Leonardo da Vinci said, "A well-spent day brings happy sleep."

A well-played bridge deal brings happiness to declarer and his partner. (Of course, the opponents are not so joyful, wondering why declarer had to pick on them. Such is life at times.)

How should South make his side happy in this deal? He is in three no-trump and West leads his fourth-highest heart.

It was reasonable for North to use Stayman to try to find a 4-4 spade fit; although, with the singleton heart king, there was also a case for raising to three no-trump.

South starts with only four top tricks: one spade, two hearts and one club. Four tricks are available from diamonds, but another winner must come from somewhere, presumably spades.

It looks obvious to play on diamonds first, but it is fatal with this layout. East wins with his ace and returns a heart. West establishes his suit while he still has the spade king as an entry card.

Declarer must realize that he is happy to have West on lead, because he cannot play another heart without conceding a third trick in the suit. So it is correct to play a spade to the jack at trick two.

If the finesse wins, South can drive out the diamond ace and have nine tricks: two spades, two hearts, four diamonds and one club.

Here, though, the finesse loses. West cannot do better than to shift to clubs, but declarer takes the trick, cashes the spade ace, and plays on diamonds. The contract fails only if the defenders can cash three club tricks -- and if they can do that, the contract was unmakable.

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