On this deal from last year’s Blue Ribbon Pairs, Dan Jacob reached a delicate three no-trump after a sporting raise by his partner. Then the world-class defenders had a couple of chances to beat him, none of which was easy. See what you think.

West contemplated doubling the final contract but eventually passed and led the spade ace, shifting to the heart seven in response to East’s suit-preference spade 10. East was hoping his side could establish a third heart trick before declarer knocked out his partner’s spade king.

East took his heart king and might have contended that West’s failure to make a negative double suggested declarer had 1=4=3=5 shape. If so, only a club exit would avoid handing declarer a finesse. On East’s actual choice of the heart jack, South won his heart queen and cashed four clubs, ending in dummy.

Declarer then advanced the diamond 10, covered all around. Next came the last club winner, forcing East to pitch his spade. The heart 10 exit saw East cash two tricks, but he finally had to concede the last two tricks to the split diamond tenace.

If East had passively shifted to the club 10 at trick three, declarer would have been unable to play effectively on both red suits. He probably would have crossed to dummy in clubs to play a heart to the jack and queen. East could then throw a diamond on the last club to avoid the strip-squeeze, or pitch a spade and exit with a diamond honor at trick 11.

Even at the top level, bidding too much and daring your opponents to beat you may work out well. That was the case last year in Hawaii in the Blue Ribbon semifinals.

Using the favorable vulnerability and his four-card side suit as an excuse to pre-empt to the limit, South stretched to bid three spades over the one-heart opening. North might have been inclined to raise, but knowing his partner could have a wide variety of hands for the pre-empt opposite a passed hand, he remained silent for the moment. East protected with a double, and West bid four hearts. Only then did North come in with four spades, a questionable decision, tactically speaking. East doubled with his top tricks, and there they played.

West led the diamond four to the jack. East cashed the top two clubs and continued the suit. Declarer ruffed, cashed the spade ace and guessed correctly to run the spade jack, picking up the suit. With time on his side, he could draw trumps and knock out the diamonds, escaping for three down.

After the diamond lead, won by East, the best defense is not obvious, but I think he can work it out. He must cash the top clubs and underlead in hearts for a further diamond play.

The defense can now take the first six tricks. When East plays the diamond eight, West ruffs in with the spade nine to promote his own queen for four down. There is a big difference between plus 500 and plus 800 in a pairs game when your side can make 680, so this miss was costly.

The 2018 Hawaii Fall North American Bridge Championships were attended by many top players. Its main attraction is the Reisinger board-a-match, with Josef Blass’ team winning out in a close-fought contest.

This deal from the second final of the Blue Ribbon will appeal to those of you who like eccentric endings. East-West defeated three hearts on a spade ruff. Ah, but who got it? If you are a devotee of Sam Loyd puzzles, you might suspect that the answer is always the least likely suspect.

Against three hearts, Steve Robinson led the club queen, and Peter Boyd as East overtook to continue the suit. South ruffed and played out the diamond queen, Boyd winning to return the suit. When declarer played the spade ace and another spade, Robinson pitching his remaining diamond, Boyd won his spade queen before returning a diamond.

When South discarded, West could score his heart four and return a top club, Boyd having to pitch a diamond to keep the spades from being ruffed out. Declarer ruffed and led a spade, ruffed and over-ruffed.

At this point, declarer had a lock for his contract. Because West could be counted out at 1=3=3=6 distribution, trumps had to be breaking. He could have crossed to the heart jack, ruffed a spade high, drawn trumps and claimed.

Instead, declarer led a club and ruffed, Boyd discarding his last spade. Declarer could cash the heart ace, but at trick 12 he had to lead spades, and it was East who over-ruffed dummy’s heart six for the setting trick.

At the top level of bridge, there is no substitute for inspiration. On the deal that follows, from the quarterfinals of the 1995 Marlboro Bermuda Bowl, Joey Silver of Canada combined technique with gut reactions to produce a game swing.

Like everyone else, he reached four spades after East had preempted in hearts. When East overtook the lead of the heart jack with the queen, the natural thing for declarer to do seemed to be to win, lay down the spade king and play another spade, hoping to guess well! In the context of the auction, the odds are very close between playing for the drop or the finesse in spades, but nearly everyone played for the drop and went one down.

Silver found a significant psychological improvement on this line when he ducked the first trick, leaving East on play. He was hoping that East would reveal a little more about his sidesuit shape. For example, if East had shifted to a club, it would have been a fair bet that he had a singleton there, and thus not a singleton trump. Similarly, it might have been tempting for East to shift to a doubleton diamond, which also would have given Silver valuable information.

When East actually continued with a second heart, Silver inferred that he had at least three diamonds and at least two clubs. Thus, the spade finesse became the indicated play. He won the heart ace, cashed the spade king, and finessed the spade 10 to make his contract.

Sometimes, Destiny seems to produce a deal straight from the textbooks, albeit a very advanced manual in this case. In the North American Swiss Teams, this deal was played around the room and had the smell of a contrived hand about it, with the opponents’ cards cooperating completely.

After a light weak-two opening by West, Steve Levy of Las Vegas was virtually stampeded into bidding four spades on the South cards — not too unwillingly, until he saw the virtually useless dummy come down. Even though the North hand was one card away from a genuine Yarborough, Levy did his best to exploit such meager assets.

The defense led two rounds of hearts. Levy ruffed and played the spade jack out of his hand! That put East in a dilemma. If he ducked, it would allow declarer to play diamonds from his hand (retaining the diamond two) to establish the suit. If he took his queen, then whether he played another heart (which would be ruffed in dummy) or a plain suit, declarer would have just enough spades left to draw trumps and cross to dummy with his diamond two, to eventually play a club toward his king.

Instead, East took his spade queen and exited in trumps. Levy won in dummy, finessed in diamonds and drew trumps. Dummy’s diamond eight provided an entry to play up to the club king.

As North proudly pointed out, his hand had been good for two tricks, “but not quite enough to redouble, partner!”

Today’s South belonged to the “quick and dirty” school. He leapt straight to three no-trump over North’s one-club opening, challenging West to find the right lead. That player did not. His choice of the heart four ran to declarer’s queen, who now had six tricks on top.

South could see the danger, if he played on clubs, of losing the setting tricks in hearts, should West have long hearts and the diamond ace. So declarer guessed well to cross to the club ace and play a diamond to the jack. If West had won the queen, declarer would have ducked the next heart, won the third, crossed to the spade ace and led out high diamonds, making the tricks he needed from that suit on a normal break.

As it was, the diamond jack forced the ace. Now, after ducking the next heart to cut the defensive communications, declarer won the heart continuation, crossed to the spade ace and laid down the diamond king. Had everyone followed, declarer would have had to guess whether to press on with diamonds or revert to clubs. The diamond play looks best to me, since playing on clubs works only if West began with honor-third or a small doubleton in clubs.

But as it was, when West showed out on the diamond king, South changed tack and led a club to the nine, leaving communications open while trying to keep West off play. When East won the club queen and returned a spade, declarer went up with the king and claimed three more club tricks to land his game.

Terence Reese often asserted that two-suited overcalls on weak hands offer up a fielder’s choice to the opponents, who can either take a penalty when the hand is a misfit, or choose to declare with a blueprint of the distribution. That was certainly the case today when East wandered in over North’s forcing no-trump with less than zero excuse.

South did not exactly hold back when he freely rebid his hearts, and North was delighted to raise. West, not in on the joke, doubled the final contract, completing a revealing sequence.

Declarer took the club queen lead in dummy and assumed he was facing a 4-0 trump split. It was also good odds that the spade ace-queen were offside, so he set his sights on an endplay against West. He had to be careful, though, so as to not damage his chances should the spade queen be to his right.

He began by throwing a spade on the club king and ruffing a club low. He then crossed to the diamond king and returned to the diamond ace, West following all the way. South now led a low heart out of his hand. This had the effect of keeping dummy’s heart 10 as a potential menace for later on.

West went in with the heart jack and did his best when he shifted to a low spade. Declarer took the spade nine with the jack, then threw West back in with three more rounds of hearts. Down to nothing but spades, West had to lead into declarer’s spade tenace for a second time, conceding the doubled game.

When defensive prospects look bleak and it appears that the only chance of setting a contract lies with partner holding a specific card, you should normally put all your eggs in that particular basket. At pairs you may have to consider whether an unsuccessful defense may cost you overtricks, but at teams the equation is normally a simple one.

Today, when North took the transfer to four spades over four hearts, West decided his best chance to go plus was on defense. While the heart king would have been a reasonable opening salvo — allowing West to retain the lead and possibly play through a tenace in dummy — West actually led the heart two, playing third and fifth leads.

As it was, East won his heart ace, then decided dummy’s diamonds looked so daunting that he needed to cash the club ace before declarer’s clubs disappeared on the diamonds. Alas, that left only the diamond ace for declarer to lose, and the contract came home.

The return at trick two is indeed vital to the success or failure of the contract, and clubs is the right suit to attack. However, the right card to return is not the ace, but the 10 — playing partner for either a doubleton club and trump control, or the diamond ace and the club jack.

As long as West has a key control, he will be able to push another club through the moment he gets in. Now the defenders win the two club tricks they need to take the contract down.

In today’s deal, South was playing rubber bridge against an opponent to his left who had managed to get his back up on more than one occasion. So when the chance came up to needle him in return, he could not resist the opportunity.

South had opened a strong no-trump and jumped to three hearts over North’s transfer. This showed a reasonable hand with four hearts, and North naturally raised to game.

West’s lead of the club queen went to declarer’s ace. Declarer cashed the trump ace, played a trump to the king, and played a spade. East took his ace and returned a third trump (a diamond would have been no better).

Declarer won, cashed the spade queen, then played a club to hand and ruffed a spade. With trumps drawn and the black suits eliminated, declarer put his hand on the table and asked his opponent if he wanted him to state a line. When West aggressively asked him how he planned to cope with a bad diamond break, South had his answer ready.

“I’m sure you can see I have 10 tricks against any 3-2 diamond break, but a 4-1 break will also prove no problem. I will play a low diamond and follow small from my hand. If the suit is 4-1, then either the player with the singleton will win and give me a ruff-sluff. Or, alternatively, if the player with the four-card suit wins, the best he can do is return the suit, and I will run that lead around to an honor and play back the suit, holding my diamond losers to two.”