There are few things more aggravating at the bridge table than to be dealt a sequence on lead, and to find that leading from it is the only way to let through a contract. I don’t know about you, but when this happens to me it always feels as if The Great Shuffler is holding me up as an example to make fun of.

That was no doubt what West felt at the end of today’s deal. After South (playing four-card majors) had shown a minimum opener with no shortage, North drove to slam. West saw no reason to look beyond the spade jack for his opening lead. He must have felt more than a little uncomfortable when dummy went down, but when declarer won in dummy he breathed again, feeling relatively comfortable that his partner had the queen.

Declarer was able to turn the screws on him at once, though, by drawing trump ending in hand and leading a low spade, ducking West’s seven, and letting East win his now bare spade queen.

Had that player had a spade left to lead, the suit would have broken 3-3 and there would have been a home for South’s diamond loser. As it was, East had to play a minor suit, and his only chance was to lead a club, hoping that declarer had started with a doubleton. But declarer could win cheaply and discard dummy’s diamond loser on the club winner in due course.

If East unblocks his spade queen at trick one, declarer builds a discard from the spade eight for his contract.

In today’s deal North tries for a grand slam but signs off in six hearts when South cannot bid more than six diamonds over the five no-trump enquiry. (South would have done more with the diamond queen instead of the jack).

When West leads the club jack, South wins the ace and takes one top diamond. If no large diamond appears on his right or left, declarer might well simply draw all the trumps and play a second diamond to the jack. This line would succeed unless East had begun with a singleton diamond.

However, when the diamond 10 appears from East, South decides to take it at face value. He draws two rounds of trump ending in dummy, cashes two spades to pitch his club loser, then leads a diamond toward his own hand, while leaving one trump outstanding.

If East discards on the second diamond, South will win with the king, and give up a diamond. This leaves him in position to ruff a fourth diamond with dummy’s high trump.

However, since nothing can be gained by discarding, East ruffs the second round of diamonds and plays back a spade. South trumps, and can cash the diamond king, then ruff a diamond for his contract.

As an aside, maybe West could persuade you to go wrong if he started life with Q-10-9-3 by dropping the 10 on the first round? You might then draw all the trump before playing a second diamond, and be left with two diamond losers.

Today’s deal comes from Frank Stewart’s latest book, Keys to Winning Bridge. The proceeds of Frank’s book will be going towards local charities and I can wholeheartedly recommend it both for that reason, and also for its bridge content. Stewart’s deal features a relatively simple point of declarer play; see what you think. Against four hearts West leads the diamond jack. You might as well put up the queen – you never know. Plan the play when the queen is covered by the king.

The contract seems to be reasonably safe unless the spade ace is over the king. But if West has the spade ace (which he does), South needs to find West with the club king. If that should be the case, declarer can come to 10 tricks by way of four club tricks, five trumps and the diamond ace.

So far so good; however while the club finesse is necessary, you need to ensure that you cover all the bases. South may well need three entries to his hand for club finesses, hence he should not draw trump.

Best play is to lead a club to the 10 at trick two, and now you should take only the trump king and ace. Then, rather than draw the last trump, South repeats the finesse in clubs, comes back to the heart queen and takes a third finesse in clubs. He discards a spade loser on the master club, and will be able to play on spades for the overtrick.

Details of the book can be found at: https://www.baronbarclay.com/product/4075/intermediate

Hands up everyone who thought they recognized this deal as being recycled from the previous month? Well done if you thought the hand looks familiar – but there is a material change between the two deals. The heart and club aces have switched locations, and this has a significant impact on how to play three no-trump when West leads the spade 10 against three no-trump. South must decide whether to win or duck, and which suit to attack first.

The question of whether to win or duck is often a complex one when you have two high cards to knock out. With two entries missing in the same suit, you generally do best to duck if you are not afraid of any shift, as here.

This line of play will see you home if spades are four-four, since the defenders take only two tricks in each black suit, or if spades are 6-2 — unless the hand with long spades has both top clubs. The point is that when East takes the first club he has no spade to lead, and if West wins the first club, he no longer has an entry to his suit.

But what if, as here, spades are 5-3 and the club honors split, with West not holding a singleton honor? You still have a decent chance to succeed so long as you duck trick one and win the second spade. Then you cross to a top heart in dummy to lead a low club towards your hand. If East flies up with the king to clear spades, he deserves to beat you!

In today’s deal South declared four spades after deciding to exploit the vulnerability by pre-empting to the limit in third seat.

West kicked off with the heart king, and South ruffed and led the diamond 10 to the queen, hoping to muddy the waters in that suit. His maneuver was successful, because even though West played the diamond five on this trick, trying to show an even number of cards, East elected to play South for a singleton diamond. So he won his ace to return a club. South ducked, and when that forced West’s queen, declarer was home free, losing just one trump trick, to make 10 tricks.

Had declarer followed a less deceptive route in the diamond suit, East might have worked out that declarer actually had three diamonds and at least two clubs. In that case he might have found the killing defense at the point that he won the diamond ace. He should shift to the club 10, surrounding the nine in dummy. South must cover the 10 with the jack, and West wins and returns a club. Whatever declarer does, he cannot stop the defenders establishing a second fast winner in clubs. Declarer can draw two rounds of trump and play on diamonds, but West will ruff in and cash the club winner for down one.

This surrounding play in the club suit is often done when holding a top honor and the jack, with the 10 visible in dummy, but this is a parallel example and perhaps a little harder to spot.

Place your bets, gentle reader: will declarer prevail or can the defense defeat South’s four heart contract, North having opened the bidding then rebid two no-trump to show a balanced 18-19?

When West led the spade jack, North’s queen lost to the king, and East returned the diamond 10. Declarer won dummy’s queen and advanced the heart nine. East played low, West won with the ace and returned a diamond to the ace. Dummy’s last trump was led, on which East played the king, but that was the last trick for the defense.

East had missed his chance to defeat the game. He must play West to hold the trump ace, (or declarer must have four heart tricks and six plain winners). So East should steel himself to go up with the king on the first heart, then return his last diamond. Now when West wins the trump ace, he can return a diamond for East to ruff with his heart jack.

So is your money on the defenders? Not so fast: technically, declarer missed his opportunity at the opening lead. If he puts up the spade ace, then immediately plays a trump, he will make his contract.

However, on the lead of the spade jack, declarer has to compare the chances of the spade king being offside, as opposed to the chance that he can play hearts for two losers. This is a close calculation: declarer can see the chances that the defenders might have a ruff coming, but it is hard to reject a legitimate finesse, isn’t it?

At the Dyspeptics Club, East and West are used to defending against high-level contracts with South at the helm. They are aware that he will often fail to give his contract his best shot, but on this occasion it was East who missed his chance. All credit to South, though, for putting the opponents under pressure.

After West did his best to put a spoke in the opponents’ wheel, North offered his partner a chance to bid slam, and nothing could hold South back after that. In six spades South won the top heart lead, cashed the spade king, led a trump to the ace, and ruffed a heart. Then he cashed the three top diamonds, East discarding a heart, and ruffed the fourth diamond while East discarded a second heart.

Now after considerable thought South came to the right conclusion when he exited with a trump. East was reduced to four clubs only, and when he returned a low club, South played low, claiming the balance when West was forced to put up his queen.

East should have realized that his only chance to beat the hand was to find his partner with one of the king or queen of clubs. Whichever West has, there was no need to keep all four clubs. If East discards a small club on the fourth diamond, then he will be able to exit with a heart after winning the third trump. Now declarer would have had to guess to drop the doubleton club queen to make his slam – and there would have been no reason to do that.

In today’s deal when North raised to two spades at his first turn, South might have driven to four spades and received a diamond lead. Perhaps unwisely, he tried a three heart call (three diamonds might have been more accurate, since that is the suit South really wants help in). Now when North bid four spades, West led a low trump, avoiding giving away the contract with a diamond lead.

It might seem natural to draw trumps and try to guess diamonds, but declarer decided he would try and find out more about the hand before committing himself. So he played a club to the king at trick two. East won and shifted to hearts, letting West take his ace, cash his club queen and exit in trumps.

Now South won in hand, ruffed out the hearts, and trumped a club high. At this point South knew that West had started with exactly two clubs and three trumps; this left him with eight cards in the red suits. East had pitched clubs on the second and third trumps, and each defender had followed with small hearts on the third round.

Since East had shifted to a low heart at trick three, the odds were that each defender had one of the jack and 10, so that suggested hearts were originally 4-4, and therefore West had begun with four of the missing six diamonds.

So declarer cashed the diamond ace and successfully finessed West for the diamond queen.

This month I am delighted to be able to run deals from Frank Stewart’s new book. Keys to Winning Bridge is not only a book with tips that will help players at all levels, it is also a book with a social conscience, since Frank devotes all the income from the book to his local Fayette charities. For details of the book and other of his works, go to http://www.bridgeworld.com/indexphp.php?page=/pages/bookstore/authorgallerypages/authorgallerypage_251.html.

This is a declarer play problem from the book. As Stewart says, correct timing requires an ability to visualize and manipulate a card array; it requires foresight acquired through practice.

Against three no-trump West leads a low heart, and declarer puts up dummy’s jack, winning the trick. I’m willing to bet the majority of declarers would take a diamond finesse next. If they do so, West will win and lead a club, putting South to a nasty guess, since now South has only eight top tricks. He can make his game if the club finesse works or if spades break 3-3, but he must decide which play to try.

For example, in the diagramed position declarer must play on spades. But switch the club king and spade five, for instance. Now if South rejects the club finesse, West can pitch hearts and keep enough clubs to set the game.

After South wins the first trick, he should take his three high spades. Should the suit break 4-2, South would know he needed the club finesse if the diamond finesse didn’t work.