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.

Since the world championship is taking place this week in China, we’ll be looking at last year’s event all week. Today’s deal is from the quarterfinals of the 2018 McConnell Cup.

When the Russian North-South climbed to the perilous contract of five hearts, it provided the Swedish East-West a fine chance for deception, which they duly took. (In the other room, their teammates Marion Michielsen and Meike Wortel had stopped safely in four hearts.)

West, Ida Groenkvist, started her campaign of deception by leading a diamond rather than the unbid suit, clubs. Had she led a club, declarer would have put in the jack, and the hand would have been over.

After the lead of the diamond six to the queen, king and ruff, Victoria Gromova, the declarer, led a low trump toward the jack — an interesting choice and as good as anything as the cards lay that day.

Groenkvist ducked, so declarer came back to hand with the club king and cashed the heart ace, dropping the 10. Next, she took a spade finesse, and Cecilia Rimstedt, East, ducked very smoothly. Declarer advanced the heart nine; West won and played back a club. Declarer rose with the ace, pitched her losing club on the diamond ace, then played the spade ace and another spade, expecting West to win, whereupon South would be able to claim the balance. But instead it was East who took the third spade, and she then gave her partner a spade ruff for down one. Very nicely done.

The McConnell Cup for women’s teams was held in Orlando last September. In the finals of that event, both Souths arrived in four spades.

In the open room, West took the heart nine in hand to try a small spade to the jack, which held the trick. When declarer led the spade king, East rose with the ace and pushed the club nine through. Declarer played small, and East continued the suit, forcing declarer to ruff in dummy. A small diamond to the queen in hand was followed by the trump queen, but declarer still had a trump and a club to lose, for one off.

In the closed room, the same contract was reached, and on the same lead, but on the auction shown here. Karen McCallum won with the king and played a trump to the king, which held. But now she played three rounds of diamonds, and though East could ruff the third round, declarer was in full control.

East switched to the club nine, covered by the king and won by West‘s ace. The club continuation was ruffed in dummy, and declarer continued with diamonds, leaving East no counter. When she ruffed in, declarer over-ruffed and trumped her club loser in dummy, losing just the trump ace.

McCallum reasoned that after West’s double and East’s twoheart bid, hearts appeared to be 4-4 and East had more hearts than clubs. If so, West had to have six clubs and thus probably a singleton spade. This produced a well-earned 10 IMPs to Team Baker, the eventual winners of the gold medal.

Today’s deal features an approach in which declarer takes his chances in the right order rather than putting all his eggs in one basket.

When South heard his partner transfer to spades, he had no reason to break the transfer, but at his third turn he could show a maximum hand with a source of tricks in his four-club call. Cue-bidding and Blackwood then got him to a slam that would have been excellent if West hadn’t hit upon the heart lead. How would you play it now?

This hand offers a simple choice of approaches. You can cash the spade ace, then take a finesse on the second round. This is an all-or-nothing play, but it will lead to 13 tricks if spades behave. Alternatively, you can cash the top spades and, if nothing nice happens, go after clubs, hoping to pitch your heart from dummy on the fourth club, regardless of whether West ruffs in.

Taking the spade finesse (as opposed to the combination chance) wins when West has four spades to the queen and precisely three clubs, or precisely three spades to the queen and fewer than three clubs. Those combined chances happen about one time in 10. By contrast, playing spades from the top, then relying on clubs, brings the contract home (while the other line would fail) whenever East has a doubleton spade queen or when he has three spades to the queen and three or more clubs. That happens almost one time in three. So, cashing the spade ace-king is a far superior line.