Answers to the hands from my column of September 1.Hand 1NORTHS-K2H-KJ97543D-KC-J103WESTS-10987H-A6D-987652C-2BiddingSOUTH WEST NORTH EAST1-C2-S Pass 3-H Pass3-S Pass 4-S (All Pass)South’s 2 Spade bid is an intermediate jump showing at least a good 6 card suit + general values of a sound opening bid.You lead your singleton club. East wins the Queen and continues with the Ace, South following suit each time. Plan your defence.Most defensive problems should start with trying to learn from the bidding and play to this point a likely hand held by declarer. Having shown at least 6 Spades and 2 Clubs, there are, at best, only another 5 cards to consider. With the Diamond King in dummy, one of those cards is the Diamond Ace.Partner is going to continue with the Club King, and if South again follows suit this would leave only 2 hands with these 3 cards to worry about. 1 extra Spade 1 Heart 1 Diamond, and 1 extra Spade No Hearts 2 Diamonds. The Heart void is an awful thought, but you can really shine by discarding both the Heart 6 and then the Ace. Now a Heart from Partner assures you a trump trick and caters to both possibilities.Hand 2NORTHS-K53H-AKD-AC-10965432SOUTHS-AQJ1074H-J10987D-KQC ——You are in 6 Spades and receive the lead of the Club Ace. You ruff and play the Spade Ace, West shows out. How do you plan to counter this 4-0 trump break?Though you have only one possible Heart loser, having been forced at trick 1 you have serious entry problems. To draw trumps and then play the Heart Ace-King will leave you a tempo behind unless the Queen was to drop. To broach Hearts before clearing trumps is also dangerous.The 100 percent safe play is to shock your partner by getting rid of all the red honours. Draw all four trumps discarding the Diamond Ace on the 4th one. Now cash the Diamond King-Queen, discarding the Heart Ace-King. This leaves you in your hand to lose only to Heart Queen and still have a trump as a reentry.Hand 3NORTHS- 8 3H-K Q 8D-K J 10 7 6 2C-Q 9WESTS-A6H- J73D-A5C-K108532Bidding:SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST1-C 1-D 1-S2-NT Pass 3NT (All Pass)You lead the Ace and another Spade. East wins the King and continues with the 10.Plan your defence. (Missing from earlier South has played the Spade Jack-Queen).Without a semblance of an entry, East might have switched to Clubs rather than continuing with Spades. However the bidding marks South with both missing Aces, therefore it is very likely thatEast has the Diamond Queen. However this might well be doubleton. To guarantee it as an entry you must immediately get rid of your Ace like a hot potato as South wins the Spade Queen.