Today’s deal comes from the rubber bridge table in London, and was reported by Brian Jackson, a player who thought he had seen it all. He had led a top club against six diamonds, being more hurt than surprised to see declarer ruff it. South now cashed the heart ace and trumped a heart. He then ruffed another club and another heart (Jackson discarding a club). This was followed by the spade king and ace, then a club ruff and another heart ruff, Jackson discarding a spade.

In the four-card ending declarer had a losing spade in each hand, and three clubs in dummy, and A-J-9 of trumps in hand. When declarer played a club from the dummy, East (who had two hearts and a spade as well as his trump 10 left) ruffed in, hoping to promote a trump trick for West. However, South overruffed as West followed suit, then exited with a spade.

In the three-card ending West had to ruff and was endplayed in trumps. Contract made. But had East discarded a spade instead on the previous trick, he could have overruffed his partner on the spade exit. Now the defenders would have come to two tricks.

However, it was my reporter who apologized to his partner. For when declarer played the fourth heart from his hand in the five-card ending, West should have ruffed in front of the dummy. Now in the ending he has one fewer trump and an additional spade, so would be able to discard, rather than ruff in, at trick 11, and thus escape the endplay.

In today’s deal South took a flyer at slam without any assurance of finding real trump support, but knowing from the fourth-suit call that responder had opening values. The two diamond call asks rather than tells, and sets up a game-force.

After the lead of the diamond 10, declarer’s back was firmly against the wall, since he no longer had an entry to dummy. Crossing his fingers, South finessed the diamond jack. When it held, he played the diamond ace and king, discarding the ace and king of spades from hand.

Next came dummy’s three spade winners, on which declarer discarded his three club losers. Everything had passed off remarkably peacefully up till now. All that remained was to negotiate trumps for just one loser – by no means a sure thing. If trumps were 3-2 it would be a blind guess as to whether to lead to the queen or the 10. One play succeeds against jack-third to your right, one against kingthird, and there were no indications in the bidding or play as to which was more likely. And either play works against a doubleton honor in East. But if trumps were 4-1 with West having a singleton, the choice between playing the queen or 10 came down in favor of leading to the queen, since that picked up a singleton jack with West, the only relevant singleton. So declarer led a trump to the queen and lived happily ever after.

I am always happy to receive deals from my readers (you can email them to me or leave a comment below). Today’s deal features Marty Hirschman and Lynne Schaeffer. In an ACBL pairs game online, after a somewhat optimistic sequence Hirschman came to rest in seven hearts. (Did that six diamond call show or ask for a second round diamond control?)

Hirschman won the spade lead with the ace, drew trump, then cashed two more spade winners. Because East had short hearts, Hirschman decided to lead a club to the 10. So far so good!

Then he cashed the club king, the diamond ace, and took his last two trump winners. In the two-card ending he had reduced down to the diamond queen and a club, with the club ace-jack on the bard. West’s cards were irrelevant, but East could not hold both the diamond king and two clubs. He discarded his diamond king in the hope that his partner had the queen, so Hirschman could take the diamond queen and club ace on the last two tricks.

As an aside: without the diamond queen, how should you play? After drawing trump you should take the club king and then lead up to the club ace-jack. This way you pick up half the 3-3 club breaks (in that case it would be a straight guess as to who has the queen) plus whenever West has the doubleton or singleton club queen. The point is that you cannot make the hand if East has the queen and real club length.

When today’s deal came up in a local duplicate I led a spade to the first trick against three notrump. My opponent put in the jack and captured the queen with the king. Then he led a club to the king and ace. My partner won the trick and returned a spade. Declarer ducked the second spade, so I cleared the suit, but declarer ran his clubs and diamonds, and I claimed the last two tricks with the heart ace and a spade winner. Declarer claimed that he was a little unlucky not to make overtricks, with the heart ace offside and the spade queen poorly placed, and I had to bite my tongue to refrain commenting further. Who do you think earned my displeasure on the deal?

It was hard, though perhaps not impossible for my partner to have ducked the first club. Then, even if he ducks the second club as well, declarer will surely finish with no more than eight tricks, because he has no entry to his hand any more.

And that brings me to my second point of the deal. At trick one declarer had nine top winners: two spades, four diamonds and three clubs. But he has only one sure entry to the clubs, in the form of the spade king. To protect that entry, South must rise with the spade ace at trick one and play the club king from dummy at once. This way nothing will stop him taking at least nine tricks.

In today’s deal put yourself in East’s shoes. West leads the spade king; over to you.

If you were parsimonious you could give partner an “encouraging” spade five, and then blame him afterwards for not reading this as a high spade! If he misreads the position, and cashes a second top spade, the defense is over. West may guess well to exit with a trump, but declarer simply ruffs out the diamonds to establish two discards for his losing clubs and makes 10 tricks.

A helpful partner would make West’s life far easier by following with the spade queen at the first trick, promising the spade jack. The general rule about dropping an honor in these positions is that it is either shortage or a sequence solid from that card down.

That will allow partner to underlead in spades on the second round, so that you can shift to a club through declarer’s club acequeen. That lets you develop four tricks before declarer sets up the diamonds for a club discard. You had better get the defense right to this one, since four spades your way only goes one down!

Perhaps West might have bid on — his hand looks more suitable for offence than defense, and the only reason that the four spade contract goes down is your combined weak club spots. If East’s clubs were just a little better West might have made 10 tricks in spades – and four hearts might still be allowed to sneak home, if you don’t time the defense right.

Some rules are made to be broken – not on every deal, of course, but when the situation demands it. One of those rules is not to ruff your partner’s winner, but as we shall see, it may be the only route to success.

In today’s deal West’s jump to three hearts was preemptive rather than a limit raise. With the stronger hand he would have cuebid rather than jumped in his partner’s suit. East was happy to defend four spades, and in any event he judged correctly that a five-level sacrifice would be too costly.

The heart queen was overtaken by the ace for a shift to the diamond queen. Declarer preserved his entry to dummy by winning the ace and playing on clubs. East saw his partner’s club six, suggesting an even number, so ducked the first club to try to cut declarer’s communications. He won the second club to play the diamond 10 and set up a winner for his side.

Declarer won dummy’s diamond king and tried to cash a club, on which to discard his diamond loser. East ruffed low, forcing South to overruff, and now declarer needed to renter dummy to access the clubs without giving up the lead. The only practical way to achieve his target was to ruff his heart winner in dummy.

Now he led a fourth club, to neutralize East’s trump ace. That player could ruff in with his remaining trump, but South was able to discard his diamond loser and could claim the balance.

The journalist who analyzed today’s deal remarked that his side had taken a cruel beating in the second round of the Spingold Knockout Teams from Las Vegas last summer. This deal, however, was a near miss that felt especially painful.

Put yourself in declarer’s shoes. After a friendly diamond lead – the 10 holding in dummy – you play a club to the jack and king. The spade nine goes to the jack and ace. You now lead a second club: 8, 9, 10, low. So where are the missing high cards?

At the table declarer correctly decided that his RHO had the club ace, and since his LHO had bid with only the diamond queen and the club king, he must have the heart king. So he ran the heart queen, which was allowed to hold the trick.

A diamond to the ace then the heart ace and another heart now endplayed the defenders. At that point the defenders had two tricks in, and when West played a spade, declarer should have ducked in dummy.

Now if East takes his spade king, the only other trick the defenders can score is the club ace. If East ducks his spade king, declarer wins, cashes the diamond king then exits with the diamond jack. That forces West to win the diamond queen. He has a diamond winner to cash but then has to provide a stepping stone to the ninth trick in dummy in the form of the heart jack at trick 13.

In today’s deal from the Las Vegas summer nationals last summer North-South bid to three no-trump after an artificial auction, which has been simplified for the purposes of this column. Put yourself in West’s shoes: you lead the spade seven to partner’s ace. Trick two consists of the spade six, jack, queen, and the heart four from dummy. Over to you!

What happened at the table was that West played a low heart, and declarer won in dummy with the heart jack and ran the heart 10. When he didn’t overtake, West ducked. Now when clubs didn’t break, declarer had no legitimate play for nine tricks.

Had declarer overtaken the second heart, there is a defense (though West indicated that at the table he might well not have found it!) West would have had to duck the second heart, and now if declarer plays a third heart to set up his ninth trick, it squeezes dummy in the process.

So let’s revisit the best possible play and defense. After winning the heart jack, declarer cashes one club, overtakes the second heart and plays a third heart, pitching a club. If West has a club to play, the suit will break. If not, he must give declarer a trick from spades or diamonds.

And finally: if West had worked out declarer’s pattern at trick three, could or should he have found the Deschappelles Coup of shifting to the diamond queen? This devastating play creates an entry by force to the East hand, and defeats the game.