The Dyspeptics Club players are all getting older, but apparently no wiser. However, South’s cards actually seem to be improving — which East described as being equivalent to the likelihood of a 100-year storm striking the bridge club every day. He also said that the only thing that was keeping him from bankruptcy or suicide was the knowledge that South would turn his gems into dross.

Today’s deal was just such an example when South picked up a hand that even he might have admitted was a trifle better than his usual. He reached six hearts on a typically unsubtle auction — though admittedly, it is not easy to bid the hand intelligently. He won the diamond opening lead and laid down the heart king, prepared to claim his contract, then sat back in his chair when the 4-0 trump break came to light.

Eventually, he coughed up the spade ace and continued with the jack, planning to pitch his club loser on the spade queen. Alas for his side, his plan was good but not foolproof. When West won his spade king and continued the suit, East ruffed in, and South was left with a club loser.

Cutting short South’s expostulations that he had genuinely been unlucky, North commented that chance favors the prepared mind. What did he mean?

Had South led the spade jack at trick three, he would have retained control of the spades. He could win the return and unblock spades, then draw trumps, finishing in North to take his discard in peace and quiet.

Most truisms possess a kernel of truth, but one would be unwise to put too much trust in them. That is certainly the case with the advice: “Eight ever, nine never.”

With eight cards between the two hands when you are missing the queen, it might usually be right to take the finesse; but not always. Similarly, with nine cards, you will, in abstract, play for the queen to drop. But circumstances alter cases — another cliché — as in today’s deal.

After North had made an intelligent raise of spades at his second turn, West led three rounds of diamonds against four spades. South ruffed away the queen, cashed the spade ace, then led a spade to the king, East showing out. Declarer now took his slight extra chance in hearts by cashing the ace to protect against the queen being singleton offside, but then could do no better than finesse the heart jack for down one.

That was admittedly slightly unlucky; however, South had missed out on a chance to break the rules. After ruffing the third round of diamonds, cashing the spade ace was fine. But declarer should next lead a heart to dummy, followed by both top clubs, ending in hand. Only now should South play a second round of trump.

If West plays low, declarer should insert the 10. If this loses to the doubleton queen in East, that player will be forced to lead a heart into dummy’s tenace, or give a ruff-sluff with a club. That would be trumped in dummy while South’s losing heart could be discarded.

In this three no-trump contract, it might seem that declarer will likely come to either eight or 10 tricks, depending on how the clubs behave, since the defenders will be able to set up and cash spades if they can get in twice more.

After winning the first or second spade, leading a club to the king will need that suit to break 3-3, which happens only slightly more than a third of the time. Better odds are to lead to the nine — that succeeds whenever West has the club 10.

But here, South knows from the bidding that East has all the missing honors, and he can exploit this fact to give East an insoluble problem. After winning the spade lead in hand, he leads a low diamond to dummy’s jack and advances the club nine.

If East rises with the ace (probably his best move in abstract), he establishes the clubs for declarer, as long as the latter holds the queen-jack. Even if South has only four clubs, three club tricks would see South home. Conversely, if East covers the nine with the 10, then South’s queen wins. Now declarer abandons clubs and knocks out the heart ace as his route to nine tricks.

The Morton’s Fork position is named after King Henry VII’s Lord Chancellor, John Morton. His novel approach to fundraising was based on the hospitality his potential victims offered him. Should the fare be uninspiring, his host must have salted some money away and must therefore be able to spare some for the king. If his host was generous, he clearly must be wealthy enough to pay his taxes.

Today’s deal came up in a recent Common Game duplicate, and while I don’t like South’s concealing his spades, the par contract was reached anyway.

As West, with a blind opening lead, I selected the club eight. Declarer won with dummy’s king and led a spade to the jack and king. Had the jack held, would leading a spade back to the nine have been the right way to go? I’m not sure, but in any event, after winning the spade king, I played a second club. South now cashed the diamond ace-queen, then took the two top spades. I discarded a heart, and declarer cashed all the winners, pitching his spade on the 13th diamond, then guessed the heart queen wrong for down one.

While alternative plays in spades would have generated three tricks, declarer’s line in that suit was perfectly reasonable. It certainly feels right to unblock the spade queen and diamond ace-queen in case the diamond jack or spade 10 falls doubleton, then to cash the remaining spade honor and run diamonds.

But as the last diamond is cashed, East is known to have started with no more than three hearts, West at least four. On purely mathematical grounds, declarer should play West for the heart queen; but there is more to it than that. Consider West’s blind Opening Lead: If West had the heart queen, he would always lead a club. But if he had four or more small hearts, might he not have led a heart instead of a club? So it is even more likely that he has the heart queen.

The basic arts of declarer play consist, as a friend of mine once said, of drawing trumps, taking finesses and cashing winners. But there is also a place for squeezeplay and other, more challenging arts. Today’s deal involves both simple and complex skills.

You reach six no-trump and receive the lead of the diamond 10, which you win in hand. Despite your combined 33 high-card points, slam is a fairly dicey affair, thanks to the duplication and wasted values in diamonds.

At trick two, you try a heart to the queen, hoping that it will lose to the ace. It does, and East returns a passive diamond. How should you plan the play from here on in?

No matter how you intend to manage the play outside clubs, you should plan on the club finesse working. You must win the second diamond in hand, cash the club ace — to protect against West having the singleton queen — and must then take the spade ace and queen, followed by the heart king and jack. At that point, you will cross to table with a diamond.

Next, you take the spade king, throwing a club from hand. If the spade jack has fallen, you cash the last spade winner and take the club finesse. If East has kept the spade jack, he must have reduced to two clubs. So now the clubs will produce four tricks, thanks to the club finesse.

Note that if East ducks the first two hearts, he will be caught in a triple squeeze and be forced to concede the overtrick!

When the two Chinese teams met at the Hua Yuan World Women’s Elite Bridge Tournament, the match featured eight world champions, six of whom had won the Venice Cup a few months previously.

Both Easts pre-empted here to three clubs, and both Norths reopened with three hearts, rejecting what would have been a sizeable penalty from three clubs doubled. Both Wests obediently led the singleton club, and when East guessed poorly by putting in the 10, it lost to declarer’s queen.

In the open room, one declarer advanced the diamond queen, holding the trick. She then cashed the top hearts to find the bad news. She could now have made her contract if she had played the ace and another diamond to endplay West into cashing out her red suits. After that, West would have had to lead a spade and concede the balance. Instead, though, she tried a spade to the queen and king. When West won and played another spade, the game went three down.

In our featured room, Wang Ping played a heart at the second trick. After two rounds of hearts, she played a diamond to her queen, won by West. (Ducking would have led to her being endplayed in that suit.)

Now West could not cash out her hearts without setting up declarer’s ninth winner, and a spade would give South the game-going trick with the queen. So, she exited with the diamond 10. Wang won with dummy’s ace, cashed the diamond eight, then exited in hearts. She eventually reached her hand with the spade queen for her ninth trick.

Against four spades, West led the club king to the ace. How would you plan the play? Declarer decided he needed the heart finesse to be working, so he played that suit at trick two. East hopped up with the ace, marking West with all the other critical high cards, and accurately shifted to a trump.

Since the spade queen surely had to be with West, South cashed the spade ace-king and the heart king before playing a spade to West’s queen (carefully pitching clubs from dummy on the spades).

Since a diamond would have been fatal as the cards lay, West exited passively with a top club. It might appear logical for South to ruff and run the trumps, but if he does, West will abandon clubs and come down to two diamonds and a heart winner. Now declarer can score no more than one of the last three tricks.

Instead, South discarded a diamond on the club queen. West could now do no better than exit with his last club. Declarer ruffed and ran the trumps, coming down to a two-card ending with the doubleton diamond queen in hand and the doubleton diamond ace and the heart 10 in dummy. West had still to discard from his master heart and doubleton diamond; whichever he let go, declarer would discard from the other suit in dummy, and take the last two tricks.

Had West played a top heart after winning the spade queen, South would have needed to discard a diamond to achieve the same ending — a curious symmetry.

At teams, South’s decision to bid game was influenced by his partner’s voluntary raise to three hearts, plus the expectation that relevant missing high cards were more likely than not to be onside, as East had opened the bidding. Still, it was an overbid, and it led to a fairly poor contract, but one that was not without play, given the favorable lie of the opponents’ cards. Against four hearts, West led the diamond 10. When East won with the ace, he had a choice of defenses, but only one winning move.

If East had unthinkingly returned a diamond, declarer might have found his way home. When South wins the diamond king, he next leads a spade. West must rise with the ace, and he can do no better than exit with a diamond. South ruffs, then leads a low heart to dummy’s eight or 10. East wins, but will be endplayed. Either a club or heart lets South reach dummy, allowing both finesses to be taken in one order or the other.

So, with that said, can you see the defense? Sitting East was my former partner Bob Hamman, who found the ingenious return of a spade, preserving diamonds as the suit in which the defense could exit at a later stage. West won with the ace and exited with a diamond to South’s bare king. Now, when declarer led a heart to the 10, Hamman won his queen and still had a safe diamond exit. South could ruff, but was stuck in hand and had no way to avoid losing at least one more trick.

Following a one-no-trump opening call, what do transfer breaks mean after a red-suit transfer? Some use the jump to three as a maximum with four trumps, and a call of two no-trump as three good trumps and a maximum. Additionally, though, new suits can be used to show a source of tricks (or a doubleton, if you prefer). Regardless, you’d expect South to play in four spades here.

After the diamond queen is led to the king and ace, the defenders have two choices, each producing an elegant winning line for declarer.

Say East continues with a second diamond. Then, when West wins and shifts to a spade, declarer draws trumps and plays the club king, a club to the ace and a third club. If East follows, declarer puts in the 10 and claims 10 tricks, because if West wins, he is endplayed to concede a ruff-sluff or to lead a heart into the tenace, and declarer can discard a heart from dummy on the master club. If East shows out on the third club, declarer takes the queen and leads a fourth club, discarding from dummy to endplay West again.

What if East shifts to a heart at trick two? Declarer takes the ace, draws trumps, ruffs out the clubs if necessary, then leads his second diamond from hand, to endplay West in a different way.

East’s best defense at trick two is to lead the diamond nine. If the 10 and eight were switched, East could retain the lead and exit in either hearts or clubs to have a chance to defeat the game.