Here’s the club holding for you and partner:

NORTH (Partner)

♣️ 7 5 2

SOUTH (You)

♣️ A K J 4 3

Plainly, a finesse is in order. Do you take it immediately?

This just might come up in real life. South is dealing, with both sides vulnerable:

                          NORTH

                         ♠️ 7 5 4

                         ♥️ A 8 4 3

                         ♦️ K 5 3

                         ♣️ 8 4 3

WEST                                              EAST

♠️ K Q J 10 8                                ♠️ 3 2

♥️ K J 2                                         ♥️ 10 9 6 5

♦️Q 9 4 2                                      ♦️ 8 7 6

♣️ Q                                              ♣️ 9 7 6 5

                     SOUTH

                    ♠️ A 9 6

                   ♥️ Q 7

                   ♦️ A J 10

                   ♣️ A K J 10 2

The bidding proceeds as follows:

South    West    North         East

1♣️        1♠️   DBL         • Pass

3NT       All Pass

• Negative double showing a four-card heart suit and possibly support in diamonds

Opening lead: ♠️K

Declarer waits until the third spade lead before producing the ace. Now it’s simple: play a diamond to the ace and take the club finesse, right?

Wrong: West wins with the queen and cashes a fourth spade for the setting trick.

Here’s the lesson: cash a high club before finessing to maximize declarer’s chance of success in case there’s a singleton queen in the West hand. There is! Now declarer will cash five clubs, two diamonds, one heart and one spade to make the contract.

If the ♣️Q doesn’t appear, you can fall back on the finesse. Thanks to Chris Flory for teaching me this lesson.