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North

	Q5
	2

Bidding

Hand #	200
Vul: EW	Dlr: E
Contract:	NONE
Lead:

West

	J10
	6

East

	874

South

	AK6

In all the hands provided in this series, South is playing the hand, and is called declarer.  Since South is the declarer, North's hand is called the dummy and, after the bidding is completed and the opening lead is made from West, North's cards are placed, face up, on the table for all four players to see.
We will start these hands by describing some interesting things involved in what you need to get proficient at; taking tricks.
The purpose of this article is to illustrate an important feature of good play related to winning tricks when you have the highest cards in a suit. 
You might think that if the cards in your suit are the highest, what could be the problem; just play them, right? For example, suppose you have the AKQ of a suit divided between your hand and partner's hand. How could you fail to take three tricks if you are on lead in a contract where there is no trump, called a notrump contract? As you continue reading this article, you will see that the order in which the cards are played can be extremely important.
No bidding is involved in this illustration, just play of the cards.  For this example, assume that all cards in each hand have been played except for the last three. 
South has the lead at the start of the last three tricks.  
Question: Since the trick taking capability of the three high cards is the same in the spade suits of the North-South hands, does it matter which spade is selected by South to be played for the next trick?

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