Today’s deal features a piece of deception that occurs so frequently that we should all have it in our data base. Put yourself in the East seat and plan the defense to three no-trump after the lead of the club queen goes to dummy’s king. Are you ready for all eventualities at trick two?

At the table declarer saw that the straightforward line would be to drive out the diamond ace, win the club return and run the diamonds, hoping for a miracle. It would not be forthcoming. On all normal lies of the cards he would be on track to lose at least three clubs and two aces. So he tried a bit of deception.

He took the opening lead with dummy club king and led the spade jack, hoping to catch East napping. If East plays low, as he did at the table, declarer could hop up with the king, then shift his attention to diamonds. After knocking out the diamond ace, he had nine tricks; a spade, two hearts, four diamonds and two clubs.

Had East risen with the spade ace and continued the attack on clubs, declarer would have stood no chance to succeed. But also note that if declarer’s clubs were A-10-9, unlikely but not impossible, East must win the first spade to continue the attack on clubs.

This idea of protecting partner’s entry or of simply saving a tempo by flying up with an ace is definitely counter-intuitive, but it is a ‘club’ you should keep in your bag.

The three bears have taken to playing with non-family members, after the post mortems at their local club started bringing them into possible violations of Zero Tolerance. But since they were all playing East in the local duplicate, they could compare performances with Goldilocks when they came home from their session.

As befitted his status as leader of the pack, Papa Bear was first to speak. The board that had upset him the most was this one.

Against four spades Papa took his diamond king and ace, then had to consider what to do next. More in hope than expectation he tried a club, and declarer won in dummy and drew trump for a comfortable +620.

Mama Bear was unimpressed; she had played a third diamond at trick three, hoping for a somewhat unlikely trump promotion. South threw a heart and overruffed West’s spade nine with dummy’s jack. However, after cashing the ace of trump, declarer played on clubs, discarding his remaining heart on the fourth one; contract made.

As Baby Bear pointed out, it was possible to go one step further along this chain of analysis. The problem with declarer discarding his heart loser could have been avoided. Baby Bear won the diamond ace, cashed the heart ace then played the diamond king and a third round of diamonds.

When West ruffed in with the spade nine, dummy had to overruff, and now declarer had to lose a trump trick; down one. And note that had West started with a singleton diamond, he could have ruffed his partner’s second diamond winner to give him a heart ruff.

While the ACBL has an active junior bridge program, Silicon Valley Youth Bridge (SiVY Bridge), co-founded by Debbie Rosenberg, is one of the most successful youth bridge programs in the US right now. Recently, SiVY Bridge held two week-long Summer Camps and the SiVY Youth NABC Sponsorship program helped 14 Bay Area kids attend the Youth NABC in Chicago. For more information, check out their website.

The other night one of my correspondents had the pleasure of playing a team match on BBO against two camp participants, brothers Brent and Rory Xiao, aged 14 and 11 respectively. They’ve clearly been excelling in SiVY Bridge (as well as the USBF Junior training program) because they played very well throughout the match. Here declarer Rory Xiao played three no-trump on the lead of the club nine to the ace.

East accurately shifted to a low heart, to the queen. Back came a heart to the king, also ducked. Now came a third heart, won by South with a diamond discard from dummy.

Rory cashed the club kingjack, led a diamond to the ace, then took the club queen, squeezing East out of a spade, since he had to preserve the diamond king and his fourth heart (or declarer would set up a diamond winner). With East down to just three spades, Rory took the spade finesse and cashed out the suit for nine tricks.

Note that if declarer takes the heart ace prematurely, East can defeat the game by discarding a blocking heart on the fourth club.

Frank Stewart regularly donates the profits from his books to local causes. His most recent project, “Play Bridge with Me,” is available from the writer — $23.95 postpaid to the US (signed on request) from PO Box 962 Fayette AL 35555.

In today’s deal Stewart overcalls two hearts in fear and trembling, but it turns out well when his partner raises to four hearts. Everyone passes, and East (wrongly, it transpires) encourages on West’s lead of the spade king. West leads another spade to East’s ace for a third spade, and Stewart decides to ruff with the jack, since East probably has the heart queen for his opening bid.

Since East’s opening bid also marks him with the diamond ace and club king, Stewart leads a trump to the king, dropping East’s queen. Now when declarer leads the diamond seven from dummy, East is caught. If he takes the ace, Stewart can discard a club from dummy on the diamond king later; so he must play low, and declarer’s king wins.

Stewart then draws West’s last trump with dummy’s 10, discards a diamond from hand on the spade queen and leads the diamond queen. East takes the ace but is endplayed. He must lead from the club king or give declarer a ruff-sluff, and so the contract comes home.

The key in the play was not to take an immediate discard on the spade queen. If Stewart throws a diamond prematurely, East can grab the diamond ace and exit safely with a diamond, leaving declarer with a club to lose.

Today’s deal comes from Frank Stewart’s new book, “Play Bridge with Me,” as do all the deals this week.

At the first trick West can work out declarer’s point count. There are 17 HCP missing between East and South. East couldn’t respond to an opening bid, but South couldn’t open the bidding. So South has 12 points, and East has five.

South wins trick one with the club 10 and leads the heart four from hand. Before mechanically following small, you must first think about how you can beat three no-trump. Spades are surely the only hope for the defense.

If East had the heart queen and either the spade king or diamond king, declarer would have finessed in hearts. More likely, East has the spade king-queen or the spade queen and a red king. In either case, an early spade shift is paramount.

(It is too risky for West to duck the first heart. If East has the spade queen and no spade nine, the first spade lead must come from West to be effective.)

So West must rise with the heart ace and shift to the spade 10. Declarer can do no better than cover with dummy’s jack and capture East’s queen. East wins the next heart and leads a spade, and the defenders can cash out.

If West had played low on the first heart, East would take the king, but the spade shift comes too late. Nor would it help East to duck the first heart, since declarer would continue hearts. When West attacks spades, it constitutes South’s ninth trick.

The profits for Frank Stewart’s latest book go directly to local causes. “Play Bridge with Me” is available from the writer $23.95 postpaid to the US (signed on request) from PO Box 962 Fayette AL 35555.

Frank declared this deal from the book in a Sectional Swiss Teams. Against six spades West led the diamond two, East playing the jack, and Stewart ruffed and drew trump, finding East with a singleton. That player discarded two diamonds, as dummy also let go of a diamond.

With 11 top tricks, there are many chances for one more. One option is to take the top hearts and ruff a heart, hoping for a 3-3 break. If hearts broke 4-2, declarer could try a club finesse of the jack. If it won, he could ruff another heart, setting up the fifth heart for 13 tricks. If the club finesse lost, declarer would still get home if the clubs broke 3-3 or perhaps (if East failed to return a club) with a squeeze.

But Stewart did better. At the fifth trick he led a heart, and when West followed low, instead of playing an honor from dummy, he ducked in dummy. He ruffed the diamond return, then took both top hearts and ruffed a heart. Now he crossed to dummy with the club king to take the fifth heart for his 12th trick.

As you can see, the unfriendly lie in hearts and clubs make this the only winning line; and had hearts broken 5-1, declarer would still have been able to fall back on the club finesse of course.

Today’s deal from Frank Stewart’s new book “Play Bridge with Me” sees him playing in a local IMP Teams event. Frank opens one diamond, his partner responds one spade and he rebids one no-trump. Partner huddles and jumps to four spades, and everyone passes.

West leads a low heart, to East’s king; how would you plan the play? At the table South took the ace and led the diamond queen, covered by West’s king. South won dummy’s ace and next let the spade queen ride. He ruffed a diamond, cashed the spade ace and led the spade jack. East took the king and returned a heart. When the club finesse lost, that was down one.

South wasn’t happy with his partner’s bidding, North wasn’t happy with his partner’s play. But it is easy to justify the rebid of one no-trump, as opposed to a two-club call, which might easily lose hearts. And the spade queen is almost as good trump support as a small doubleton.

And after all that, four spades was cold. (Only a club opening lead would always defeat it.) After the spade queen wins, South ruffs a diamond and crosses to dummy with the club ace and king, to ruff two more diamonds. With eight tricks in the bag, South exits with a club or heart, and is sure of two more tricks with the spade ace jack.

What is more — though Frank does not say this — South might have found the winning line had he not been grumbling internally about the auction.

All the deals this week come from Frank Stewart’s new book, “Play Bridge with Me,” for which all the profits will be going to local charities.

Stewart opens one spade in second seat and when North responds two clubs (not forcing to game), he rebids two spades then raises an invitational three spades to four.

West leads the heart jack, and Stewart sees that he is off a diamond, a heart, a possible trump, and at least one club trick. Setting up a diamond winner to discard a heart loser from dummy is essential. Declarer cannot afford an early trump finesse, since if East took the king, a heart return would be fatal.

So Stewart wins the opening lead in dummy, saving the heart ace as an entry, and leads a diamond. East takes the second diamond and returns a heart. Stewart wins, cashes the diamond jack, pitching dummy’s last heart. Now he can take the losing trump finesse and win the spade return. The contract now hinges on the club guess. Luckily, there is enough information to eliminate the guess. Can you see why?

East, who passed as dealer, has shown the spade king, heart queen and diamond ace, so West must have the club ace. Stewart can lead a club to the king and lose only three tricks in all, scoring up his game.

As Stewart says, counting the losers, will indicate the necessity of delaying drawing trump in order to set up the critical discard. Going right in clubs is then a simple matter of counting to 13.

One of my good writing and bridge-playing friends is Frank Stewart. Frank has been writing books regularly over the last decade, and donating the profits to local causes. His most recent project, “Play Bridge with Me,” is available from the writer $23.95 postpaid to the US (signed on request) from PO Box 962 Fayette AL 35555.

This week’s deals come from his book. Here Stewart hears his partner open one club in fourth chair and raise his response of one spade to two. Stewart now sensibly up-values his five-card suit and red-suit controls, and drives directly to game.

On the lead of the heart jack North puts down a 15-count that some would have opened a strong no-trump. Not surprisingly, the contract is excellent, but there is a possible loser in each suit. If the defenders get in, they will lead a second heart, setting up a winner, so it is imperative to establish a discard for the heart loser quickly. Stewart leads a diamond at the second trick, and when West plays low, Stewart observes that if either black-suit finesse wins he will be home.

But given that East didn’t open the bidding and has the heart queen, the right play from dummy must be the king. If East has the ace, declarer will not have a heart discard, but now one of the black-suit finesses will be sure to win, since East would probably have been in the bidding with such a good hand. So playing the diamond king means declarer will make four spades whatever the lie of the cards.