Deception is an important part of the game. This is easier to attempt when you are declarer than when you are a defender, because in the latter case there is always the danger that partner may be the one deceived. However, opportunities for defensive deception do crop up from time to time.

Put yourself in declarer’s shoes in four spades, when West leads a top club and East contributes the three, showing no interest. West continues with a second top club on which East plays the jack — a suit-preference signal for a heart. West now switches to the heart four. What would you do as declarer?

There are two possible lines of play: You can play low on the heart, hoping West has led away from the king, or you can rise with the heart ace, cash the spade ace-king and the diamond king-queen, and then cross to dummy with the club queen (presumably if East had been ruffing the third club, West would have continued with another club at trick three), in the hopes that the diamond jack would fall, giving you two heart discards.

It is all a question of who you are playing against. In truth, though, the odds of the first line are significantly better than the second line since you can also cope with some bad trump breaks. So unless I was convinced that East was a very honest fellow, I would prefer the first line; but I would congratulate East for doing his best to deceive me.

In today's heart game the Polish declarer in an International match won the club lead and immediately played a heart to the ace and another heart. East won her king and played a second club, ruffed in hand. Declarer now led a spade to dummy's 10 and East's jack. Back came a spade, but West withheld her king, of course. Now declarer could discard only one diamond from her hand. She had to broach diamonds herself, and inevitably lost two tricks in the suit for one down.

In truth, this was an uninspired effort. Declarer should win the club ace and ruff a club at trick two. Now when she plays ace and another heart, East would be endplayed. If she plays a spade, declarer has no losers in that suit and can afford two diamond losers. If East plays a diamond, declarer makes three tricks in that suit and loses only the ace. Giving her a ruff and discard makes things very easy for South.

This swing turned out to be especially important, since the North-South pair in the other room had defended three clubs for two down, when South had not thought her hand worth an overcall at adverse vulnerability. Accordingly, it turned out to be a sizeable pick-up in one direction, instead of the swing going the other way, had the game been brought home.

Incidentally, would you have overcalled as South? I think you have to bid. Too dangerous is no excuse…

In today's deal North gambled that his side was not missing the two top hearts — or that the defenders would not cash them if they had them. His jump to five no-trumps was an effort to get to diamonds if his partner had a good four-card suit or five diamonds, since North could see that a spade slam might require a decent trump break if South had honor-third of spades. Meanwhile, from South's perspective he knew his diamonds were good, but was not sure if his partner had the spade queen.

Against six diamonds the lead of the club jack left South contemplating safety plays in the trump suit, such as cashing the ace, or even taking both top trumps, then playing a crossruff. He won the club ace and led a low diamond from dummy, and when the queen appeared, a different conundrum presented itself. If West had four trumps, it might be difficult to take two club ruffs in dummy and retain an entry to the spades. South found the answer when he ducked the diamond queen. He won the heart shift in hand and ruffed a club, came to the diamond ace and ruffed a second club, then used the spade king as his entry to hand to draw trumps, discarding dummy’s heart losers.

He ended up scoring five spades, three trumps, two aces, and two ruffs for his 12 tricks. And note that with the heart finesse losing and diamonds not behaving, the odds are stacked against declarer in six spades.

The old ways were not always the best ways, but it is undeniable that it was far easier for South to reach slam on today's deal by opening a strong two than it would have been had he opened one spade and jumped to three hearts. Meanwhile one must also give North credit for cooperating in the slam venture with only three trumps, a move that might not have worked out as well as it did had South had less robust trumps.

Against six hearts, West led the diamond king. You may care to plan the play and see if you can do as well as the declarer at the table did. The point of the deal is that slam is easy to make if spades break 3-3, and you are also well placed if it is East with spade length. But you can improve on your basic chances by a spot of jiu-jitsu.

Win the diamond ace and play ace, king and another spade. If West discards or ruffs in you should be able to maneuver to take two ruffs in dummy – whether it is two spades or one spade and one diamond. But when West follows to the third spade, you must take care to discard dummy’s diamond. You can win the trump return in hand and ruff a diamond low, play the club ace and ruff a club, then later ruff a spade high in the dummy and come back to hand with another club ruff to draw trump and take the 13th trick with your long spade.

Would you balance here as East over one heart? Doing so is fraught with danger. Though partner is marked with some values, he has not overcalled, so the opponents rate to be able to outbid you, and you just might push them into a makeable game.

However, one intrepid East bid two diamonds; South showed a good hand with clubs and hearts (yes, doubling for take-out was a sensible option) and now North re-assessed his hand and jumped to game.

West led and continued diamonds, and South ruffed and cashed the heart ace and king. Then he set about clubs, ruffing the fourth in dummy, while East discarded two diamonds. Any attempt to ruff a diamond back to hand to draw the last trump was likely to be overruffed by West, but South found a neat solution. He led a diamond from dummy, and discarded a spade. East led his last diamond, and again declarer threw a spade. Fresh out of other suits, East was forced to return a spade, which South won with dummy’s ace, then ruffed a spade back to hand and drew the last trump.

East, it proved, was doubly wrong. First in re-opening and pushing North-South to a game they would not otherwise have reached; and second by failing to defeat it. Suppose that he discards one diamond and one spade on the clubs. Then, if the play goes as before, he has a fifth diamond to play, and West’s heart jack is promoted for the setting trick.

In today's cautionary tale a correspondent wrote to me to say that sometimes in a teams match you may think you have done well on a particular board but overlook the problems your teammates may have had in the other room. South was pleased with his result in the following deal … until it was scored-up!

Against four spades West led her singleton diamond, which declarer won. She then ran the spade jack, which held (as the cards lay, it would not have helped West to cover). She followed this with four rounds of clubs, discarding both hearts from hand. Then she ruffed a heart and played a diamond. West discarded a heart and East won with the king. In the five-card ending it did not matter whether East played a diamond or a heart.

At the table she played the diamond five. Declarer inserted the seven, West ruffed in with the nine and dummy overruffed. Declarer then ruffed another heart to hand and played his last diamond. Whether West ruffed in with the queen or ruffed low, South had to make two more tricks.

Contract made, but at the other table, East opened one diamond, South overcalled one spade and North raised straight to four spades. How could East not take another bid? She bid four no-trump to show her two-suiter, correcting five clubs to five diamonds. West ended up conceding 1100 in five hearts doubled, and my correspondent finished up losing heavily on the board.

When the opponents open a weak-two bid and your partner doubles, how do you show this South hand? The answer is that if playing simple methods, a jump to three spades is the best you can do. If you play that a call of two no-trump would be Lebensohl (weak with either minor or invitational with four spades) then a direct jump to three spades would show a five-card suit.

At our featured table South showed his values and bid his spades directly, and North quite reasonably took a try at the slam. With the duplication of shapes, South found himself in a challenging spot, but he was equal to the task.

After West led the club three, declarer won the king and drew trumps. Then he cashed the diamond king and ace, crossed to hand with the club ace, and ruffed his last diamond. After taking his remaining club winner, South had reached the critical moment in the deal. With hearts 5-2, what was the likely lie of the heart honors? Declarer decided that West was likely to hold both heart honors — but that additionally East might not defend correctly if he had the doubleton king.

A low heart was led from dummy, and when East unconcernedly followed with a small heart, declarer put in the heart 10 from hand. West took the trick and returned a low heart. Declarer ran it to his hand and claimed 12 tricks when East played small.

A few years ago, the Mixed Teams at the European Championship (held in Antalya) was won by an England-Israeli combination. Although they did less well the next time out, even in what was a disappointing performance overall they still had some opportunities to show their class.

At some tables North-South were playing a strong-club system, so North opened one diamond, leading to an eventual contract of five diamonds by North. East led a top spade, (who would not?) and that was the end of the defensive prospects.

But Lilo and Matilda Poplilov bid to five diamonds, with Lilo as South becoming declarer. West, who had opened the bidding to show both majors and had doubled five diamonds, led the club 10, which looked suspiciously like a singleton. If declarer simply plays a diamond, West wins, puts East in with a spade, and a club ruff sinks the contract.

There was a no-cost play, found by Lilo, which gave him the extra chance of West being asleep! Declarer won the club ace, then played ace, king and another heart, discarding his spade four. When West (who had not unblocked his honors) had to win the heart, he could not put his partner in to get the ruff; so the game rolled home. A classic, if flawed example of a Scissors Coup.

Would you, as West, have been alert enough to unblock two of your heart honors in order to let your partner win the third round of the suit?

These days bridge has become far more level at the top than it was 20 years ago. And this is especially so in the women's game. This can be seen by the fact that while the top countries (USA, Italy, China, France, England, Netherlands) almost always qualify for the later stages of the world championships, there are many other countries who can upset the seeding books, and frequently do.

Spain is just one of those countries, and Nuria Almirall demonstrated her talents here. She found herself in a pretty awful spot, on this deal from the European Championships, but did not give up hope.

Almirall had reached six clubs as South after an auction where both players might have done just a little too much — though it is hard to criticize either player, North should probably not go past three no-trump with such poor controls.

Clearly one might succeed by finding a singleton heart king, but Nuria did better than that. She won the diamond lead in dummy, cashed dummy’s other diamond, then played the spade ace and king and ruffed a spade. Now she cashed one more diamond, ruffed the fourth diamond with a master trump in dummy and exited with the club queen.

West won her bare ace, and was forced to open up hearts or concede a ruff-and discard. She played a heart, and Nuria was not going to spoil a good piece of reporting by misguessing whether to put in the 10 or queen, was she?