Many people are familiar with the tactic of running a long suit to keep control. In my salad days I would have ducked a trump in the following hand. That is fine for teams but now I play a lot more matchpoints.After West leads the AKJ♥, the correct technique is to cash two trumps in the long-trump hand and run the diamonds when the suit does not break. I like to call this play the Everything-Is-Okay Block because I can afford to block this suit if everything is okay.
The next hand, from 'The Secrets of Expert Card Play', may be more supportive of my ducking play as it would gain against singleton Q♠ in the West hand. However, Tim Bourke of Australia is our hero and he chose a different line. West led a diamond and Bourke ruffed the second round. Avoiding the trap of playing to the K♠ and finessing in trumps, he crossed to the A♣ and finessed in trumps. He cashed the A♠, the Everything-Is-Okay Block, and when West showed out he was abled to switch to clubs. East could ruff when he likes but the K♠ remained as an entry to dummy's clubs.
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