In response to a minor-suit opener there is no unanimity as to the meaning of responder’s jump to two or three no-trump. Many play the jump to two notrump as invitational, so that North can pass with a minimum opening bid. So here South jumps to three no-trump to suggest a balanced minimum game force, tending to deny a biddable four-card major. That ends the auction.

After the lead of the spade 10 (top of a sequence, not denying a higher honor such as the ace, king, or queen) South captures East’s queen with his king and must develop the diamonds to make his game. But he can see that he needs to do so without allowing East to gain the lead for a potentially fatal second round of spades. If East is allowed to lead a spade through declarer’s jack, West may be able to run the spade suit on defense and defeat the contract.

The solution is very simple – once you see the problem. South crosses to the heart jack and leads the diamond 10 from dummy, planning to duck this around to West. If East covers, South captures the queen with his king, goes back to the heart king, then leads a diamond to his seven. He does not care if West wins the trick, since he is in no danger if it is West who leads the second spade for the defense.

This line of play ensures South can run the diamonds without letting West in, and thus make overtricks in his game.

How should East defend against four spades, when partner leads the club king to trick one? At the table East played low at trick one, and West continued with the club ace.

Now, not wishing to open up either red suit, West switched to a trump. Declarer still doesn’t seem to have a 10th trick, since diamonds do not break and the heart ace is offside.

However, many-time world senior champion John Holland won the spade ace at trick three, and without testing the diamonds he ran all the trump, discarding hearts from dummy.

He reduced to a five-card ending where dummy had the bare heart king and four diamonds, while he had two hearts and three diamonds in hand. What was East to discard on the last trump? A diamond would give declarer four tricks in that suit, while if East reduced to the bare heart ace it would allow declarer to establish the heart nine for his 10th trick.

West certainly had an awkward problem at trick three. His best chance to beat four spades is to find East with two tricks in a red suit, or perhaps one red ace and a trump trick (in which case nothing matters). I would have switched, though probably to switch to a diamond than a heart.

However as East, since you know West is surely going to continue with a top club at trick two, whatever you play, maybe if you play the queen first, partner will continue with the ace, and will read your carding as suit-preference?

Let us look at the contract of four hearts after the lead of the club queen to the ace. At trick two declarer must play a spade, to preserve entries for the elimination that is to come. East takes the spade king with the ace, and a diamond shift is surely the only chance to set the game.

If declarer wins this and draws trump, he will surely go down, since he will strip the hand and play a diamond, and West will cash out three diamonds for down one.

So say South ducks the diamond. If East is left on play he can do no better than exit in a black suit. Declarer draws trump, cashes the remaining black winners, and takes the diamond ace to find the bad news. Then he takes his one remaining chance when he exits from hand with the spade 10, pitching a diamond from dummy. East can win, but must now surrender a ruff-sluff, and dummy’s remaining diamond loser goes away as declarer ruffs in hand.

West should maybe find the defense to beat the game at trick three. Once his partner produces the spade ace and diamond queen, declarer must have all the missing high cards, and four hearts. The only chance for the defenders is for West to overtake the diamond queen and give his partner a ruff. With three tricks in the bag, a passive exit from East leaves West with a diamond winner, and East with the spade jack, to counter declarer’s pressure in the endgame.

Today’s deal originally arose in a home countries international match between England and Northern Ireland (and was subsequently recycled into the Lords versus Commons match).

After a strong two-club opener, South ended as declarer in three no-trump. West led the heart queen, won perforce by South. Rate your chances.

The club blockage is extremely aggravating, and with only one heart stopper remaining, it might seem that, after cashing the top clubs, you will only be completely safe if West has both the missing aces. Equally, if West has just one of the aces, it may be a matter of guessing which, in order to reach dummy before the hearts are established.

Curiously, though, declarer can always get home if he plays the hand correctly. When the hand was originally played, after unblocking the clubs, both declarers continued with the diamond king at trick five. Naturally, East ducked; but now with a diamond trick in the bag, the declarers abandoned diamonds and knocked out the spade ace, to come to nine tricks without breaking a sweat.

The second time around, Lord Hamilton and Lord Kalms were defending three no-trump on the lead of the heart queen. After cashing the top clubs, South advanced a sneaky spade jack. But Lord Kalms wasn’t fooled – he ducked, and now declarer was toast. A second spade would see the defense win and shift to hearts, while declarer had only eight tricks. So declarer tried a diamond to the queen, and East won his ace and cleared the hearts to set the game.

Not all finesses are created equal. Sometimes the timing of the play dictates that one suit must be broached before another.

The explanation for the bizarre auction here is that North responded two clubs because he thought he was a passed hand and was bidding Drury to show a strong spade raise! If you think this can only have occurred at a local club, it came up in a topbracket knockout final, and North was a famous player. Luckily, the contract reached was a reasonable one.

When West led his diamond, it might appear that declarer needs two out of three finesses in spades and clubs (and probably to find trumps breaking 3-2) to succeed. However, dummy’s shortage of entries means care is required. Declarer wins the opening lead, crosses to the heart ace, and takes the club finesse. If West wins the king, declarer must find East with K-J or K-J-x of spades. He leads the club 10 to the jack and a spade to the 10, then ruffs the club ace to play a spade to the queen.

If the club queen holds, declarer leads a spade to the 10, then ruffs the third club in dummy to lead another spade. If East covers with the club king, the club jack and the club ruff are declarer’s two entries.

Taking the spade finesse first fails today, because the early club finesse creates two additional entries. Also, be careful not to discard a club on the heart king – that loser has an important role to play!

Although it can often be right to play in three no-trump when you have a 5-3 major-suit fit, it helps to have strength or length in all the side-suits. On this deal from a team of eight contest two pairs went down in three no-trump after a top club lead. The other two pairs played in the right strain, spades, but the bidding subsided at the two-level.

However, what line of play would give the best chance of making four spades? It seems right to assume that trump will break 3-2. The total of winners is nine – so from where will the 10th trick materialize?

The suit to go after should be hearts. They might break 3-3, but one trick must always be lost. However, even if they don’t break so helpfully, the fourth heart can perhaps be ruffed on the table – so long as you time the play correctly.

West will surely lead the club queen against four spades. The best way forward, which caters for most eventualities, is to win, then play a low heart, ducking in hand. The opponents will doubtless cash their club trick, but their next play puts you in control. Win, play off the spade ace and king, then take the two top hearts and if necessary ruff your heart loser with dummy’s last trump. The defenders will make a trump trick, but that is all.

Note: if you cash either one or two top hearts early, then whether you play trumps or not, you will no longer be able to find a winning line, as the cards lie.

Since the defenders have the advantage of being on lead to trick one, they can strike the first blow, even if that blow is often wrongly aimed.

When the board first appeared in a head-to-head match, one table had a relatively easy time of things in three no-trump. When after South opened one diamond, it deterred West from leading a diamond. After a club lead, declarer could dislodge the heart king in safety.

However, a minority of duplicate players espouse the 12-14 one no-trump opening, which was the case at the other table. Now West led a low diamond to the king, and back came the diamond eight. Now put yourself in declarer’s position. If diamonds are breaking 4-4, there will be no problem. The defenders can come to at most three diamond tricks, plus the heart king, if that card is poorly located. The distribution to guard against is running into 5-3 diamonds, with the heart king over the ace.

If you rise with the queen or jack at trick two, West will duck. When the heart finesse loses, the diamond return through South’s remaining jack-nine will give the race to the defenders.

The solution is to play the nine on the second round of diamonds. West wins with the 10, but the defensive communications have been cut. The defenders can take three diamonds and the heart king, but no more.

Incidentally, if the heart king and ace are interchanged, the problem for declarer of whether to play a diamond honor at trick two is considerably more complex.

I’m not going to specify precisely where Australian Michael Courtney falls on the spectrum of genius and madness, but he deservedly won the 2010 International Bridge Press Association Declarer Play of the Year award for his play on today’s deal.

Michael is a true maverick, capable of making extemporaneous plays that other experts would never see – of course, not all of them are successful, but that is part of his charm.

Against three no-trump West led the spade six, and Michael made the natural but unsuccessful play of covering with the 10. The first trick went to the jack and king, and Michael now took the losing diamond finesse. East thought it a good idea to cash his top heart winners before returning a spade, in case declarer had the spade ace and not the heart queen, so he led the heart king. West wanted to be sure that East would not play him for the heart queen, so he dropped the jack on this trick.

Michael knew from the rule of 11 that East must hold another spade, so he could see that his priority was to stop East leading another spade. Accordingly, when East continued with the heart ace, Michael dropped the queen – leaving hearts wide open as well as spades – but now West unblocked the 10 of course, ‘knowing’ his partner must have the heart nine.

East was now convinced that West must have started with J-109-fourth of hearts and thus continued with a third heart. Michael won his nine and claimed nine tricks.