This week, we will be focusing on subtle suit combinations. Knowing how to play certain suits in isolation is only half the battle, though. Being able to make the best play in the context of the whole hand is key.

South took a unilateral shot when he jumped to four hearts. West licked his lips and doubled, then led the spade queen. Declarer could see three likely top losers in trumps. In order to avoid a fourth, he needed some luck in hearts.

Hoping to prevent the defenders from scoring a spade ruff with a high trump, declarer crossed to hand with a diamond at trick two, after winning the spade ace. This was relatively safe because if diamonds were 3-1, the defense could probably arrange a ruff in their own time. Declarer next led the heart queen from hand. This gave him an extra chance in addition to 3-3 hearts — that of finding a defender with the doubleton nine. Any honor-doubleton holding without the nine would not help.

West took the first trump and continued spades. South ruffed and led the heart 10, crushing the nine. West pressed on with another spade; declarer ruffed and continued with the heart seven. West won and put a fourth spade on the table, but declarer ruffed again, cashed the heart eight, felling the six, then claimed the rest.

Ruffing a black suit to hand at trick two would have given West trump control, as declarer would have been forced to ruff four times.

A little learning is a dangerous thing, they say. Consider this deal from a knockout match, where the defense against four spades at both tables began in the same way: West cashed both top hearts and shifted to the club king, taken by the ace.

At the first table, declarer took the diamond ace, then led the trump nine to dummy’s 10 to play a diamond toward his hand, in case East wanted to ruff in from out of nowhere.

When East discarded a club, South won with the ace. After ruffing a diamond with the trump jack, declarer returned to hand with a trump to ruff a second diamond in dummy. When East discarded a heart, declarer could now make only his two remaining trumps — he had lost trump control when he ruffed a club back to hand.

At the other table, declarer also led a diamond to the ace at trick four. However, instead of playing a trump, declarer tried to cash the diamond king. East ruffed and played a club. Declarer ruffed this with the trump nine, then ruffed a diamond in dummy with the spade 10. Next, declarer returned to his hand via a low trump to the queen to ruff a diamond with the jack, thereby establishing two long diamond tricks.

Declarer still had a trump left with which to return to hand. He drew the remaining defensive trumps with the ace and king, then claimed the rest of the tricks. He had made four trumps, three diamonds, two diamond ruffs and the club ace for a total of 10 tricks.

After North’s no-trump rebid to show 12-14 high-card points, South forced to game with an artificial inquiry of two diamonds. When North admitted to three-card support for spades at his next turn, South jumped to four clubs to show shortness in that suit. After a cue-bid and Roman Key-card Blackwood, a small dose of optimism prompted South to jump to the slam in spades.

West led the diamond queen, and declarer wisely paused to form a plan. He saw that trumps would have to be 3-2 if he were to have any chance. He could generate a diamond ruff in dummy, but that would still leave him a trick short of his contract.

It was far from obvious, but the best hope for a 12th trick was to establish a trick in clubs. So, after winning the diamond king, declarer led the club queen. When this was covered with the king, declarer’s first instinct was to play the ace. But since he did not have the entries to ruff three clubs, he let the king hold.

When West exited with the diamond jack, declarer won his ace, then cashed the trump king and ace. After ruffing a low club in hand, declarer trumped his diamond loser in dummy. He then ruffed a second club in hand and got the good news of the 4-3 break. He drew West’s remaining trump, discarding a low heart from dummy, at which point he had eight tricks. The heart aceking brought the total to 10, with the club ace and the established club eight taking the last two tricks.

On today’s deal, South became declarer in a dicey spade slam after an enterprising, but revealing, pre-emptive overcall.

North opened one diamond, and East bid two hearts in an attempt to cramp the auction. When South bid two spades, North cue-bid three hearts before removing South’s three no-trump to four spades, showing a raise to game with extra values. South had a great deal in reserve and cue-bid five clubs, persuading his partner to bid the slam.

West obediently led the heart jack, taken in declarer’s hand. Protecting against a singleton spade ace on his right, South crossed to the club ace (safer than a diamond, which might have allowed the defenders a ruff) and led a spade off dummy. East went in with the ace and returned a heart, hoping his partner could ruff. Declarer threw a club from his hand and, after winning the heart king, decided it would be too committal to try for a club ruff, since he had so many other chances.

So he drew the remaining trumps, and when East followed to all three rounds, declarer could see that a diamond break or working club finesse was unlikely. He cashed the diamond king and ace, then ruffed a heart to confirm the count of that suit. Finally, South played off his last trump, and West was caught in a squeeze. Forced to keep his diamond guard, he let go of a club. Dummy pitched the diamond, and now declarer played a diamond to the queen. Since East was known to have a club and a heart left, South played a club to his king for his 12th trick.

Despite having four hearts on the side, South tried to exploit the vulnerability by opening three spades and was promptly raised to game. (Yes, three no-trump was a serious practical alternative for North.)

An aggressive lead is often called for against a pre-empt: Since it is unlikely that declarer has many high honors outside his own suit, the lead will rarely give him anything he cannot do for himself. This might have suggested a red-suit lead from West, specifically a heart. But West chose the safe lead of the club 10, giving declarer a reprieve. After throwing two diamonds on the top clubs and ruffing a club, declarer drew trumps, unwilling to give the defense a chance to score a heart ruff. He then played a diamond toward dummy’s king, hoping to steal a trick or build a discard.

East captured dummy’s diamond king with the ace and returned the suit. Declarer had to ruff and could delay the decision no more. He guessed to run the heart nine immediately and went down when the hand with the short spades had the heart 10. A winning approach would have been to run the heart jack first. Had he next led a heart to the queen, he would have come home.

But perhaps a better approach is to take the spade king, then the ace. When East turns up with three trumps, declarer can win the spade jack and lead a low heart from dummy. That allows for almost any distribution in which West has the heart 10 or, as in the actual deal, when East has honor-10 doubleton.

South has a textbook opening bid of one no-trump, and North promptly raises to game, giving nothing away. The opening low diamond lead sees South play low from dummy and capture the 10 with the king. If diamonds are 4-4, declarer can simply finesse in spades and be safe whether it wins or loses. But that six is a dangerously large spot, looking far more like fourth-highest from five than an original four-card suit.

So South decides he must make nine tricks without giving up the lead. While a successful finesse in spades would solve the problem, there is no need to rush into things: If the spade king is in the West hand, it will not run away. South can afford to try his other options first.

To begin with, South cashes the top clubs, ending in the North hand. If the clubs failed to break, South would be in position to cross to hand in hearts to lead the spade jack for a finesse. When the clubs do break, South takes his last club winner, pitching a heart from hand and hoping to encourage a defensive error. He then takes the top hearts, and when the queen falls, he has nine tricks. He leads the spade jack from hand (in case West wishes to cover) to dummy’s ace and cashes the good club and heart jack for a safe nine tricks.

If West believes in covering an honor with an honor in spades, South will make several overtricks. There is no harm in giving your opponents the chance to err.

Buoyed by his partner’s strong raise of spades, South thought as a passed hand he could afford to cue-bid five diamonds. North co-operated with five hearts, and South leapt to six spades.

The defenders led a club to East’s jack, then shifted to the heart queen, won in dummy. West threw two hearts as declarer drew trumps.

With clubs apparently 6-4, South knew East had room for only four red-suit cards. West surely had fewer than six hearts, since he had not pre-empted, so East had at most two diamonds in a 3=3=1=6 or 3=2=2=6 pattern.

Assuming West had not underled the club ace, East had very good clubs and had turned up with the heart queen, perhaps alongside the jack. What, then, did West have for his raise to three clubs?

South reasoned West was favored to hold the diamond queen, to give him any values at all. So, backing his judgment, South scorned the percentage play, a diamond to the jack, in favor of leading the diamond jack from hand. This way, he would take the necessary five diamond tricks if East had a singleton 10. He could return to hand with the diamond king for a further finesse, keeping dummy’s trump suit intact.

West ducked the diamond jack in case declarer had a two-way guess. But South had already committed himself, and let the jack run to bring home his slam.

Note: East’s honesty in winning trick one with the jack, not the ace, led to this result by allowing South to drawn the winning inferences.

All this week’s deals come from last year’s McConnell Cup. Here, teams gold- medalist Fiona Brown and women’s pairs winner Anne-Laure Huberschwiller both overcalled one no-trump over one spade, and each ended in three no-trump, but with different results.

After the spade-eight lead, Brown put up the jack and ducked the queen. Then came a diamond shift. Brown ducked to the jack, then ducked West’s diamond king and won the third round. She next led a club to dummy and took first the heart then the spade finesse. Finally, she knocked out the club queen, after which her hand was high.

Brown had correctly inferred that East must have the diamond length since West would have continued with a low diamond at trick three from a four-card holding, to avoid blocking the suit.

By contrast, Huberschwiller took the first spade, crossed to the club ace and cleared clubs. Now a top diamond shift from Irina Levitina as West set up the defense’s fifth winner, while East retained the spade king as an entry.

At trick one, declarer had to decide whom to play for long diamonds. Since West, the hand with short spades, was likely to have the length, that might have suggested knocking out the club entry first. But winning the first spade and playing a club to the ace gives declarer serious communication issues. All things considered, ducking the first trick looks right. Should it appear that West has the long diamonds, declarer can try to duck a club to East, now the safe hand.