Against four spades West leads the club ace and East signals an even number of cards in the suit. At trick two, West leads the six of trump, East discarding a club. Since West will have almost all of the missing high cards, how do you propose to make 10 tricks?

You have six top tricks and can ruff a club for a seventh. If hearts are 3-3 you will always make 10 tricks. The trick is to find the extra chance when East has the heart length, as here:

Entries to the closed hand are at a premium, so you should win the trump shift with dummy’s 10. Next you must play the club queen. West will take this and play a second trump: if it is the nine, play the jack from dummy and overtake it with the king and if it is the two, win the trick in hand with the seven. Next you should ruff a club, then draw West’s last trump, ending in hand.

Next you lead the heart three. West cannot profit from playing the ace, though in practice he is likely to win and exit in hearts, letting you pitch your diamond loser from hand on the fourth heart. If dummy’s heart king wins, a heart to the queen and ace sees West win the trick; but now he will find himself endplayed. You will run a diamond exit around to your queen, whereas a club shift will see you ruff in dummy, while discarding a diamond from hand. Either way, your hand will be high.

You don’t see a 20 IMP swing very often, but this one came up in the round of 16 in the US Trials last May. In one room Jeff Aker reached the grand slam in spades. Matthew Granovetter led a trump and Aker won the jack with his ace, played a club to the king, and cashed the ace. A trump to hand followed and a club was ruffed.

Then came another trump to hand and three rounds of diamonds, pitching a heart from hand.

West couldn’t keep the heart guard and the diamond guard so he discarded a heart. In order to retain his club guard East had to pitch a heart. So Aker took the last two tricks with the heart ace and 10.

This was a very elegant solution, but note that Aker could have disdained the squeeze and simply ruffed a second club in dummy. Had he done that, he would have needed to cash two rounds of diamonds and ruff a diamond to hand. He was likely concerned that an early round of diamonds could be ruffed, but with the appearance of the spade jack at trick one, the queen and 10 were the two highest trumps out, so he was safe except against a 6-1 diamond break.

This rated to be a decent pickup, but in the other room, a bidding accident led to an unappetizing final contract of six no-trump. When West led the diamond jack declarer missed the best line. Had he played off all the spades and diamonds, East would have been caught in a heart-club squeeze.

During the 2015 US Open trials two teams playing Precision ran into one another. Both tables played an opening two diamonds to show a three-suited hand, with short diamonds.

In one room South took a very low road, selling out to three clubs and defeating it two tricks. In the other room Kevin Bathurst finished at the helm in three notrump. Vince Demuy led a fourth best club to the queen and ace. Bathurst played a heart to the king. John Kranyak won his ace, and the defense cashed out the clubs, then exited in hearts.

Bathurst now cashed the diamond king and queen and the spade ace. The diamond nine went to the ace, on which Kranyak was forced to part with either a heart or a spade. He chose a spade, so Bathurst finessed the spade queen and successfully fulfilled his contract.

East could have done better here had he simply returned a heart at trick three. I can understand why he would have been unwilling to do that, since if his partner had a singleton heart, this play would have given up the whole suit. But a safe way to set the game was to win the heart ace and club king, then exit in diamonds. Now declarer cannot exert any pressure.

Finally, note that because of the blockage in hearts, declarer can come home at double dummy by cashing a diamond winner from hand at trick two and exiting in clubs. The defenders now cannot prevent the squeeze from biting.

Today’s deal from the qualifying stages of the US trials saw one of the more serendipitous swings that I’ve seen.

At one table North-South reach the diamond slam on a more complex auction than the one shown. North had used keycard and East had been able to get in a heart lead-directing call, so West led a low heart. Declarer sensibly rose with the ace, drew trump and stripped out the spades, then exited with a low heart from dummy to leave East on lead.

East correctly guessed to rise with the king, and shifted to the club jack. Declarer knew East was expert enough to have shifted to the club jack without the other high honor. He elected to win in hand and finesse against West; down one. The percentages in this position are close enough that one could hardly blame him too much.

In the other room North-South avoided the grand slam; but they played six no-trump instead, by North, when East had also shown the heart king during the auction. After a spade lead there seemed to be no squeeze or endplay. Declarer, Gary Cohler, spotted a slim chance, but he needed to find East with sole guard of the clubs and the heart king.

He ran the diamonds, then when East discarded spades he cashed the remaining spade honor. Finally he exited with ace and another heart, and in the three-card ending he had already committed himself to play East for real clubs. So when East shifted to a high club, he played him for both honors, and made his slam.

The US trials are currently taking place in Denver, to select the open team to represent the US in the Olympiad in Wroclaw, Poland, later this summer.

All the deals this week come from the trials last May, and today’s deal saw something of a peculiarity. We have all been forced to bid with really bad hands, but when was the last time you saw a three-count take two free calls in a non-forcing auction?

Barry Rigal as North opened one diamond, showing five diamonds or an unbalanced hand. Jeff Aker, South, passed initially, but when he knew he was facing short hearts he decided to compete first in diamonds, then in spades. By his third turn, North knew that even though South had a really weak hand, with no more than four spades, he also surely had four diamonds. Since the auction had implied that South had heart length, he must have a singleton club. So North drove to game.

After a top heart lead Aker won the ace, played the club ace and took a club ruff, then took the losing finesse in diamonds. Back came a third club and Aker ruffed, crossed to the spade ace and ruffed the fourth club with the spade jack. West could overruff for the defenders’ second trick, but now the remaining trumps fell in one round and Aker had 10 tricks. That was worth a game swing, when the other table played partscore after North had opened one club and the double fit did not come to light.

Every year the US Bridge Federation organizes trials in four categories, Open, Women, Senior and Junior. The Open trials are currently being held to select a team for this September’s Olympiad, an event to which every country can send one team in each category.

Today’s deal cropped up in last year’s trials. It sees a competent declarer having a blind spot. See if you can do better than him!

Would you have balanced over three clubs with three notrump? It depends on how macho you feel, I guess, but it was not unreasonable. When your partner transfers to spades and East doubles you may have second thoughts – but at least you have four trumps. After a top club lead, plan the play.

The hand should be close to an open book. East has a singleton club and all the outstanding high cards, so the key is to avoid letting West in to cash clubs. Win the club lead and play the diamond king to force an entry to dummy for the spade finesse. That way the defenders cannot promote the spade king on the third round of clubs.

East will win the diamond ace and shift to a low heart. You rise with the ace and ruff a diamond to dummy. Then you take the trump finesse and end up with eight spade tricks and two aces.

If you play ace and a second spade, or lead a low trump at trick two, East can force an entry to his partner’s hand, to allow him subsequently to cash out his club winner.

The auction in today’s deal saw North taking control when his partner showed extra values and an unbalanced hand. He was looking for the grand slam, but when his partner bid six diamonds in response to his ask of five no-trump, it showed the diamond king while denying the club king. Now North could only count 12 tricks unless his partner had the spade jack, so he settled for the small slam.

West led the heart king to the ace. Before reading on, you might consider what you would do, bearing in mind that if trumps broke 3-2 you would have tricks coming out of your ears.

At the table South took the essential first step of ruffing a heart with the spade four. Then he played off the spade ace and king, getting the bad news. Now dummy’s trump spots came into their own.

South next led a diamond to the ace, took another heart ruff with the spade queen – thereby stripping the East hand of hearts, he knew, because of West’s overcall. Then declarer led a diamond to the queen, and advanced the spade 10 to drive out East’s jack, throwing the club four from hand. He could win the club return in dummy with the ace, draw the last trump with the spade nine, throwing his club queen from hand in the process. His three high diamonds in hand were enough to take the last three tricks. Contract made.

As you will discover, if you do not ruff a heart at trick two, the slam cannot be made.

I first saw today’s deal a couple of years ago featured in a column on defensive strategy. The author referred to it as having cropped up in a league match – a maneuver which I sometimes rather untrustingly suspect is shorthand for having invented a convincing deal and rubbed it in dirt to create a more plausible patina.

Be that as it may, consider what took place when both tables reached six no-trump, perhaps after South had upgraded his 19-count with little justification into a two no-trump opener.

At one table South won the lead of the heart six, which went to the 10 and his ace, then led a club to dummy’s queen. When it held, he played a second club, and West won and pressed on with hearts, in an attempt to cut declarer’s communications for later pressure. This effort was unsuccessful. Declarer won the heart king and ran all his spade and club winners, reducing dummy to four diamonds while he had his three diamonds and the heart nine in hand. East had to discard his remaining heart honor to preserve his diamond stopper, and declarer cashed his heart nine for the 12th trick.

Nicely played, but in the other room after a similar opening lead West found the killing defensive maneuver when he ducked the second round of clubs. Declarer could not lead a third round of the suit, so he had little option but to fall back on the diamond break for his 12th trick, and when the suit refused to behave, he had to concede down one.

Today’s deal from the Dyspeptics Club saw a more polite post mortem than usual, after South had reached six diamonds following a typically exuberant auction. He ruffed the opening spade lead, drew trump in four rounds, and relied on clubs to break. When they did not do so, he went down like a stone, and apologized to his partner with the line that everything was wrong. However he avoided fanning the flames by asserting that there was nothing he could do; instead he asked an abnormally pensive North what he might have done differently.

Somewhat mollified, North pointed out that South could have guarded against a four-one break in clubs. Best is to cash only one top club at the second trick. Then dummy is entered with a trump to lead the second club towards the South hand.

East cannot defeat the contract by ruffing, for then South will play low. With the clubs now established, declarer can draw trump and eventually take the heart finesse for his contract. East’s best course is to discard, hoping that South’s clubs are headed by A-K-J. Then South would win the club king and could ruff one club in dummy. However, since the suit would not yet be established, the contract would be defeated.

As the cards actually lie, East’s refusal to ruff might cost him an overtrick, but that is clearly an affordable investment. When East discards, South can win with the club king, ruff a low club with dummy’s high trump, and draw trump. The heart finesse would represent 13 tricks if declarer dares to take it.