You’ve got to love those 5-4 trump fits.  They are so good that usual hand evaluation rules do not give them sufficient credit.  But that’s for another day; today we’re concerned about making a game contract in four spades, missing the trump Queen and a few other key cards.

Here you are, playing South in four spades:

NORTH (Dummy)   
S) 10 7 6 2
H) J 8 6 2
D) 4 3 2
C) Q 7

SOUTH (You)
S) A K J 8 4
H)
D) J 8 5
C) A K 4 3 2

You might wonder how you got to four spades with this anemic dummy.  Well, certainly you would open one spade.  In this instance your partner, being me, raised to 2 spades, and with this terrific 19-point hand you would opt for game.

West leads the heart King and you ruff.  Now what?  There are four spades out to the Queen.  If you want to finesse in spades, you could get to dummy with the club Queen.  First though you should play the spade Ace just in case the Queen were a singleton.  However, if you lose the finesse, the defense will immediately take three diamond tricks to set you.

Certainly there is a better way and you know what it is.  Play the Ace and King of trump immediately.  With a little luck the Queen falls and you take 12 tricks by establishing clubs and  discarding diamond losers in the dummy.  Even when the Queen does not fall, you can discard a diamond on the 3rd club to make the contract (giving up two diamonds and the trump Queen).

PS:  In case you wonder about the headline “Better Than Gold”, it derives from the common expression that a 5-3 trump holding is a “golden fit”.