When you are in a suit contract it’s usually best to count your losers before you play to trick one. Here is an example from yesterday. You are South in a contract of four spades. West leads the four of clubs, and you see this layout:
Counting your losers, you see one sure spade loser plus one possible loser each in clubs and diamonds. With no more than three losers, it looks like you will make your contract. But remember that overtricks are important in our pairs game.
How can you eliminate either a club loser or a diamond loser? One possible way is to play low and hope West has led from the king of clubs. But there is another way that is almost a sure thing, so don’t play too quickly to trick one. See if you can spot it before reading on.
Notice that you have the singleton ace of hearts in your hand. The king is in dummy. At trick two cash the ace of hearts. Go to dummy with the ace of diamonds. Cash the king of hearts, pitching that club loser! You will make five spades as long as LHO has at least two of the seven missing hearts.