One of the things this column does is to try to give some general rules, but when I am in a more than usually playful mood I try to present the reader with a hand that confounds the general maxims. Today’s deal is a fine example of the paradoxical nature of the game we all love.

Against three no-trump the spade five was led. You can guarantee two spade tricks by playing low, whereas if you go up with the queen and West has led from the jack, you have turned two tricks into one. Nonetheless, if you play low from dummy today you go down on the layout shown. You win the first spade and drive out the diamond ace, but West wins the diamond ace, and ducks a spade, waiting to regain the lead and cash out.

As the lead looks likely to be from five, you may want to cut communications between the opposing hands. If so, playing the spade queen at trick one is certainly a reasonable play, and it turns out to be necessary today. When the queen holds the trick, play on diamonds. West wins, and if he continues the attack on spades, declarer holds up the spade ace until the third round. Then he takes the heart finesse into the safe hand, and can come to three tricks in each red suit and his three black winners.

I admit there are lies of the cards where playing low from dummy at trick one might be critical, but I believe the auction makes the winning line today the best one.

In a teams match neither North-South could manage to declare three no-trump the right way up. North would have had no problems, but as it was, only one of the two Souths succeeded. He found a simple but easily overlooked ruse, though he was admittedly helped by his opponent’s lead-style.

In both rooms when North rebid his diamonds, South jumped to the no-trump game, not prepared to risk a cuebid of three hearts taking his side past three no-trump.

In one room West led the heart six, covered by the nine and 10. South won, led a diamond to the ace to discover the bad break, and followed with a club. This was not a success, because West won and led another heart for his partner to take the next five tricks. In effect, declarer was hoping that East held both black aces as well as his heart suit. But might East then have doubled the opening bid rather than make a simple overcall, especially if he also held four spades?

At the other table South received the lead of a MUD heart seven. South introduced a neat diversion by allowing East’s heart 10 to win the first trick. East fell for it – he decided that declarer had played low from ace-third, and that his partner had a doubleton heart. In that case leading another heart would have cost a trick. He switched to a club: West took his ace and led another heart, but it was all too late now. With the help of the marked diamond finesse, South had his nine tricks.

Today’s deal presents a problem in both the auction and play. As South you show your two suits at your first two turns, and receive tepid preference to spades from your partner. Should you pass, or try for game? In my opinion your intermediates make you just worth a call of three diamonds, which shows real extras and suggests a fragment (three-card suit) in diamonds. When partner raises to four diamonds, it might be most discreet to pass. However, you decide to take a shot at four spades, and when dummy comes down you realize that neither you nor your partner has exactly underbid the hand.

Against four spades West leads the heart four to East’s queen, and that player switches to the club four. Plan the play.

It looks as if you need spades to break 3-3 (which is probably the case or East might have continued hearts at trick two). If you rise with the club ace and try to ruff clubs in the dummy, you run the risk of losing a diamond ruff or a trump promotion. Better is to take the finesse of the club queen. First of all, the finesse might win. If it doesn’t then West won’t be able to continue the suit, so does best to revert to hearts. You ruff the heart, ruff a club in dummy, and start on trumps.

Since trumps break 3-3, the defenders are helpless. They can force you again, but you draw trump, and take four spades, two clubs and four diamonds, to emerge with 10 tricks.

On this deal from a Junior European championships in Prague four spades was reached at both tables and the Italians played nicely both as declarer and defenders. As West, Matteo Sbarigia’s lead was the first key to the success in the Open Room. His partner had opened one club but had had the chance to double a diamond call, so he led the diamond seven, and declarer let East, Fabio Lo Presti, win the first trick with the diamond jack. Lo Presti cashed the club ace, receiving an encouraging signal, then made the second key play when he continued with a low club to West’s queen. Sbarigia could lead a second diamond, and there was nowhere for the diamond loser to go. Very nicely defended by the Italians.

In the other room, on the auction shown, Stelio di Bello was declarer. West led the club 10 and East won and switched to a spade. Di Bello drew trump, then led to the heart 10. When it held the trick, he played two more rounds of hearts then played the club jack from his hand.

West correctly rose with his queen, to play a diamond through declarer. Di Bello played low from dummy, and when East won the trick with the diamond jack he was endplayed in the process. He had no hearts left to play, while a club would concede a ruff and discard, so whatever he did, declarer was sure to make his contract. That was a very well deserved 12 IMP swing to Italy.

Today’s deal contains a somewhat complex example of a very simple theme. All players are taught when it comes to signaling that you use high cards to encourage the lead, and low cards to discourage. That is the simple concept, but the more advanced idea is not to consider signals in a vacuum. Using the concept detailed by Pamela and Matthew Granovetter in their books on the Obvious Shift, one can extend the idea of a positive signal to encourage partner to continue leading his suit, to prevent him shifting, and one can discourage the opening lead, if what you want is a shift to the obvious suit.

Here is an example: this deal was played in the second qualifying session of last year’s Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs. At many tables South passed initially but drove to game in four spades after North doubled East’s one diamond opening and then cuebid at his next turn.

When West led the heart ace, what happened next depended on the defenders’ signals. At one table, after the heart ace went to the seven two and six, West decided he needed to cash out. Even after the heart king drew the nine, five and jack, it wasn’t clear that East liked clubs, not diamonds – was it? In any event, when West tried the diamond ace, hoping East had the king, declarer claimed ten tricks, for plus 420.

By contrast when Doug Doub, playing with Adam Wildavsky, sat East, he helped his partner out. He played an encouraging spot card on the first heart lead. Now after three rounds of hearts, the bad breaks in the black suits meant there were two inevitable diamond losers.

Today’s theme emphasizes the fact that it is essential for the defenders to try to count declarer’s hand. East failed to do the necessary work, and paid the penalty.

West led the heart three against four spades and East won. Although he might have underled in hearts on the second round, this seemed an unnecessary gamble, so he continued the suit from the top.

Declarer ruffed the third heart and drew trump in two rounds with the queen and ace. He continued by running the club nine to East’s jack. A heart lead would now concede a ruff and discard and a club appeared suicidal, being straight into dummy’s ace-queen. So East decided to lead a low diamond.

There was the chance that West might hold the queen or that South might misguess or that declarer would still be left with a club loser. However, declarer went up with the queen and when this held, could now claim his contract on a cross-ruff.

What did East see, all too late, that prompted subsequent selfflagellation? That the apparently foolish club return was in fact safe! South was known to have started with five spades and two hearts – hence he held six cards in the minor suits. However they were distributed, he would not be able to get enough discards on dummy’s clubs and East would be bound to come to his diamond king at the end.

Admittedly had East underled in hearts at trick two the defenders could have defeated the hand more easily, but this would have been fatal on a different day.

Sometimes the most straightforward of deals becomes complex when a suit splits unexpectedly badly. In today’s example you would expect to be able to claim 13 tricks, barring a very hostile break in hearts. But even then you may be able to recover, so long as you plan efficiently, and take note of your opponent’s discards.

Against seven no-trump West leads the club jack, dummy and East playing low. Declarer wins in hand with the ace and counts 12 top tricks. He cashes the heart ace, getting the bad news that the hearts will not run. So he continues with the spade ace and queen, then the three top diamonds, ending in dummy. No luck there either, but had East been long in both suits, running all the black-suit winners ending in dummy would have squeezed him.

As it is, South next plays the spade king, discarding a low heart from hand, reducing everyone to five cards. As East has to keep four hearts, he can only keep one club. When declarer cashes the remaining top hearts, West has to throw either his diamond jack, establishing dummy’s seven, or a club. In the latter case dummy discards the diamond seven and the club king is cashed to establish the eight as declarer’s 13th trick.

For those of you who like to categorize the position this is a double squeeze, and since the opponents were squeezed on different tricks, it is technically a nonsimultaneous double squeeze. Easier to name than to play!

Today’s deal is something of a curiosity. Suppose West takes the club king and ace against four spades, and shifts to the heart jack. Declarer has nine winners, but the blockage in diamonds is extremely inconvenient, and the sight of East’s heart queen argues that hearts will not be breaking for him.

For the time being, South does not have to commit himself. He wins the heart ace, takes his three top spades and then unblocks the diamond ace. Now he plays the heart king. If East ruffs, he has to lead a diamond round to dummy’s winners, so he must discard a diamond. But South has a counter. He leads the spade three, forcing East to win and give dummy the diamond tricks on which declarer’s losing hearts go away. Declarer makes five trumps, two hearts and three diamonds.

It does not help West to play a third top club at trick three – so long as South follows the same general approach.

However, while even a single top club lead allows declarer to come home, there is a defense. An initial heart lead defeats four spades, as it enables the defenders to prevent the club link between the East-West hands being prematurely severed in time. If declarer plays a club before drawing trump, the defense gets two heart ruffs. If he draws three rounds of trump, then plays a club, West gives his partner a heart ruff and East gets out with a club. And if South draws all the trump, West makes two heart tricks on power alone.

Today’s deal is from a reader of mine, Jacques Guerin. It was played 57 years ago, but it has matured nicely in the interim.

At duplicate pairs you play four hearts on a top spade lead, and duck, winning the continuation of the spade jack in hand. East’s echo in spades suggests an original 5-2 distribution in that suit. The first question is how many rounds of trump to draw before playing diamonds. Two seems right to me.

However, at the table most Souths drew all the trump, and played on diamonds. The trap of the hand is to lead to the king or queen; if you do, East will duck. On the actual lie of the cards, the hand can be made by simply continuing any diamond from dummy – but this would look foolish if West could win the jack and cash out his spade winner.

Many declarers led to a top diamond, ducked, then came back to the club ace to lead another diamond toward dummy. Curtains! East won the trick and knocked out the club king, killing the diamonds. Down one.

Guerin drew all the trump and played a diamond to the 10. From the play, it seemed that with West holding five decent spades but not having overcalled, the diamond ace was surely with East. Since South wanted to prevent West from getting on lead in diamonds, it looked right to force East to win the first diamond. Guerin could win the club return in hand and knock out the diamond ace, eventually discarding a spade on a good diamond.