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.

The final of the McConnell Cup was contested by the Baker and Smith teams, Baker eventually proving victorious by the comfortable margin of 66 IMPs. Lynn Baker, Karen McCallum and Sally Brock were defending the trophy from two years before — an impressive achievement.

This deal contributed to their triumph. Both tables reached four hearts, in each case after North had opened one club. After a diamond lead, Yvonne Wiseman, East, played three rounds of the suit, forcing dummy to ruff. Fiona Brown, the declarer, led a club from dummy, and Wiseman won her ace to exit in clubs. All now depended on how declarer would view the trumps. Brown deemed it unlikely that East, who had turned up with 11 points in the minor suits and had not taken a bid, would also have the heart queen. So she ruffed the club, led a trump to the 10 and was home with 10 tricks.

In the other room, Irina Levitina led the club nine. Kerri Sanborn won this and cashed the diamond king, Levitina encouraging to indicate she could not ruff a club. Sanborn then took a second top diamond and shifted to spades rather than tapping the dummy. Was Jessica Larsson naive to cash the heart ace and finesse against East?

If declarer had taken a second top spade and seen the fall of the spade queen, she would have been able to place the heart queen with West because East had not overcalled one no-trump. But Baker would pocket her 12 IMPs and move on without complaint.

In the quarterfinals of the 2018 McConnell Cup, this board was critical to the win for Nicola Smith’s team over a Polish squad.

In one room facing a strong no-trump, the Polish North had stopped in three clubs. But Smith drove her partner Yvonne Wiseman to five clubs, by showing clubs and short spades.

After a spade lead and top heart shift, there is a winning line that does not require you to guess clubs, as we shall see. However, Wiseman won the heart king and played the top clubs, then exited in clubs, letting West win and play back a top spade. Wiseman now ran all but one of the trumps, then played the king, ace and a third diamond, ruffing in dummy.

East’s last three cards included the diamond queen and either two hearts or the spade jack and one heart. West mistakenly pitched her heart, and declarer scored her last two tricks with the heart ace and 10.

West should have expected East to have encouraged hearts at trick two with the 10. Furthermore, declarer would surely have ruffed out spades for her 11th trick if she had begun with five.

In the open event, Jacek Kalita received the same lead and continuation, but won the heart ace. Then came a spade ruff, the club king, club ace and a second spade ruff. Now declarer cashed the diamond ace, took a third spade ruff, and followed with the diamond king and a diamond ruff. The trump exit endplayed West to lead a heart, and South had a brilliancy prize candidate.

All this week’s deals come from the 2018 McConnell Cup. In the round robin, Anna Gulevich and Tatiana Dikhnova defeated four spades here.

Declarer took the heart lead in dummy to try a club to the king and ace. She won the next heart and pitched her heart loser on the top club. A winning line now is to ruff out clubs, but declarer quite reasonably led a diamond to the king, ducked by East.

It might be best now to cross to the spade ace and lead a second diamond to the queen. When East wins, she will return a heart. Declarer ruffs in dummy, ruffs a diamond, ruffs a club, and ruffs dummy’s fourth diamond with the spade nine. This loses when (in the deal shown) the spade queen and 10 are switched, but is otherwise fairly safe.

At the table, though, declarer chose to cash both top spades before leading a second diamond. Now East could win and play her last spade, leaving dummy with two diamond losers for down one.

In the seniors event, Bart Bramley, West, and Kit Woolsey, East, also defended four spades on a heart lead. Declarer dislodged the club ace, and Bramley won and played a diamond to the king and ace, for a second heart back. Declarer won, took his discard, then crossed to the diamond queen to ruff a diamond. He then cashed the spade ace and went back to dummy with a heart ruff to ruff the fourth diamond. Bramley over-ruffed and led the fourth heart to promote Woolsey‘s spade 10 for down one.