Sometimes a simple statement of the result on a deal may not pique the reader’s curiosity. For example if you were told that South had failed in four hearts here, your first reaction might be that declarer had managed to surrender a trick where no possibility of loss existed. In fact the final result concealed a variety of good plays by both sides.

Against four hearts West did well to lead the diamond two; East won with his king and switched to the club two, which had all the hallmarks of a singleton. South, no slouch, worked out that if he tackled trump it would lead to immediate defeat. East would win with the trump ace, underlead his diamonds to put West in with the queen, and take a club ruff.

So South found a good counter. After winning the club switch, he played off the spade king, ace and 10, on which he threw his losing diamond from hand. This was a classic scissors coup, and East was forced to win the spade with the jack. With no hope now of putting his partner in to collect a club ruff, East led a fourth round of spades. The potential ruff and discard was useless to South, and he was forced to ruff high. He could not tackle trumps from dummy, so he had to lead out a top trump to East’s ace. Now a fifth round of spades meant West’s trump nine was promoted into a trick, and the contract had to fail by one trick.

When playing a good contract the onus is on you to work out what might possibly go wrong, then play to circumvent that misfortune in advance. If you find there are lies of the cards you cannot overcome, ignore them, and focus on what positions allow you to succeed.

Here for example your partner sensibly drives you to six notrump, although at teams one could certainly see some justification in looking for a minorsuit slam. (One possibility, for example, would be to bid five notrump to offer partner a choice of slams.)

Against the slam the heart 10 is led, so before playing to the first trick you place East with the heart ace. If so, can you see how the contract can always be made?

When you play low from dummy East has to withhold his ace or you can claim the rest. Once your heart king wins, you take four clubs and find that suit breaking 3-2. Do not commit yourself yet, but simply cash three spades, throwing a heart. Then take the diamond ace and king. If diamonds were 3-2 or West had the guarded diamond jack remaining, you could now claim your slam.

Your misguess in diamonds may seem fatal, but remember that everyone is reduced to three cards. East has had to bare the heart ace in order to keep the diamonds guarded. So a heart to dummy’s bare queen and East’s ace will see him forced to lead away from the diamond jack in the two-card ending, and give you the rest.

If East had known that it was only the spade 10 that stopped West from holding a complete Yarborough, he might not have bothered to open the bidding. As it was, South could locate all the key honor cards on the sight of dummy, and could then base his play of the hand around this.

When East opened one club South elected to double, feeling he was too strong for a direct jump to four hearts. (Slam was not impossible – give North the spade king rather than the club queen, for instance). When North could only respond one diamond, South terminated proceedings by leaping to four hearts.

West had no good reason to do anything but lead a club, which went to the king, and East returned a heart. South won, and drew the rest of the trump, discarding a club from dummy in the process. Then he cashed the two top diamonds in hand and continued with a third diamond, to East’s queen.

East was fixed. A spade return would have given declarer access to dummy and an overtrick, so he did his best by continuing with the club ace. South still had to be careful; if he had ruffed, he would still have been left with two spade losers. He passed the test by discarding a low spade from hand on the club ace. Down to black cards only, East was stuck, since a club would allow access to dummy’s queen for a second spade discard, and a spade would have cleared up that suit for South.

Today’s deal occurred in the Lady Milne Trophy (the British women’s home international series). Lizzie Godfrey of the English team took advantage of a defensive inaccuracy here.

After the Welsh East had stretched to open three clubs at unfavorable vulnerability, NorthSouth found their way to the normal game of four spades.

Godfrey won the club lead in dummy and played a spade to her king. West won the ace and continued with another club. Declarer ruffed in dummy, as East suggested an original seven-card holding, then played a spade to her eight and West’s 10. Yes, if declarer had decided to play for 4-1 trumps, a diamond would have been the right play now.

Can you see the danger of continuing with a third round of clubs, as the Welsh defender did? Declarer seized her chance: she ruffed in hand and cashed three rounds of diamonds. Then she played off the spade queen and exited with another spade. West had to win and exit with a heart, and now declarer could not go wrong.

That third round of clubs was the crucial defensive error. Had West exited with a diamond instead, she would have preserved her exit card at the critical moment. Declarer can wins the diamond and cashes her other top diamonds and the spade queen before exiting with a spade; now West would win and play the third round of clubs. Although declarer could ruff, she would not be able to avoid a heart loser eventually.

The combination of a two club opener and two no-trump rebid shows a balanced 22 to 24 points. North should happily raise to game without looking for more.

After a heart lead South must count his tricks before playing from dummy. He can reasonably expect to win two spades, two hearts, and one diamond. The simplest way to bring home the contract is to take four tricks in clubs. He must win the heart ace to preserve dummy’s entry; what now?

It might look normal to cash the club ace and queen and then enter dummy with the heart king in order to continue the clubs. This will produce all five club tricks if the suit breaks threethree. But it will produce only three club tricks if either opponent holds four clubs to the jack (or 10) since there is no re-entry to dummy after establishing the suit.

South can give himself an extra chance by cashing the club ace, then overtaking the queen with the dummy’s king. This will work if clubs are 3-3, although in this case South will take only four club tricks instead of five.

However, South’s extra chance lies in the fact that East’s initial club holding may have been the doubleton jack or 10, as in the diagram. If declarer has overtaken his queen he can now lead the club nine to force out the remaining high club. This way the rest of dummy’s clubs will be established, with the heart king as a sure entry.

The auction may look bucolic — essentially South drives to slam facing an opening bid. But it is admittedly difficult for declarer to judge exactly which cards his partner has, and gambling on slam seems reasonable. After all, it is unlikely to be worse than a finesse.

What would you lead with that West hand? Normally one should lead actively, but here surely declarer has the diamond king to bid like this. A trump seems sensible; it is unlikely to take a finesse for declarer that he cannot take himself. My second choice would be a club, my third choice the diamond ace. Now on a spade lead it is up to South to count the tricks. Six spades, three clubs two hearts and….?

There are three plausible ways to try for the twelfth trick, in that you could take either red suit finesse or you could try to ruff out the hearts and establish a long heart in dummy. Since you can try to ruff out hearts before risking a finesse, but not vice versa, let us try the following.

Win the trump in hand, play the heart ace and ruff a heart high. Now play a spade to the 10 — you did not waste that card at trick one did you? Ruff another heart high, noting that both opponents follow, then draw trump and cash dummy’s clubs and hearts. You can throw three of your diamonds on the long hearts and master club, losing just one diamond at the end.

In Chennai last year this deal helped Poland defeat Sweden in the Bermuda Bowl finals. In one room the Swedish West was doubled in three spades. He ruffed the diamond lead in dummy, to run the spade queen successfully. Then the heart three went round to North’s queen. A switch to the club jack ensured a penalty of 800.

To limit the damage, Frederick Wrang had to make three notrump here. He took East’s spade queen with the king and played the diamond nine. West put up the ace, and when East pitched a discouraging club, West switched to the heart seven, for the two, jack and ace.

Declarer played back the spade six, letting West win the ace to return the spade nine, declarer winning with the jack as East pitched the heart three. Now what?

At the table South cashed the top clubs, then ‘exited’ with the spade five. Not so fast… West astutely ducked the trick, to avoid being endplayed. When declarer tried the club 10, East won, cashed the heart king and exited with a club. Declarer had to surrender trick 13 for down one.

After taking the spade jack declarer needed first to play the club 10. East must duck or afford declarer an entry to dummy. So now declarer cashes a top club, then plays his last spade. Again West cannot afford to win, but declarer next plays a heart to the queen and king. He can later endplay East in hearts, forcing a club return into his tenace for the ninth trick.

In the Bermuda Bowl qualifying match between Australia and Poland the two declarers reached quite different contracts – and with differing results.

In one room, as North Nye Griffiths overcalled three spades over three hearts and Liam Milne drove him to slam. Griffiths won the club king lead with the ace and led a spade to his ace then took the diamond finesse. When the diamond queen scored he left the spade king in dummy, instead playing the diamond ace, pitching a club. Now he led a third diamond, ruffed and over-ruffed, and East had a club to cash for down one.

For Poland, Jacek Kalita passed over three hearts, and Michal Nowosadzki as South ended in five diamonds. Nowosadzki won the heart ace and led a diamond to the queen followed by two more rounds of diamonds. West won the third diamond and returned the club nine, overtaken by East with the 10, which Nowosadzki ducked — to rectify the count for a possible squeeze.

When East switched to the spade queen Nowosadzki accurately won the spade king and ran the diamonds, coming down to the bare spade ace and jackdoubleton of clubs in dummy, facing two low spades and the bare club ace in hand.

If East discarded a club, declarer would cash the club ace then cross to the spade to cash the club jack. He actually threw a spade, and declarer cashed the spade ace then came back to hand with a club to cash the small spade – a perfect criss-cross squeeze.

The Bermuda Bowl in Chennai last October saw a deal where only three declarers in four spades or three no-trump succeeded. Curiously, two of them came from the same country, Pakistan.

Four spades is virtually sure to fail – except on a club lead, since declarer will lose three fast tricks in the red suits and has a slow club loser. Three no-trump looks little better, but when Roshan Bokhari received a diamond lead, declarer ducked twice and won the third, leaving East with the master diamond. Then she cashed two spades ending in dummy and successfully ran the club queen. Once it held she ran the rest of the spades, to squeeze both opponents, who each had to keep two clubs in the four-card ending.

On the last spade East could not afford to discard her winning diamond or declarer would play on hearts and she would eventually find herself endplayed to lead clubs. She took what was probably her best shot to mislead declarer by pitching a club, hoping declarer would believe she still had the guarded club king left. But declarer led a club to her ace, and cashed a club winner for her ninth trick.

The other successful declarers had an easier task. After the same start, one East came down to the bare heart king together with his diamond winner, and was endplayed to lead clubs into dummy’s tenace, when declarer exited with a heart. The other East made declarer’s task even simpler when he covered the first club, exposing his partner’s 10 to a finesse.