Last year Tim Bourke of Australia teamed up with Jason Corfield to construct a fascinating book, "The Art of Declarer Play". This consists of tough problems, together with a primer of how to think like an expert.

Here is a deal from the book. Against four spades West leads the diamond king and continues with a low diamond to the ace, for a switch to a heart. You rise with the heart ace; your move.

If West has two clubs and one spade, you can unblock your club honors before leading a spade to the ace. Then, after discarding your heart losers on the club ace-jack, you go back to spades.

However, if West has two spades and one club West would ruff the second round of clubs then, cash the heart king, and give East a heart ruff. (In this case you should simply draw trumps, since you only need to take three club tricks.)

Which line should you play? Neither – the best if surprising line of play is to immediately run the spade nine or 10 from hand! If West follows small, you duck the trick into the safe hand. Now you can win the return, cash the spade king and then play the club king-queen. This play also succeeds when West is void in trumps.

If West covers the spade 10 with an honor, you take dummy’s ace and finesse East for the remaining trump honor. You lose to West’s holding of Q-J doubleton of spades, but make the rest of the time.

In England the Houses of Lords and Commons have an annual bridge match scored on total points. Recently the closest finish in the series 34-year history saw the Lords winning by just 110 points.

This deal might have swung the balance, since the correct play was missed at every table. But would you have done better? Plan the play in three no-trump by South on the lead of the spade queen.

It looked natural to win the lead in hand and clear the diamonds. East could win the fourth diamond and continue the attack on spades. Declarer ducked, then won the spade continuation, and could now cash the long diamond and take a heart finesse.

That was the eighth trick, but since declarer could not take another heart finesse there was no way home. Can you see how declarer should have done better?

Declarer was correct to go after diamonds initially. However, when West shows out on the second round, declarer knows he cannot avoid a diamond loser and that entries to dummy for the heart finesse are at a premium.

Instead of allowing the diamond queen to win, South should flout convention and overtake it with dummy’s ace. After a successful heart finesse, declarer plays another diamond. As before, East wins and continues spades but now declarer wins, then cashes the master diamonds and repeats the heart finesse. When East’s heart king falls, declarer emerges with no fewer than 10 tricks.

The Spring Foursomes takes place over a single weekend bridge every spring in England. Most of the best British teams and an increasing overseas contingent take part in a double-elimination, format. This is a normal knock-out but one where you have to lose twice in order to be out of the main competition.

Today’s deal is from the first round of a recent event, where West chose an unfortunate low club lead against four hearts. Declarer now led a sneaky low diamond towards the king, hoping that it would hold, and that dummy’s other diamond could be discarded on a club. However, West rose with the diamond ace to play a second club, and declarer won dummy’s king.

Next came a trump to the 10 and ace, followed by another trump. West won his queen and was faced with the critical decision on the deal. When he compounded his earlier error by continuing with a third round of clubs, declarer took the club ace, discarding dummy’s diamond king, then ruffed a club in dummy.

Now, knowing West had long hearts and long clubs, he simply needed to work out how many spades West had. When he cashed one top spade and saw the queen appear (yes this would have been a fine false-card from queen-doubleton) he reverted to trumps. West could do no better than win his king and then give declarer access to his hand. That let declarer draw trumps, cash his minor-suit winners, and take trick 13 with a top spade.

Yesterday's deal from Augie Boehm's excellent new memoir, Big Deal, saw a successful bluff. Today's deal shows Boehm also using poker skills, but this time drawing the right conclusion from the 'tell' that only an expert can detect.

At the table the auction went as shown, but Boehm sensed that East had flickered before passing, and inferred that he must have been contemplating doubling three no-trump, to call for the lead of dummy’s first-bid suit, hearts. This conclusion was one Boehm drew at his own risk — if he was wrong he would have had no recourse.

At the table West led a low spade, and Boehm captured East’s king with his ace. To make the contract, Boehm apparently required East to be dealt queen-third in diamonds and West three small diamonds — no better than one chance in six. The normal line of play would be to lead to the king and finesse the jack on the way back.

But now remember East’s ‘tell’. He was surely favorite to hold both top hearts, as he would scarcely consider doubling three no-trump with less. The spade king was already known, and if he had also been dealt the diamond queen he would have opened the bidding. Thus Boehm posited West with the diamond queen. Reasoning this way, Boehm decided on a backward finesse — leading the diamond jack and planning to run it, finessing against the diamond 10 in East if necessary. In fact when West did not cover the jack, Boehm let the jack ride; result, happiness!

In today’s column we feature a deal from the latest book by Augie Boehm, a noted bridge player and pianist. The book is ‘Big Deal’– both a memoir and a teaching tool.

During the auction South made a cardinal error when he preempted then bid again in competition. He might have done better to open one spade, but having initially underbid, he endplayed himself into a later indiscretion. Of course if he had passed five hearts, North would have happily collected a sizable penalty.

Against five spades doubled, Boehm’s famous pianist partner Leonard Pennario led the heart jack. If South had routinely covered with dummy’s queen, East would have been compelled to win, and with an easy shift to his singleton diamond queen he would have collected his penalty of plus 300.

But when South didn’t cover with dummy’s queen, Boehm had a problem. Overtaking to shift to diamonds would work poorly if West held the diamond ace. If so, dummy’s hearts could be established for discards of South’s losing diamonds.

At trick one, Boehm therefore discouraged with the heart two. Pennario realized that Boehm must have both top hearts when his jack held, but he must have discouraged the continuation for a reason. He therefore accurately shifted to the diamond ace and gave his partner the ruff for plus 500.

Boehm comments sagely that average opponents usually assume an expert knows what he is doing, hence South’s sacrifice over five hearts. This is one of the reasons bridge experts often excel at Poker; play the opponents not the hand.

If simple arithmetic tells you that your partner is highly unlikely to have an entry, there may be a better defense than trying to set up his suit and hoping for a miracle.

Against three no-trumps West led the heart 10 and East overtook with the queen. South played low on this trick, and ducked again on the continuation of the heart king. East now continued with a third round of hearts, and South won and set about the diamonds. East was able to come to his ace and queen, but that was all; nine tricks made.

By adding up declarer’s and dummy’s high cards East should know that West can have a jack at most. Since the spade or diamond jack cannot help the defenders’ cause, the only suit in which the defenders might be able to establish an extra trick is clubs. For this to transpire, West must be assumed to hold the 10. Accordingly leading a third heart could accomplish nothing, and more importantly, it was a waste of a tempo.

Having taken his two heart tricks, and with the confidence of two more tricks to come from diamonds, East should have switched to his low club at trick three. If South held the club 10, along with the ace and queen that arithmetic tells you he possesses, then nothing has been lost – even assuming declarer guesses to put in the 10. But, on the actual lie of the cards, so long as East returns a club each time he comes on lead in diamonds, he can defeat the game.

This defensive problem proved too hard for the pair who encountered it at the table, when John Lusky, declarer, had competed to three hearts in the expectation of buying a little more high-cards or shape from dummy. Before we come to the play at the table, do you put your money on declarer or the defense?

Against three hearts doubled West led the club nine. What East did at the table was to win the ace and return the heart nine — which was clearly an inferior play since it might have destroyed his partner’s second trump trick or solved a guess for declarer.

While he had not actually committed either of these solecisms, it left his partner forced to guess at trick three in which suit his side had further defensive tricks to come.

At the table, West shifted to a spade on winning the heart king (playing for his partner to have the queen-jack of spades and not the diamond jack. Now declarer could draw trump and dispose of one of his diamonds on the long spade. Cui culpa?

East’s winning move at trick two would have been to return either the club seven or the club 10, in context suit preference for the low suit. West then has to rise with the heart king on the first round of the suit and shift to diamonds, playing for precisely this position. But he should know East doesn’t have, for example, the queen-jack of spades, or he would have returned a high club at trick two.

Today's deal from the Phoenix nationals cropped up in the second qualifying session of the Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs.

In three clubs doubled dummy’s shape is no doubt a disappointment to you, but you have to make the best of your contract. You receive repeated spade leads: play on. At the table declarer went down one for a near bottom instead of making his game for a top score. See if you can do better.

The auction has told you that spades are 4-4 and clubs surely 3-3, so is it too much to expect both opponents to be 4-3-3-3 given that East would have bid hearts had he held them? Yes, you would need West to hold the diamond jack, but that is hardly an unreasonable request.

So you ruff the second spade, play a diamond to dummy’s 10 (whew!), ruff a second spade, play a diamond to the ace, ruff a third spade, and now exit with a club to the ace and a second club. In practice, when East follows with a low trump, you will see West win the club jack and return a heart. By now you know West has three or four HCP in clubs and the spade ace-king plus the diamond jack. East’s double of two no-trumps and three clubs must therefore include both the heart king and queen, so you duck the first heart honor East plays. Now in the two-card ending the defenders are endplayed to give you your ninth trick.

Although the defenders can take a spade ruff to beat six hearts on this deal from the second semifinal session of the Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs from Phoenix last fall, many declarers were given the chance to make slam after the West player had given away his spade holding by an incautious overcall or double.

On a passive trump lead, declarer can play West for a singleton spade jack or spade nine, by stripping off the hand and leading the spade king from hand. If you guess well, you might succeed against a doubleton holding of one of these cards. An alternative and winning approach would have got your name in the Daily Bulletin.

After a heart lead you win in hand draw a second round of trumps. If they didn’t split you would need to take a club finesse against East now but when hearts are 2-2 you ruff out the clubs, then the diamonds. You have reduced everyone down to five cards, and you have four spades and one trump in hand, with three spades and two trumps in dummy, and the lead in South.

At this point you must lead the spade king from hand, to which West has no answer. He must win or you will simply lead to the spade queen next. However, after taking his spade ace he is endplayed, forced to lead away from the spade jack round to your 10 or offer a ruff-sluff by playing his diamond.