Bridge: One looks better, but is it really?

South barrels into six hearts, and West leads a trump. What should declarer do?

When South responds one heart, North re-evaluates his hand, adding two points for his singleton. This makes his hand worth a game-invitation. South would then head for a slam. (Anyone who uses the Losing Trick Count will note that the North hand has only five losers: one spade, two hearts, one diamond and one club. That makes it worth a game-force. If North did evaluate that way, he should rebid four clubs, a splinter bid showing four-card heart support, a singleton or void in clubs, and at least game-going values.)

A trump lead usually means there will be a 3-2 split. Assuming so, South starts with three spades, four hearts, one diamond, two clubs, and a club ruff in the dummy. He needs one more trick, which might come from a 3-3 spade split or a second diamond trick.

Since playing diamonds requires guesswork (or, as here, is fatal), declarer should try spades first. So, he draws trumps and cashes the three top spades. When they split, he discards a diamond on the last spade.

If spades are 4-2 or worse, South should twice lead diamonds toward the dummy and hope he can guess which honor is held by West.