After some aggressive bidding from almost everybody at the table, West led a top spade against five clubs and shifted to a heart. When East won and returned the suit, South saw that it would be suicidal to try for a heart ruff in dummy, since West was all but certain to ruff in ahead of dummy. So declarer banged down the club ace-king and breathed a sigh of relief when the suit split.

Since his heart seven was surely going to be a menace against East, declarer could see that both opponents were going to be squeezed dry on the run of the trumps. West was in sole possession of the spade guard, so who would be able to hold onto the diamond guard?

On the last club, everyone came down to three cards. West had to keep the spade ace and reduced himself to two diamonds. When dummy let go of the spade queen from the board, East came under the gun. He had to allow declarer his game-going trick by unguarding one of the red suits.

Hard as it may seem, West could have attacked the entry to the double menace by shifting to diamonds at trick two, or East could have broken up the timing for the squeeze by ducking the first heart.

I suppose East might have figured out that even if South had four hearts, the heart losers were going nowhere. And if declarer held the diamond ace-queen, they would have to be doubleton. So, ducking the first heart must be right, hard as that might seem.

This hand came along at the 2017 Vanderbilt Trophy in the North American Spring Nationals; at the wheel was Jan Jansma of the Netherlands.

West opened the bidding light, then compounded his felony with a support double to show three hearts. This didn’t keep North-South from reaching the spade game, though, after North made an unassuming cue-bid. South suggested no-trump initially, then despite his partner’s retreat to three spades, he awarded himself a fourth spade.

It is difficult to consider any lead other than a top diamond from West’s hand, and it was the king that was tabled. West switched to his singleton trump at trick two, but it came too late. Jansma won with dummy’s ace, finessed the heart queen successfully, cashed the heart ace and ruffed a third heart low in dummy.

Then, planning to ruff his last heart in dummy, declarer played a low club toward his queen. Divining declarer’s intentions, East rose with the ace and played another trump. This served to give declarer a 10th trick, but it was not immediately clear how South could make use of it, given the club blockage and the lack of a side-suit entry to dummy. However, South drew the rest of East’s trumps and cashed his own club queen. He then exited with his last heart. East won with the king, but with no diamonds remaining, he was forced to resurrect dummy’s club king for the game-going trick. East had been used as a stepping-stone to reach dummy’s stranded winner.

In today’s deal, West’s weak jump overcall only served to help declarer place the cards. Having found out his side had all the keycards, North asked for the trump queen. South knew his partner was interested in a grand slam, so with the queen and a source of tricks, South needed no further encouragement to go for the big prize.

West, unwilling to risk a pointed-suit attack, led a safe trump, ducked in dummy. When East showed out, South could count only 11 tricks. One line might have been to ruff clubs in dummy. However, the combination of West’s overcall plus his known trump length marked him with a minimum of 10 red cards, and therefore no more than three in the black suits.

Still, the corollary to West having these red-suit cards meant that East had an equivalent number of black-suit cards, which might render him ripe for a squeeze. South saw that he could generate one extra trick from a dummy reversal. He won the trump lead with the ace, cashed the heart queen and led a spade to the ace (West following suit, to declarer’s relief), then trumped a spade with the jack. A diamond to the ace was followed by another spade, this time ruffed with the 10. Declarer next led his last trump, the seven, and overtook it with the eight.

The heart king pulled West’s last trump, and East was squeezed. That player could not retain four clubs and two spades. Rather than watch East squirm, South showed him his hand, and East conceded defeat.

In olden days, South would bid a forcing two-no-trump call in response to one heart. These days, this call tends to be reserved for forcing heart raises; South should instead introduce his diamonds.

North then has a rebid problem. I wouldn’t want to bid two no-trump with three small clubs, and I prefer to raise diamonds only with four trumps or some extras, though a three-card raise in an unbalanced hand is possible. Here, repeating the hearts looks best.

Against three no-trump, West leads the spade jack, and declarer sees he has just six top winners. His extra tricks will be from a red suit, and diamonds seem like the most promising direction. While the hand is likely to present no special problem, South must still keep his eye on the ball.

South wins the first spade in his hand, but he must not advance the diamond queen. Instead, at trick two, South leads a low diamond toward dummy’s ace, then plays a diamond to his queen. If the suit breaks 3-2, his problems are over. When West shows out, declarer must go back to dummy to make another diamond play. He cannot afford to take the heart finesse; if it lost, a spade back might doom him.

Instead, he leads a low heart from his hand to dummy’s ace and plays a third diamond. East returns the spade queen to dummy’s king, and declarer will cash out his nine tricks. Note that the 4-1 diamond break means declarer will go down if he leads the diamond queen at trick two.

This deal from last year’s World Youth Teams in China was originally reported by its victim, Australian junior Matt Smith.

North played the hand in three no-trump successfully at 16 of the 18 tables. After a friendly spade or club lead, the contract came home almost every time. But Maxim Chodacki was declarer as South against Australia on an auction where North’s one-club call had temporarily silenced East, whereupon the jump to two diamonds was natural and game forcing, keeping East out of the auction altogether.

Jamie Thompson led a safe low heart to the jack and queen. Declarer advanced the spade six and let it run to East’s queen. Back came a heart, and declarer won in dummy to lead a diamond to the queen and ace. Declarer now cashed a second top diamond, then crossed to the heart ace and advanced the spade 10. When Matt Smith ducked this, declarer let it run!

Now declarer could cash his winners in the red suits, ending in dummy, to endplay East with the fourth round of spades for the game-going trick. Had East covered the second spade, declarer would simply have taken his diamonds, then set up his spade winner. East could temporarily escape the endplay by exiting with the fourth spade to dummy, but dummy would then advance the club king and eventually collect a club trick in the ending.

Technically, a low spade to the seven at trick two would have been safer, since West could have covered the six and set the game.

When Poland played England in the World Youth Teams last year, we could watch the match on Bridge Base Online, with David Bird providing the spoken commentary, then the written in the bulletin the next day.

After a strong club and positive response, the English had done well to reach six diamonds — the optimal contract. Many pairs had failed the test and played three no-trump. Would the Poles be able to match that feat? Indeed, they did — and more — on the auction shown.

North got to show a strong hand with his repeated spade calls. When the diamond fit came to light, Mateusz Sobczak drove to a grand slam after finding two aces opposite. Since declarer was dead minimum in high cards and shape, the contract required very careful play, but Piotr Marcinowski was up to the task.

He won the top heart lead in dummy and immediately played three top spades, throwing his club losers. When he continued with a fourth spade, it was disappointing that it was East who produced the jack. Declarer followed the odds when he ruffed with the diamond 10, and he was relieved that West could not over-ruff.

Declarer now played the heart ace, diamond ace and club ace, ruffing the club jack with the diamond nine. It remained only to draw trumps and claim the established long spade for his 13th trick. The grand slam may have been against the odds, but the bidding had been spirited, and the play had justified the optimism.

The Daily Bulletins at the World Youth Teams often rely on input not only from the players, but also from the coaches and captains of the teams. Today’s exhibit, from the France-Finland match, was reported by Kees Tammens and provided to him by Christophe Oursel, the French coach and a strong player in his own right.

The deal features a delightful coup executed by Aleksi Aalto of the Finland team. You would certainly consider it a candidate for the shortlist of Best Play by a Junior.

North was playing a weak no-trump, so his rebid showed a balanced 15-17. South showed invitational values and could hardly refuse his own invitation at his next turn.

When West led the club jack, declarer won with the club ace and continued with the diamond queen, taken by the ace. Next came the club queen to dummy’s king. Declarer disposed of one losing club on the diamond king and carried on with a low spade to the spade queen and ace. When West played the master club 10, North followed suit, and what was East to do? If he had ruffed in, the deal would have been over, since one of declarer’s losing hearts would have disappeared, and the other would have gone on the diamond jack.

But without hesitation, East pitched a heart. Now declarer had a tricky decision in the trump suit. He played a spade to the 10, and East made his trump trick after all, with a heart still to come, for down one.

In today’s deal from last year’s World Youth Teams, Ida Gronkvist of Sweden reached four hearts from the short side, rather than the easier three no-trump.

She won the spade lead and played a heart. When West won the ace, the contract turned out to be simple to make. If West played two more rounds of spades, declarer could ruff in the short hand; nothing else would threaten trump control.

Had both defenders ducked the first trump, a second round of trumps would have been fatal. West would win his ace and play two more rounds of spades, with East winning the next heart to lead another spade and wrest trump control from declarer.

Instead of continuing trumps, declarer would have had to play three rounds of clubs, then pitch a spade as West ruffed in. South would ruff a second spade in dummy and again need to refrain from leading a trump. Instead, declarer would take two top diamonds in hand and lead a fourth club to discard dummy’s small diamond. A further spade play by East after ruffing this trick could be ruffed in hand, and the diamond queen discarded.

The contract can only be set on an initial low diamond lead by West. He then ducks the first trump; East wins and returns a diamond. West then wins the next trump and leads the diamond 10, ruffing out dummy’s queen and setting up a diamond for himself. Finally, East shifts to a spade, dislodging declarer’s entry to the clubs after drawing trumps — and declarer is sunk.

When the World Youth Bridge Team Championships started exactly a year ago today in China, Phillip Alder pointed out that on the first board of each session, players often aren’t warmed up; while on the last they are in a hurry to dash out and score. But Giovanni Donati of Italy proved that he needed no wake-up call.

Against four hearts, West’s lead of the spade king went to the ace. Donati led the club nine to the jack and ace. When West shifted to the heart jack, South took that with his king and played a diamond to the seven and nine. Back came a spade, ruffed in dummy, and now declarer made the key play, leading dummy’s diamond king. When East covered, Donati ruffed, drew trumps and conceded a diamond to East’s jack to make his game.

Why did Donati find this play? Bridge at this level is played with screens bisecting the table, and on his side of the screen East had paused noticeably over four hearts. Clearly, he was thinking about making a penalty double. Since he did not have a trump stack, the only reason to justify that decision would be good diamonds.

Finally, did you notice that East could still have set the game, even after declarer’s excellent decision? The contract still would have gone down if East had not covered the diamond king with his ace. Then, if declarer had drawn trumps, he would have lost one club and three diamonds. Alternatively, if he tried to ruff another diamond in hand, West would have been able to over-ruff declarer.