Routines are important for a toddler. Unfortunately, my daughter June has a different opinion than her parents about how some routines should go.

Parent's version of June's morning: wake up, brush teeth, get dressed, breakfast, do hair, off to daycare. 

June's version of the morning: playtime in crib, doggy cuddles, throw toothbrush at doggy, take off pajama pants, half of breakfast, demand new breakfast, take off pajama top, demand rest of breakfast, put on shirt, more playtime...

It's no wonder she sometimes winds up at daycare missing one sock. 

When we do things in the wrong order, it's much harder to get the desired result. 

In bridge, the order in which we play our suits can determine whether we end up successful or not.  

Take a look at this deal: 

AUCTION

This auction is automatic. South should open 2NT with 20 balanced points. North should jump to 6NT with 14 HCP. No need to waste time with Conventional ace-ask used after notrump Gerber which might give the opponents crucial information to aid in the defense.

PLAY

Declarer's first order of business is to count quick winners. As declarer, we can take three spades, two hearts, one diamond and three clubs. That brings us up to 9 tricks and we need three more.

Do not allow this intrusive thought: "How did we get so high?" That's a distraction (like a nearby doggy) that will prevent us from being able to plan carefully.

We can get an extra trick in hearts, an extra trick in clubs and potentially two extra tricks in diamonds. Which should we do first? Generally we want to go for the suit that has the most potential for extra tricks--diamonds.

Players see the ace and queen and jack of diamonds and think "finesse". Leading out the Q is wrong, though. If you lead the Queen and East has the King, it will get covered, and you will need the suit to be 3-3. If you lead the Q and West has the King, the finesse will lose and you will need the suit to be 3-3. The right way to play this diamond suit is to lay down the ace and lead up towards the QJ. Now you can take three tricks any time West has the King OR if the suit is 3-3. 

After playing ace and low towards the QJ, if West plays low, play the J. If it wins, return to hand to repeat the play. If you happen to play against an East who plays low from K109x the first time and then wins two tricks when you repeat low towards the Q, I recommend you find an easier competition (and congratulate the opponent for an excellent duck!). 

If the diamond play does generate two tricks either with the K with West or 3-3 diamonds, then you need EITHER clubs 3-3 OR the heart finesse in order to get to 12 tricks. Notice that we probably lost a trick already when one opponent took the diamond king. Should we play clubs or hearts?

It's important to play clubs next. If you try the heart finesse, you find out that you are not getting that 12th trick by losing a trick (your seond loser in a slam). If you try clubs, you will find out that the suit is not 3-3 without losing a trick and you can fall back on the heart finesse.

Why not play on clubs earlier if you can play the suit without losing a trick? The reason you should not try clubs before diamonds is that if clubs are not 3-3, you will generate an extra trick for an opponent which they may take when they get in with a diamond winner. 

Here's one possible layout:

Vul:None Dlr: S	QJ3  KJ5  QJ52  A72
10972  87  K1098 865		654  Q10963  73  J109
	AK8  A42  A64 KQ43

We needed a couple of things to work well, either: two tricks from diamonds and either a heart finesse or clubs 3-3, or, one trick from diamonds and both clubs and hearts to work. We need to test these suits in the correct order, though, or else we may go down when we could make.

On this layout, if you took the heart finesse 1st or 2nd, you will go down. I recommend you deal this hand out and try messing around with win conditions: make it so that the diamonds are 3-3 with king in either hand, clubs 4-2, and heart finesse winning. You'll see that playing it this way: diamonds, then clubs, then hearts, will work when any of the layouts allow you to make (there are some ways the East-West cards can be divided where you can not make under any circumstance). 

When planning your order of operations, there are many considerations. Which suits will generate the most tricks? Which tricks can be won without losing the lead? Which tricks might be generated for your opponents? No one said it would be easy, but planning out the order of attack is key to giving your side the best chance for success.