Winning a trick may look far-fetched but on the expected 4-3 split as above (62 per cent), you can set up and enjoy a fifth-round length winner. You’ll lose the first round; you’ll get over to dummy (that’s one entry) to ruff a second diamond; you’ll get over to dummy (that’s a second entry) to ruff a third diamond; you’ll get over to dummy (that’s a third entry) to ruff a fourth diamond. And you’ll need a fourth dummy entry to enjoy the fifth diamond.

The number of entries required to set up a suit is equal to the number of ruffs plus one (to get back at the end). Take this side-suit in a trump contract: You don’t know how the six opposing clubs will split. You’ll naturally hope for a 3-3 split but a missing even number of cards does not usually split evenly (3-3 is just 36 per cent). You can hypothesise.

If you have four dummy entries, you can set up clubs if they split 4-2 (lose a club; three club ruffs; back at the end to enjoy two long cards). If you have three dummy entries, you’ll need clubs to split 3-3. If you have just two dummy entries, I’m afraid you can forget about setting up dummy’s clubs for the lack of entries. I hope there’s a Plan B.