Today’s deal comes from “The Language of Bridge” by Kit Woolsey. The author framed it as a defensive problem: I’m going to give you a slightly different take on the deal by asking you just to look at the East cards, not the West cards, as Woolsey posed.

After an abortive Stayman sequence, your partner leads a fourth-highest spade four. You win the spade jack as declarer plays the spade six. Under your spade queen, declarer plays the spade eight, partner the seven. What should you do, and why?

Clearly declarer started with precisely A-8-6 of spades, since he denied a four-card major. If your partner had started with ace-king-fifth of spades, he would have overtaken the queen and cashed out the spades.

Also, if he had wanted spades continued, he would have seized control by overtaking the second spade and leading a third spade. When he didn’t do this, he must have wanted to leave you on lead to do something else.

Since we know West began with K-10-7-4-2, he had three small spades to choose from at trick two. Playing the seven, the middle spade out of these three spots, should call for the middle suit, diamonds. Your partner must have three decent diamonds and be hoping you can lead the suit, and that you have the 10 or that declarer has only two diamonds.

If you shift to a diamond now, then when you get back on lead with the club king, another diamond play will give the defense five tricks.

Today’s deal saw a relatively experienced declarer missing his best chance in three no-trump. He ducked the opening diamond lead and won the next diamond in hand, then took a spade finesse and found that when East won and returned the suit, the defenders could get spades going before he could find a ninth trick.

Ducking the first diamond looks right, since there is no shift you fear. But next win the diamond king and lead a low heart from dummy, planning to duck if East follows low in unconcerned fashion. West will win his 10 and clear diamonds; you win in hand and cross to the heart ace to lead a heart toward your hand.

The advantage of playing on hearts before spades is that this line lets you fall back on the spade finesse as a last resort; the defenders surely cannot take more than two tricks in either red suit. However there are plenty of lies of the cards where an unsuccessful spade finesse will set up an extra winner for the defense, which prevents you from playing effectively on the red suits.

One of the most important strategies as declarer is to take your chances in the right order. If the spade finesse is working at the start of the hand, it will still be working at the end of the hand. But when you have to duck tricks in side suits in order to test them to maximum efficiency, you generally need to make those plays earlier rather than later.

Today’s deal comes from the second round of the 2017 Vanderbilt Trophy in Kansas City, Missouri, in which Johan Sylvan and Frederic Wrang faced Tor Helness and Geir Helgemo of Pierre Zimmermann’s squad.

Helgemo stretched to introduce his diamonds at his first turn to speak, making the overbid because he knew the opponents were about to up the ante in spades. A moment later, he found himself in five diamonds, against which West led the spade king, ruffed. Take a look at all four hands, and you will see that the defenders appear to have two diamond tricks and two club tricks. What could go wrong for them?

Declarer crossed to the heart queen, ruffed dummy’s remaining spade and cashed the heart ace-king. When both defenders followed, declarer played dummy’s diamond queen to East’s ace.

At this point, East was down to all black cards, so he exited with a spade — as good as anything. Helgemo ruffed in dummy and carefully cashed the ace and king of clubs before playing another trump. West was endplayed whether he ruffed in on the club king or not. When he won his diamond king, he had to concede a second ruff-sluff, and declarer ruffed in dummy again, pitching his last club loser.

This pretty line would only fail under one circumstance: If East had started with four hearts (giving West a 5=4=2=2 pattern), East could defeat the contract by playing the last heart when in with the trump ace, as West would then have been able to ruff with the diamond king and exit in clubs.

One of my regular correspondents published this deal from his first round loss in the 2017 Vanderbilt Trophy in Kansas City, Missouri. Both tables received the same lead against four spades. However, one team made the wrong play but recovered to take home the bacon, while the other team started well but ended up sleeping with the fishes.

After the heart king lead against four spades, both declarers won the heart ace, though ducking might be right. Both now played the spade queen-jack, ducked, to get the good-bad news. What next?

At one table, declarer played the club queen, and when West won to play the heart queen, the defense was now over. What would have been better? West must play the diamond queen instead of the heart queen. Declarer can win the diamond king to lead a heart, but West takes this and plays the diamond jack, allowing East to pitch his last heart. Curtains for declarer!

In the other room, South correctly played the heart nine after discovering the 4-1 trump split. West won and shifted to the diamond queen. How should declarer have played?

To avoid the killing defense seen in the other room, South should win the diamond king, lead a spade to the nine, ruff his last heart in dummy and lead a low club to the king. If this holds, declarer will draw trumps, so West takes his ace and forces South with a heart. Declarer ruffs, crosses to a club and leads a diamond toward his hand. East can score only his trump trick.

Today’s deal from Kansas City, Missouri, last year was initially reported by Daniel Korbel. Boye Brogeland on Richie Schwartz’s squad, partnering with Espen Lindqvist, was declarer, against John Diamond’s team.

Against five diamonds doubled, Kevin Bathurst led the fifth-highest spade two, to Justin Lall’s ace, ruffed. Brogeland unblocked the heart ace, crossed to the diamond king and ran the heart queen to East’s king, West and dummy both pitching spades.

After Lall returned a club — as good as anything, since declarer was planning to ruff a spade himself — Brogeland took his king and advanced the diamond jack, covered by the queen and ace.

Brogeland now paused to count the defenders’ hands. The combination of the play in spades and diamonds meant that West had started with precisely 5=1=4=3 pattern. Brogeland crossed to the club ace, ruffed a spade and cashed the club queen.

Though West had more trumps than either declarer or dummy, including the master 10, he had no answer when declarer played the heart jack. If West discarded, so would dummy, then South would continue playing top hearts. If West ruffed low, declarer would over-ruff in dummy and run clubs, holding West to one more trick. If West ruffed high and led a trump, dummy would be high.

That meant the Schwartz team had plus 550, for a 4-IMP gain, since five clubs had been bid and made at the other table. Had Brogeland not made his game, the Schwartz team would have lost the match.

On this deal from last spring’s Jacoby Open Swiss Teams in Kansas City, Missouri, Peter Boyd found a pretty line to bring home three no-trump after receiving some clues in the bidding and play. Boyd was partnering with Adam Wildavsky and received some clues from the auction.

West led the club king against three no-trump and continued with the club queen, as East discarded a discouraging diamond. Declarer ducked again, took the club jack at trick three as East pitched a spade and, guided by the auction, cashed the diamond ace. The welcome sight of the diamond king from West gave him eight top winners and also created the possibility of pressure against West later on. But for this to be relevant, West needed to have started with four hearts, so that dummy’s long heart could bring that pressure.

Boyd correctly continued by cashing his diamond winners as West was forced to disgorge a low spade and the club seven. Now Boyd played the fourth round of diamonds. East won the trick while declarer threw a low spade, but West was now caught in the toils. He chose to discard a second low spade, but when East exited with a heart, declarer won the king, cashed the heart ace-queen (pitching a club), then crossed to the spade ace, dropping West’s king.

East had followed suit throughout so was forced down to Q-8 of spades. Thus after a low spade to dummy’s jack, East could win his queen but then had to give declarer his game-going trick at the end in the form of the spade 10.

At the Spring Nationals in Kansas City, Missouri, last year, from where all this week’s deals come, Spike Lay produced an elegant play on this deal from the first final session of the Lebhar IMP Pairs, playing with Robert Dennard. After North-South had sacrificed over their opponents’ game, they discovered it was the best kind of sacrifice, a making one.

(Incidentally, you can certainly understand North looking for a sacrifice here; he knew his side must have a decent fit in one of the minors, and the fact that his partner had not doubled four hearts might have suggested that four hearts would come close to making.)

Against five clubs doubled, West led the spade king and shifted to the club three, won by dummy’s jack. Now came a diamond to the jack. Declarer cashed the club ace-king and the diamond ace, then played a diamond to the king and ruffed a diamond, leaving a five-card ending where he had four hearts and a trump in his hand, queen-third of spades, a winning diamond and a trump in dummy. Needing four of the last five tricks, Lay led out the heart queen. West was obliged to cover, and declarer pitched a spade from dummy.

Now West was left on lead and endplayed. Whether he led a spade or heart, he would have to give declarer the rest of the tricks. Most of the field had played four hearts, down one or two tricks, occasionally doubled, so making plus 550 was a very healthy result for North-South.

At the Spring Nationals in Kansas City, Missouri, last spring, Mel Colchamiro showed the bulletin this nice defense. It was found by longtime tournament director Mike Flader, who was playing with Barry Purrington.

On this deal from the second final session of the Baldwin North American Pairs, Flight A, Colchamiro was playing with Alex Ornstein. The South hand offers an insoluble problem when the opponents pre-empt. Colchamiro guessed to double, then bid what he thought he could make once his partner showed values.

There is certainly a reasonable case to be made for a trump lead against six clubs, but Flader dutifully led the heart jack. Colchamiro then inferred that if West had the spade ace, surely East would have the club queen. If West had both those cards, he would probably have led the spade ace. So Colchamiro decided to rely on the diamond break, or that the hand with short diamonds would have short clubs.

He won the heart ace, cashed the diamond ace-king, ruffed a heart and led the diamond queen, which was ruffed with the club queen and over-ruffed. Now Colchamiro took a second heart ruff, and in the seven-card ending he led the spade king from dummy, trying to force an entry back to his own hand. Had he been able to do so, he would have drawn trumps and claimed the rest.

However, Flader won his ace and led the diamond jack. Purrington ruffed his partner’s winner with the club nine, over-ruffed by declarer’s 10, and now Flader’s club seven was promoted to the setting trick!