This deal, another from the 2018 National American Bridge Championships in Honolulu, presented an awkward declarer and defense problem.

Opposite a passed partner, West did not need to worry about missing a game with his heavy weak two. Because two diamonds escapes for down one, South was wise to balance; if his partner had passed, would East have balanced with two spades? I’m not sure, since I think that typically implies some diamond tolerance — but it would have been feeble for East to pass out two hearts. Be that as it may, North did not give East the chance to balance. Instead North’s optimistic raise to three hearts put his side into dangerous territory. West did not find the spade king lead, putting a low club on the table instead.

Declarer won in dummy to lead a low heart. East took the ace and knew his partner was likely to have a top spade and decent diamonds. The spade queen shift covered all bases. South had to duck, which he did, and now East shifted to diamonds, to the king, ace and four.

When West reverted to spades, declarer could win and draw trumps, then either set up a diamond to pitch his spade, or ruff a club and exit in spades, to throw East in and avoid losing a diamond.

Should West have found the winning defense? He must underlead in diamonds at trick five, thus retaining the diamond queen while scoring a second trick in the suit. East can ruff and exit in spades, and one way or another the defenders will score a fifth trick.

Gail Greenberg is one of the grandes dames of North American Bridge. She was one of the winners of the second- and third-ever Venice Cups in the mid-1970s and still plays bridge at the absolute top level more than 40 years later.

If she looked very happy during the National American Bridge Championships in Hawaii last year, it might have been because she was surrounded by family who came to Hawaii to mark a special birthday. She has three generations of multiple national and world champions in the family. Don’t bet against the next generation, either!

Greenberg always seems happy at the table, but her opponents do not always leave in such a good mood. Witness today’s deal, from the second qualifier in the Life Master Pairs.

Greenberg sat South and reached the no-trump game after opening one no-trump. Jeff Hand followed with a puppet Stayman sequence to shows his spades without revealing much about declarer’s hand.

On any lead but a club, the contract looks comfortable because diamonds can be established. After the club-two lead, though, declarer risks losing the spade ace and four tricks in the minors. How would you plan the play?

Greenberg saw she had a slim but legitimate chance. She won the club ace and led a spade to the jack and ace. Then she took the club return, unblocked the spade king, crossed to a top heart and led a low spade. When the queen appeared, the spade 10 was her ninth trick, for a 90% result.

Barry Rigal reported this deal from Hawaii. With just one deal to go in the board-a-match qualifying event, you need a win on the final board to reach average and earn a spot on the roster for the final. Can you do it?

Your teammates have collected 500 from four spades doubled, so if you do better, you are in. If the same, you face a tie-break. And if worse, you get to play the 10 a.m. pairs game – a fate worse than death.

West leads the heart king and shifts to a MUD diamond seven. Naturally, East cashes two diamonds then disappointedly reverts to hearts. You get to ruff, but then what?

After cashing the diamond king to pitch your heart, it seems natural to take the spade ace and continue with the jack. But if you do, East wins, forces you twice when in with the top trump, and collects 500.

Your best chance here may be to give up on any miracle in spades. East probably has both honors, anyway. Instead, after cashing the diamond king, exit with the spade jack!

If East wins and leads a red winner, you can survive. You ruff in dummy and cross to the club queen. Having saved a tempo, you can drive out the remaining top trump while retaining control, for minus 300.

East’s best defense was to win the spade queen and exit in clubs. Now you are locked in dummy and must concede the ruff and the master trump. This works whether you cash the diamond king before playing the spade jack or not.

Did you get a good night’s sleep?

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!”