Today’s hand, comes to me from Ed Freeman, and was originally played on BridgeBase.

West’s aggressive overcall might have led declarer to finding his way home in three no-trump. The two club overcall was part of a method called Suction, showing either long diamonds or both majors, at least 5-4 shape. North’s double was Stayman, the two diamond call suggested diamond tolerance, and the two heart bid showed the majors. Now North suggested a heart stopper, looking for a spade stopper from his partner, and South followed instructions and bid three no-trump.

The question posed was how to make three no-trump on a small spade lead to the ace. When East returned the spade nine, South covered, and West ducked. Now how was declarer to continue?

If declarer tries to cash out the diamonds, as he did at the table, he will be disappointed in the result. South can then take his club winners, but unless West does something foolish, declarer will take no more than eight tricks.

The best way to make the hand is to pitch a diamond from dummy at trick two, then exit with a spade at trick three. (Some small variations in the timing are possible). This is a classic suicide squeeze, in that if West cashes all his spades East succumbs to pressure in diamonds and clubs. If West shifts to a club or heart without cashing all the spades, declarer can simply set up the ninth trick in diamonds.

When South opens one no-trump, North should conclude that despite his weak majors, the practical game is the nine-trick one. With a singleton major, he would feel very differently.

After a low heart lead against three no-trump, South has five tricks from the majors. If East plays any heart but the king, South would have to win the trick, but when the king pops up, he can duck and win the next heart.

South needs four tricks from the minors; which suit should he go after first? Today, it would be fatal to go after clubs, since they can provide only three tricks. West would take the club ace and drive out South’s remaining heart honor, then would get in with the diamond ace to run the hearts.

The best chance is to lead a LOW diamond at trick three. This offers two chances. If East can win the ace, the suit may break three-three and provide four tricks all by itself.

The second chance is that West may have the diamond ace. If so, he must duck, or South can win four diamond tricks, even if the suit breaks four-two. When West plays low, South has stolen a diamond trick and can then switch to clubs for his nine tricks.

Note that if declarer plays East for ace-fourth of diamonds and crosses to the spade ace at trick three to lead a diamond toward his hand, an inspired East might fly up with the ace from his hypothetical ace-fourth. He could then return a heart, leaving the diamonds blocked.

I have to admit I might have duplicated East’s actions on today’s deal, and paid exactly the same penalty for an over-active imagination.

At the table East was outside the range for a strong no-trump. He opened one club, and South’s simple overcall in diamonds was passed back to him. You could argue he might have let well alone; West surely had to be weak, because he could not hold diamonds and a penalty double, given East’s diamond holding.

But East reopened with one heart anyway, letting South compete with an imaginative and aggressive jump to two spades, and now North rubbed it in by driving to the spade game.

West kicked off with the heart 10, and South played low from dummy, both on the first and second round of the suit. After ruffing low in hand, he drew two rounds of trump, relieved to see the suit break, and now felt confident from the bidding that East held the diamond king.

To keep West off play, he led out the diamond ace then the queen, and had achieved his objective. (Had he let West in, a third heart would have set up a heart winner for the defenders eventually).

East did his best to force declarer again by playing the heart ace, but declarer ruffed with his last trump, trumped a diamond in dummy to set up the suit, then played a club toward his king. East had to take his ace, or lose it, but that was the end of the defense.

When South opens one no-trump, North knows that his side has the values for game. While some would blast three no-trump and let the opponents find the killing lead, purists would prefer to describe their hand and let partner decide where to play. After a minor suit transfer, new suits at the three level should show shortness; with a long minor and four cards in a major, you would start with Stayman.

When West leads the spade three against three no-trump, South should duck the first two spades, hoping the suit will block. If so, East will have to shift, leaving the spade ace in dummy.

As it happens, East’s doubleton double honor means the suit does block, and East therefore shifts to the heart 10 at trick three. When South wins his heart ace it may look natural to cash his top diamonds; but it would be fatal today.

When declarer plays a third diamond, West would take his queen to play a third spade. Declarer would be cut off from the heart king, and would thus come up a trick short.

Equally, South cannot cash his heart king before he gives up the diamond trick. West would unblock his heart queen and the defense could then run the hearts.

The paradoxical solution is to play ace then a small diamond at trick five. South can subsequently get back to his own hand with the diamond king to cash the heart king. Then he can re-enter dummy with a black suit ace to run the rest of the diamonds.

When you open a major suit doubled on your left, your partner will often want to raise your major, both constructively and obstructively. Rather than raising with all hands with 3-9 points, you might choose to subvert a response of two clubs to show a maximum simple raise, while the direct raise is 4-6 HCP.

Using this gadget gets you to game here. But how will you play four spades when West leads the heart king? You must keep East out of the lead, for fear of a diamond shift. So duck the heart king lead, in case West could later cross to his partner’s heart jack or 10.

You win the next heart in dummy, and now have to tackle trumps. Today, if you play the suit from the top, East will be able to ruff in on the third round of clubs and find the killing shift to a diamond. To prevent this, it feels right to lead a spade to the 10 immediately. If trumps were originally 2-2, you will be able to set up clubs after drawing trump, as you have a late trump entry to the board.

Here, though, West can win with the jack, but can only exit with a club, which you will win in hand to run your trumps. In the five-card ending, dummy has two diamonds and K-Q-8 of clubs. To keep clubs guarded, West must pitch all his hearts and the diamond queen, coming down to the bare diamond ace. You switch tack now, discarding dummy’s small club, then give up a diamond to West and claim the rest.

Today’s deal sees you as South invite game at your second turn with a call of two no-trump, assuming the spades will take care of themselves. That gets you to three no-trump on a top heart lead. Plan the play.

I’m sure you saw the necessity to win trick one with the heart ace, to avoid the spade shift. Now it looks logical to go after diamonds.

There is a safety play in diamonds to ensure you do not lose a trick to jack-fourth of diamonds in either hand. By starting with a high honor from hand you can finesse against which ever opponent has the length. Well spotted: but is it the right play today? No indeed, because of the potential blockage in the suit. If you lead the ace then low to the king and try to run the diamond nine or 10, East should work out to cover, leaving you in the wrong hand to cash the fifth diamond.

Given the auction, East cannot have a void in diamonds and short hearts; would he not have acted over one club with such a hand? So you should ignore the safety play; instead, lead a low diamond to the king. When the 4-0 break comes to light you can advance the diamond 10 and finesse against East’s diamond jack. Nothing can stop you taking five diamond tricks for your contract.

Incidentally, if both opponents had followed to the diamond king, would you have remembered to unblock the diamond 10 and nine under the diamond ace and queen?

Today’s deal from last year’s spring nationals at Reno sees South toiling in two spades on a diamond lead from West. When East covers West’s diamond with the 10 to preserve the defenders’ communications, South must win the diamond king. What next?

At the table South decided to take his side winners before the rats got at them, and took the club queen and ace, then played a second diamond. East cashed his two diamonds, West discarding the heart five.

Now instead of exiting in trump (perhaps indicated, since declarer had not gone after spades himself) East played a heart, ducked to West’s king. West got out with a top club, and East ruffed in with the spade eight. South could over-ruff and lead the spade six, which West won to play the fourth club. When declarer ruffed again, he had taken five of the first nine tricks, and now had to guess West’s original shape to make his contract.

If West had begun with 4=3=2=4 shape, it would have been correct to lead ace and a second heart. West would have had to ruff his partner’s winner and lead into South’s tenace in trumps. But if East is down to two cards in each major, you must play the spade ace and another spade now. West will have to win and break hearts for you. Which is the better line?

Play for the latter position. West would have exited in hearts rather than lead the fourth club, if he had begun with a doubleton heart. That play would have assured him an additional trump trick.

The deals this week come from last year’s spring nationals at Reno. Bart Bramley reported this deal to the Daily Bulletin, where his opponent in the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams round-of-16 match had made a very thoughtful play.

Both tables had played in three diamonds, but in one room (where East had simply raised to two hearts) declarer misguessed the location of the club queen and went one down.

On the auction shown, Lew Stansby as East had shown 10-11 points or so by his cuebid raise, and Bramley led the spade jack to the queen, king and ace. Declarer, Poon Hua, played a heart next, and Bramley took his ace to cash the spade 10, and continued with the spade nine ruffed by South.

Instead of playing for a miracle in diamonds, declarer elected to lead out ace and another diamond, putting West on play. Technically West should play his partner for the queen-nine of clubs by leading a club, but declarer’s line had suggested this would not work, and that leading a club would solve a guess for him. So Bramley exited with a heart instead.

Declarer won dummy’s king, pitching a club, then trumped a heart in hand, and guessed extremely well to play a club to the king and lead dummy’s last heart. East pitched his spade, so declarer ruffed and exited to East with his last trump.

In the two-card ending East had to lead a club round to dummy’s jack, for declarer’s ninth trick.

Once at national tournaments there was only one serious event taking place at any one time. These days, secondary events generally run opposite the main tournament. These may for example, be for Seniors, or those with a limited number of masterpoints.

In Reno last spring when the final round of the Swiss Teams for those with fewer than 10,000 masterpoints began, there were three teams in contention for first place. Jerry Stamatov’s team finished second, thanks to this deal. For the record, after the artificial start to the auction, an exchange of natural calls followed by cuebidding had seen South reach the top spot.

Stamatov won the lead of the diamond 10 in hand, drew two rounds of trump to find the bad but not fatal news, then needed to reduce his spade holding in hand to play for a trump coup.

He played ace, king and a third club, ruffed as East followed suit. A diamond to the ace, and a diamond ruff saw East pitch a heart. Now came the heart king and a heart to the ace, and when East followed suit declarer was home in the three-card ending.

On the lead of the diamond jack, if East ruffed, Stamatov would over-ruff, draw the last trump and claim. If East discarded, declarer would pitch his heart, then lead a plain card from dummy, and East’s apparent trump trick would vanish.

In the other room they played seven no-trump down three, for a huge swing to Stamatov’s team.