers. South sails his ship triumphantly into port.

Think through the play when the dummy comes down, not later.

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