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?

Today's deal has nothing too subtle in it. All you need to do is to concentrate on your opponent's carding.

When West leads the club three against your contract of three no-trump, you win East’s nine with your queen. You play a heart to dummy’s queen and East’s ace, and East continues with the club jack. Plan the play.

East has kindly told you the exact layout of the club suit. If you think about it, you know West is likely to have four clubs, and East’s first two plays in the suit mean he must have the J-10-9, mustn’t he?

You should win the club to leave the suit blocked, and play a second heart. West will win and can play a low club to East’s 10. But since there is no longer any communication for the two defensive hands, you can later take a spade finesse into the safe, East, hand for your ninth trick. If you made the mistake of ducking the club jack, you will go down when East continues the suit.

Of course, one deal doesn’t prove anything, but there is certainly a case that one might make for steering clear of leading from a four-card suit headed by a single honor. Both diamonds and clubs are unattractive combinations to lead from — not that anything else is that much better, though I might well opt for the doubleton spade as more passive.

The Dyspeptics Club recently contacted the Guinness Book of World Records to enter South as the luckiest man in the world, based on the number of honor cards he averages per deal. But as North bitterly remarked, the high-cards he is dealt fall by the wayside, since he never seems to make the contracts that require more than a modicum of care. And today's deal was especially painful, since if one cannot focus one's attention in a grand slam, when can one do so?

After the lead of the diamond king to the ace, South cashed the spade ace, drew trump with the aid of the finesse, and tried to make something of the minor suits. Alas, when clubs were not 3-3 and East could retain control of the diamond suit, the contract had to go down one.

South was extremely unlucky to run into a 4-0 trump break, but since that was his only concern in the deal, he should have taken steps at trick two to cope with a 4-0 break with East having the length.

The correct play is to win the diamond ace, take a diamond ruff, and only then to play a spade to the ace. Now take a second diamond ruff, lead a heart to the king, play a spade to the 10, then unblock the spade king, lead a club to the ace, cash the spade queen, and claim. You make four trumps in dummy and two ruffs in hand, three hearts, three clubs and a diamond.

As South, one of my correspondents received the lead of the spade queen against three no-trump in a multiple team event. Do you win or duck? Decide before reading further.

Our first declarer thought for a moment before playing low from the board. East overtook with the king and returned a spade. Declarer won in dummy, perforce, and crossed to hand to take the club finesse, but when it lost, East played a heart through, sending the contract down two.

At the next table, declarer thought for a long time before winning the spade ace at the first trick in an attempt to block the suit. East decided to play low, playing for the layout in spades to look approximately like it did. Declarer came to hand and tried the club finesse, but when it lost, East unblocked his spade king. The heart switch led to two down again.

At table three, my correspondent also won the opening lead, and East correctly refrained from unblocking. Here declarer made the correct move at trick two when he led a heart to his king and West’s ace. West won and reverted to spades, but there was no entry to the long suit, so declarer came home with his game.

But note that if West had ducked his heart ace, declarer would have gone down, whether he played on hearts or clubs. After a second heart, West would set up the suit for his partner, while East still had the club king for an entry.