In today’s hand some of my readers may not look past the fact that they themselves would not bid to slam missing a cashing ace and the trump king, and not realize that it is not enough to be lucky. Sometimes one must also be good.

When the deal came up in the early stages of a national championships, the expert team who held the North-South cards stopped in five hearts after a keycard auction.

However the less-favored team bid to slam on the auction shown, when South either thought it would be beneath his dignity to ask for aces, or decided to play for a swing.

The opening lead was the spade queen, ducked all round. The spade jack was covered by dummy’s king, and South demonstrated that his team was not just present to make up the numbers when he ruffed with the heart queen. Then he led a diamond to the ace, ran the heart eight successfully, and followed up with the heart 10, underplaying this with his nine. Now it was a simple matter to repeat the heart finesse and draw trump. Declarer could dispose of his fourth-round diamond loser on dummy’s clubs, and waltz home with 12 tricks.

Note that if declarer ruffs the spade with either a low trump or with the nine, he can no longer cope nearly so easily with the 4-1 trump break. The contract will come down to needing clubs or diamonds to split 3-3, since declarer will have to burn an entry to dummy to repeat the heart finesse.

South’s overcall of one notrump might not have been everybody’s choice, but he decided that his balanced hand was most suitable to show via the simple no-trump overcall rather than by a takeout double. This is a reasonable principle when balanced, (though whether one should, for example, conceal a five-card major is less clear).

North now had a straightforward raise to game, and West decided to lead a club, since he thought his partner rated to have real clubs for a third-seat opener. This is also a sound idea: when in third seat with a marginal opener, try to bid a suit you want partner to lead, even if that might be a four-card major.

It looks natural to play low from dummy at trick one, but East would have won with the club queen and would immediately have shifted to hearts. The defenders would then have been in position to win a club, a diamond, and three hearts.

This would all have been very unlucky, but the location of the club honors was known at trick one from the spot-card chosen by West. South was fully on the ball, and had no reason to expose himself to ill fortune, since he had a sure-trick line at his disposal. He could afford to win the first trick with dummy’s club ace and immediately knock out the diamond ace. This assured him of four diamond tricks in addition to the three spades, one heart, and one club which were always there for the taking. The club seven in dummy represented a fourth round stopper.

When South hears his partner invite game, suggesting either four hearts, or three trump in an unbalanced hand, he may have close to a minimum in high cards, but his extras in shape and controls are enough for him to go on to game.

West might sensibly lead either a spade or a diamond (an aggressive West might even put the club queen on the table). But after the lead of the diamond three, South has no reason not to finesse. East wins his king and returns a diamond to dummy’s ace. South now tries the top hearts; no luck there.

South now apparently needs the spade ace onside; but he must also be careful to ruff his club losers before giving up the lead. (Else West might draw another round of trump, leaving only one heart in dummy for two possible losing clubs).

When South cashes the top clubs, West follows suit with the queen and 10. South’s remaining clubs are suddenly high, and that gives South an extra chance for his contract.

However, if South next leads out the club nine, West will surely ruff in, to lead a spade through dummy’s king, and defeat the contract. Instead, South deceptively advances the club seven. West may now take his eye off the ball and discard instead of ruffing. If so, declarer can discard a spade from dummy, and then lead his remaining club to discard a second spade from dummy. That way he limits his spade losers to one, whoever has the ace.

Many of my readers are regular rubber bridge players, but those who dip their toes into the world of duplicate tournaments are often confused as to how strategies change when playing teams or pairs.

Today’s deal emphasizes the difference in approaches. You declare three no-trump on a hand where your 27-count would have been even nicer at Rubber Bridge. Your partner wisely decided not to look for a suit game after you showed the values for game in your own hand.

You win the lead of the spade queen (East contributing the 10) with the king, and unblock your two top clubs. Next you lead a low diamond toward dummy’s jack; if the suit splits 3-3 you can do whatever you like, but if the suit breaks 4-2, you need to hope the queen is onside.

West rises with the diamond queen, then leads the spade jack to set up that suit. You win in hand, and cross to the dummy with the diamond jack to cash the club winner. After East shows out on the third club, there would be no issues at teams. You would make sure of your game by leading to the heart ace. This guarantees 10 tricks without risking the contract, and you would actually emerge with 11 tricks.

But at pairs, might you not assume you were in the normal contract, and that West had such short hearts that the finesse was odds-on to win? I’m sure your partner would be appropriately sympathetic when your finesse lost to the singleton king, and you went down three.

Today’s deal shows how an expert can make the most of his assets, by appreciating the full value of his spot cards. This deal came up on the second day of a major pair game in the US. It was common for North-South to play in no-trump here, and South typically ended as declarer in three no-trump, against which West might have been tempted to lead a heart, having bid spades but not having received any cooperation from East.

However, where I was defending, my spade lead let declarer win in dummy. A club to the queen held, and now when hearts failed to break declarer could set up a second diamond winner, but that was only his eighth trick.

Defeating three no-trump scored our side well, but not spectacularly so, since the NorthSouth cards are not easy to bid to a sensible spot. But having reached three no-trump, I thought our opponents should have found the winning line. After winning the spade ace at trick one, declarer should lead the club king at trick two, smothering his own queen, and ensuring he can establish clubs with the help of the two entries to dummy that remain.

The key difference between taking the club king and leading low to the queen is that declarer remains in dummy if the opponents duck their ace in the first case, but not in the second. That saves an entry to the board – which happens to be critical today, when the club jack does not fall in two rounds.

The defense to today’s game requires some degree of partnership co-operation. After North’s strong no-trump, South uses Stayman and drives to four hearts when North denies a major.

As West your opening lead is easy: you lead the club king, and partner dutifully follows with the nine, suggesting a singleton or doubleton. Now you can cash a second club, and when everyone follows, you must decide what to do next.

The right answer is far from obvious, but I believe you should lead out the diamond king. Declarer is surely marked with 4-6 pattern in the majors; if he had only five hearts, or did not have four spades, he would have started with a transfer rather than with Stayman. Therefore you must cash your diamond winner (or winners) before something goes away on the clubs.

When partner sees the diamond king led, he really doesn’t have to signal attitude; he should work out you will have a shrewd idea who has the diamond ace when your king holds!

I believe East’s card should be count. You ought not to need confirmation that declarer has a singleton diamond, but when you see the diamond nine you can work out what to do next. Continue with a third club, since the only realistic chance of scoring another trick is to find partner ruffing in with the heart jack. Yes, it may be a fairly slim chance, but you might as well play for your only realistic chance, mightn’t you?

Declaring three no-trump on a top spade lead South can count only eight sure tricks in top cards: two spades, three hearts, two diamonds, and one club. South can make his game if the heart queen is well placed, or if he can locate the diamond queen. Not surprisingly, it is best to delay the decision before guessing in diamonds. South should commit himself only after considering all the evidence.

One way to play the cards out is to win tricks, but an equally good way is to surrender the tricks you can afford to lose. Both methods may generate additional evidence. After winning the spade lead in dummy and losing the heart finesse, South can afford to give up three spade tricks. He should therefore take the second spade, cash his top cards in hearts, then return a spade. While West takes his good spades, South pitches clubs, then reassesses the position.

Declarer knows that East has two cards in each major, so must have started with nine minorsuit cards. At the table East will begin by discarding two small diamonds on the hearts. Then he rates to discard three small clubs. West exits with a low club to the king and South’s ace.

Logic suggests that East has thrown as many diamonds as he could afford, and then decided to keep the rest. What can East be saving in diamonds that persuaded him to discard away from the club king? All the evidence points in the same direction: South should play East for the diamond queen.

One of the arts a successful player must possess is to help his opponents err, and to make sure their mistakes do not go unpunished. Today’s deal is from the Women’s Trials and demonstrates this theme.

South showed her two suits, then advanced over her partner’s simple preference to two diamonds with a bid of two no-trump. This call showed real extras, and North had plenty in hand to go on to game.

West started with the intelligent opening lead of the club seven, which ran around to the king. Declarer’s first shot was to take a heart finesse. East won and switched to her spade queen, won by declarer’s ace. Declarer should perhaps have begun to worry about her communications at this stage and ducked a diamond, but instead she played the diamond ace, followed by the diamond king and a third diamond. At the point when East won her diamond queen, the defenders had two tricks in and needed three more. East gave her side a chance when she now played the club ace. Declarer could still have succeeded by unblocking her jack. (The best East could have done now would have been to play a heart, but she would have been put back on lead with a heart, forced to concede the last tricks to dummy or declarer).

However, declarer followed low under the club ace, and another club put South in her hand with no entry left to dummy. She could cash two diamonds, but had to lose two spade tricks at the end.

Playing a two over one style where a two-club response is game forcing by an unpassed hand, North cannot make that call at his first turn. His problem is whether to bid a forcing no-trump then jump in hearts, or simply to make a constructive raise to two hearts. This is a case in which the points do not tell the whole story. If North’s 10 points were made up mostly of queens and jacks, he would be quite satisfied to raise directly to two hearts. In this hand, however, North’s 10 points consists of two and one half quick tricks. For this reason, North can reasonably choose the aggressive route.

Of course today North-South would reach game either way today.

This deal is far easier at teams than pairs, where the lust for an overtrick might tempt South into doing something that he would regret later. The point is that South’s diamond holding would ordinarily suggest taking two finesses.

The trouble with this plan today is that West can win the first diamond, cash a spade, then play trumps. Now best defense will leave declarer unable to avoid losing three diamonds and a spade.

The safe plan is to take no finesses at all. South begins by discarding a spade on one of dummy’s top clubs. He then cashes the diamond ace and gives up a diamond. The plan is to give up two diamonds and then ruff the last diamond with dummy’s heart king. As the cards lie, the contract is safe if played in this manner.