In tales of the Three Little Pigs we normally see two failures for every success, but every pig (or is it dog?) has its day. So in today’s deal we shall see one of the less rational lines rewarded.

Each of the three little pigs declared three no-trump on a low spade lead. The first little pig gave up a diamond at trick two, won the next spade and then tried to run the diamonds. This would have worked if diamonds broke three-two; when they did not, he needed a miracle in hearts, which did not happen.

The second little pig went to dummy with a high diamond and tried a heart finesse. When it worked, South could cross again to dummy with a high diamond to repeat the finesse. That generated two extra tricks for South. But even if the finesse had lost, South would still have come home had hearts been 3-3

By my calculations, the first little pig’s play is slightly better. However, when the cautious and calculating member of the trio emerged, it transpired that he had found an even better line. He won the first spade to give up a diamond, ducked the next spade, and won the third. When he cashed off the top diamonds, East was squeezed on the last winner. Whether he came down to three hearts or three clubs, declarer could discard from the other suit, then take a heart finesse, and set up an extra winner for himself in the appropriate suit.

A satisfying way to bring home the bacon.

North-South certainly had the values for slam in today’s deal, but the two flat hands and duplication of values in diamonds made the contract touch and go. When declarer played on his suits in the wrong order, he could not recover.

The bidding was over quickly. South opened with one no-trump and North used Stayman to investigate for a heart fit (though one could make the case for not looking for a fit, because of the balanced nature of his hand) then jumped to six no-trumps when he did not find one.

Let’s revert to the play of the slam. West led the diamond nine, and South won in hand, and tried a heart to the jack. When this lost, he now needed both major suits to break 3-3. Hearts did not behave, so down went the slam.

Declarer’s mistake was to play on hearts rather than spades. If you test spades and they don’t break 3-3, then hearts will need to supply four tricks, with the queen onside. There is the slight extra chance of a club-heart squeeze, so declarer ducks a spade and takes a heart finesse, then runs his winners and hopes for the best.

But if spades behave, then you only need three heart tricks, and you can afford a safety play in the suit. Instead of finessing, take the king and ace of hearts to pick up the doubleton queen offside. If no queen appears, a heart towards the jack brings the slam home if West started with the guarded queen, or the suit breaks 3-3.

One of the lessons we are all taught at our mother’s knee is to retain control of the trump suit. But there are some deals where we go out of our way to surrender trump control. Although these hands may be few and far between, they possess an unmistakable elegance. Let me show you one of them in today’s deal.

In today’s exhibit it might have worked better for South to double three hearts for take-out, when North would have passed it out and led a trump, holding West to seven tricks. But naturally South bid spades and North guessed to raise to game.

Against four spades West led the heart king and shifted to the diamond five. With both diamonds and spades lying so unfavorably you might think declarer would now have his work cut out.

Curiously, though, declarer has a roadmap of the lie of the hearts and can come to 10 tricks without a finesse. He wins the diamond ace, takes a heart ruff, then cashes the spade queen and leads a spade to the ace to take a second heart ruff. Now East is out of hearts, while South is out of trumps. Unperturbed, Declarer crosses to a top club and takes dummy’s remaining top spade, then presses on with clubs.

East might as well ruff in, after which he does best to lead away from his diamond queen. South wins his jack and reverts to clubs to establish his 10th trick one way or another.

When partner opens a strong no-trump, North should drive to game in hearts. Many partnerships use Texas Transfers, so that they can transfer at the four level to play, or to use Blackwood, or even in some case to show voids by bidding a new suit. Meanwhile, the two-level transfer lets you subsequently jump to game as a mild slam try, with a jump to four no-trump in this sequence being natural and quantitative.

Against four hearts a spade lead would give the defenders the upper hand, but West has no reason not to lead a diamond. South still has his work cut out for him though, even after this start. Take a minute to form a plan.

It looks natural to dispose of dummy’s losing spade, but declarer still has to make sure he holds his club losers to three. If he leads clubs, the opponents will return trumps at every turn. This will prevent South from ruffing a club in dummy, and he will lose all four clubs.

The solution is to set up dummy’s spades, since this can be done in such a way as to shut West out. So at trick four, declarer runs the spade jack to East, pitching a club from dummy. He wins the heart return in hand, and advances the spade 10 to pitch another club. When it holds, he tries the spade nine, and West covers. So South ruffs high in dummy, and now draws trump ending in hand to discard another club on the spade eight. He can then lead to the club king to try for the overtrick.

North has a hand slightly too strong for a direct raise of one heart. If not playing two over one, it looks better to bid diamonds, then raise hearts to invite game. If you play two over one, you can use the forcing no-trump planning to jump to three hearts next. Either way, you should reach four hearts, though North might briefly consider making a slam try en route to game. If a call of four diamonds shows a source of tricks, he is certainly worth it – consider that South might have the same hand with the diamond queen instead of the heart jack.

In four hearts on a spade lead South can see the danger of four top losers (three in clubs and one in spades). One possibility would be to take a diamond finesse — not a success as the cards lie, and not the right play in theory either. The correct line requires careful manipulation of the entries.

Best is to win the spade lead and play one top trump from hand. Then play the diamond ace and king, and ruff a diamond high. Lead a heart to the eight for another diamond ruff, then cross back to dummy to draw the last trump. Now the last diamond allows you to throw away a loser and you can take the club finesse for the overtrick. I hope you are pleased when it loses — that means that if you had mishandled the play, you would be down.

In today’s deal you win the opening spade lead in six hearts, to test trumps. The 3-0 break should not present a problem; the real issue is how to avoid the loss of a trick in each minor.

Life is easy if the club finesse succeeds. You can discard a club on the spade king and another on the third round of diamonds. How might you succeed with the club finesse wrong?

If you can sneak a diamond past the ace, you can discard your other diamond on the spade king. Indeed, if you lead a low diamond and the ace goes up, you will have two discards coming on the diamonds and one on the spade king. So you can discard all three potential club losers.

Which defender should be the intended victim of this maneuver, known as a Morton’s Fork? The lack of opposing bidding provides a clue. Assume the worst: West has the club king as well as a spade suit headed by the queen-jack. The opponents’ silence is entirely consistent with 5-5 spades.

If West had the diamond ace, club king and five spades he would surely have overcalled one spade. So draw trump ending in dummy (ensuring you leave the six as an entry) and lead a low diamond towards the jack. If East plays low, you win with the jack, cross to dummy with the heart six and throw your last diamond on the spade king.

If East takes his ace and switches to a club, take the ace, unblock the diamond jack and pitch your clubs on dummy’s three winners.

At the Dyspeptics Club there have been dark hints dropped that South might be practicing the dark arts. West has gone so far as to suggest exorcizing the stock of unused playing cards, since South appears to be able to direct every available ace and king into his own hand. Were it not for the fact that he does so little with them, his opponents would be even less happy with him.

As it is, though, he manages to floor more contracts than anyone else – helped no doubt by the fact that he seems to declare as many as the other players put together.

Today’s deal was no exception. Having managed to restrain himself from bidding the grand slam, he expansively claimed his honors at trick one, winning the ace and king of hearts, then cashing the club ace and king, and coming up short when East discarded. He tried ruffing a spade and leading a diamond towards his hand, but when East did not fall for the bait, he had to go down one. After North shook his head, South realized he might have missed the point of the deal. Can you see his mistake?

Win the heart eight at trick one, ruff a diamond, cross to the heart queen and ruff another diamond, then cash the club ace and king. Claim if they break, if not, ruff out the spades and lead the diamond king. When East covers, you pitch one of your club losers, and wait for the ruff/sluff, that lets you pitch your other club loser from hand.

North-South had done well to maneuver themselves out of three no-trump or five diamonds, but four spades was hardly a bed of roses.

At the table declarer won the first heart lead and led a diamond to the king. East ducked, won the second diamond, and had a real problem. Did his partner have a possible trump trick or four small spades? Eventually he gave his partner a diamond ruff (the correct defense, since if West had jack-fourth of spades and no club jack, he could revert to hearts and eventually build a second trump trick for himself). When West took the diamond ruff he also took his time before finding the best defense, a trump exit. Now declarer had eight top winners, but no way to take a heart ruff and draw trump or to set up clubs without losing two tricks in the process.

Declarer’s safest play was to duck the heart ace and let the defenders win the first trick. He needs to knock out the diamond ace while keeping hearts under control, and if the adverse trumps are split 4-2, a heart force of South’s hand would be embarrassing. The simplest plan is to invest a heart trick, letting North, the hand with the shorter trumps, take care of subsequent rounds of hearts, if need be. Then trumps can be drawn, if necessary in four rounds, and diamonds established. Four trumps, four diamonds, and two side aces would make the game without any need for heart ruffs or club finesses.

Consider in abstract how to play today’s diamond suit of J-9-8-6-3 facing A-K-4 to give yourself the best chance of four tricks? Best is to cash the ace, in case an honor falls, then cross back to the other hand in a second suit, and lead the nine, letting it run unless the next opponent shows out.

Now look at today’s deal, where South ended in six no-trump and West led the heart three. Declarer needed to generate two extra tricks from diamonds, so he played low from the table and won East’s queen with the king. A top diamond saw both opponents follow suit, but only now did declarer realize he was short of the entries to hand that he needed for the safety play in diamonds.

He was reduced to playing off the second top diamond, hoping for the suit to break. However, when East showed out, the contract was doomed.

Declarer had exactly the right idea, but had miscalculated the entries needed to the South hand. Try the effect of the heart jack from dummy at the first trick. Whether East can cover or not, declarer has ensured an extra entry to hand when he needs it.

He now cashes a top diamond, comes to hand with a heart, and leads the diamond nine. West plays low and, as planned, declarer follows low from dummy. If it loses, he can claim the balance. When the nine wins, he can cash dummy’s diamond winner, return to hand with the spade queen, and force out the diamond queen to claim 12 tricks.