This hand, submitted to the Australian Gold Coast bulletins by Sue Lusk, demonstrated nice technique by her brother Bruce Neill from the Teams Qualifying event.

South had declared four spades on the spade-jack lead, which seems to be a moderately helpful start for declarer. East had won the spade ace and continued with spades.

Declarer could now have crossed to dummy and played a diamond to the 10, hoping for something good in either diamonds (the diamond jack doubleton or tripleton in the East hand) or the less than likely chance that the defense would not be able to play a third trump.

Declarer, however, had a seemingly better plan. He played the club king, a club to the ace, and a club ruff. It was at this point that Neill found the best defense by not accepting the “Greek gift” of an overruff, but simply discarding a heart — a diamond discard would have been fatal.

This left declarer without recourse, since if he played on diamonds, it would allow the defense to play the third trump, leaving declarer with one spade loser, one heart loser and two diamond losers.

Had West overruffed, he would have been endplayed to lead hearts or diamonds, either of which would give declarer a trick. Declarer would run the heart around to his queen, while an overruff and diamond shift would allow declarer to score two diamond tricks and a diamond ruff. Moreover, South could pitch his losing heart on the eventually established fifth club.

At the Gold Coast tournament, held in Brisbane, Australia, last February, there were not only Open and Senior events, but also Novice and Intermediate events, with everyone playing the same deals at the same time. Altogether, about 500 teams were competing simultaneously in a single room at the Gold Coast conference center.

The winners of the intermediate teams were confronted in the finals with this problem both in the bidding and the play. Each table got the auction right, playing the small slam from the South seat after learning that the trump king was missing. At one table the opening lead was a club, solving that suit for declarer. The trump finesse was offside, but the result was a straightforward plus 980 for the losing finalists.

Against Alan Currie, the declarer for the winning team, the opening lead was the spade queen. Currie won the spade ace, then played the heart jack from dummy, going up with his ace. He next played the diamond ace and a diamond to the king, followed by the spade king and a spade ruff. He now exited with a heart and claimed the rest of the tricks, not caring which opponent won the trick.

No matter whether it was East or West, that person would have to play a club, solving South’s problem in that suit, or play another suit, allowing him to ruff in hand and discard a club from dummy. Either way, he had 12 tricks in a well-played contract.

Four spades was a popular contract on this deal from the Gold Coast Teams qualifier. Not surprisingly, few managed to make it, since there appears to be a loser in each suit.

But sometimes appearances are deceptive. Let’s shift to Ishmael Del’Monte’s table, where the defenders led a heart to the king and ace and a low club back to the king and ace for a second club. Del’Monte ducked in dummy, and East put up the jack. South ruffed, then led the spade jack, ducked all around, as East threw a heart, and played a second trump.

If West had ducked, declarer would win in dummy, and cash the diamond king and ace plus the heart queen, then crossruff clubs and hearts. This way at trick 12 he scores the last trump in dummy en passant, with the defense’s diamond and spade winner falling together at trick 13.

So West won the second spade and played a third spade, won in dummy, leaving East to find two discards. One diamond and one more heart were painless enough; but when declarer ruffed a club to hand, then crossed to the diamond king to play the last trump, East was caught in a triple squeeze.

Dummy had a trump, three diamonds and the club 10 left, while declarer had Q-10-8 of hearts and ace-doubleton in diamonds. East had to discard from his doubleton heart jack, doubleton diamond jack and master club, and whatever he threw, declarer could arrange to take the rest of the tricks.

Today’s hand features a frozen suit combination – neither defender can broach the suit without losing a trick in the process.

After West leads the heart king against four spades, you have a heart and a club to lose. If you can avoid a trump loser, then you can afford to concede a diamond trick; if not, then you need an endplay and some good luck. So, win the lead, play a spade to the king, and a spade back to your ace, West showing out.

Now play a second heart. West wins the queen and exits with a heart, East following. You win in hand (discarding a club from dummy) to play the club king. West wins the ace and exits with the club jack, which you win with dummy’s queen.

Because you have three certain losers, you need to avoid losing a diamond. The only way you might achieve that is if East began with king-fourth and West with the doubleton jack, and one of them was forced to open up the suit.

You need to play East for his actual hand, one that is not so unlikely given the bidding. After all, West rates to have a shapely hand to have come in over a strong no-trump at this vulnerability. So now you must give East his trump trick by playing queen and another spade. East wins his king and tries a low diamond, which goes to West’s jack and dummy’s queen. But now you can finesse against East’s king and make your contract.

The International Bridge Press Association presented the 2011 Richard Freeman Junior Award to Cedric Lorenzini and Christophe Gosset of France for this sparkling defense. It was played during the 5th World University Bridge Championships, which were held in the National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung.

After North transferred to hearts, he offered a choice of games with his jump to three no-trump. South was happy to play no-trump with his doubleton heart.

West, Gosset, led the spade four and declarer played the 10 from dummy. East, Lorenzini, elected not to cover with his queen. He had noted the danger of dummy’s heart suit, and wished to deny declarer a possible later entry to dummy in spades. He assumed from the bidding that South held only a doubleton heart. Declarer next continued with a low heart to his jack in hand, which West ducked in tempo. South naturally continued by cashing dummy’s heart ace and king, doubtless being surprised when East showed out on the third round. When diamonds failed to break 3-3, declarer could garner no more than eight tricks.

I noticed that another of Lorenzini’s hands made the final selection for this award. That level of expertise by French juniors bodes well for the future of bridge in France. The French took two Gold Medals at the 2011 World Championships — the women in the Venice Cup and the seniors in the D’Orsi Bowl. Perhaps an influx of juniors will help their Open Team — which in recent years is not what it once was.

The Yiddish word "chutzpah" has come into fairly common usage in the English language. It roughly translates as "cheek" — but that is does not quite do justice to its implications. The best illustration of chutzpah I know is that of a person who murders his father and his mother, then throws himself upon the mercy of the court as an orphan.

Today’s hand comes from the teams event at the 2012 Australian Gold Coast Congress, held in Surfers Paradise. In action was the Irish International pairing of Tom Hanlon and Hugh McGann.

After a bidding sequence in which South, Hanlon, bid hearts naturally, he came to rest in three no-trump. West led the diamond jack, which Hanlon won with dummy’s ace. If both minor suits broke 3-3, nine tricks would be there for the taking. But there is no more than a 15 percent chance of that happening. An alternative approach would be to try to build three spade tricks. But when in with the ace, surely West would find the heart switch.

Would you care to guess which card declarer called for from dummy at trick two? It was the heart king. East won, and not wishing to assist declarer in establishing heart tricks as it appeared he was angling to do — after all, South had bid the suit — shifted to a club. South won, then played on spades. On taking the ace, West continued with clubs — and Hanlon had his nine tricks.

Against four spades West's opening lead is the club jack. Sitting East, plan the defense.

You can build up a fairly good picture of the deal: declarer surely has five spades and either king-third or king-fourth of clubs. One possibility is to win the club ace and return a top club, playing partner for a singleton club. Now a diamond return will scuttle the contract, assuming declarer has two or more diamonds and one heart or more. If you are wrong about partner having a singleton club, though, declarer rates to be able to win the club king, draw trump, then set up hearts to pitch his diamond loser.

An alternative approach — one that is rather more likely to succeed — is to assume declarer has just three clubs. If so, the main threat on the deal from your perspective is those heart winners in dummy.

It is imperative that you dislodge dummy’s diamond ace before declarer knocks out your heart ace. At trick two, instead of playing for the club ruff, you must switch to the diamond king. If declarer ducks, then you must revert to clubs (rather than continuing with diamonds) and set up a second club trick. If declarer wins the diamond ace and plays a top heart, you will have to guess to duck.

Note that as the cards lie, a low-diamond shift at trick two is not sufficient. Declarer wins the queen in hand and draws trump, then establishes hearts for 11 tricks.

Today's deal comes from the annual match between the Houses of Commons and Lords in 2009. Crockford's Club hosted the event, which was won by the Lords, by the tiny margin of 110 aggregate points, a form of rubber bridge scoring being utilized. Their overall lead in the series is currently 21-17.

In this deal the focus is on the defense, so cover up the East and South hands to see if you can do better than our West. Against three no-trump (reached after a weak no-trump from South) West led the club six to East’s ace and that player continued with the queen. When this held the trick, he shifted to a heart. Declarer won, knocked out the diamond ace, then claimed his game.

Can you see how the defense could have done better? Clearly West hoped that East held a third club, but he should have realized that it was not necessary for him to do so. A close inspection of the spot cards should have led to the correct defense of overtaking East’s club queen with the king and returning the seven to knock out South’s stopper in the suit while West still held the diamond ace.

This risked giving up an undertrick unnecessarily when East had started with three clubs, but guaranteed the defeat of the contract. After South’s Stayman response, he could surely take no more than three heart tricks, four spades, and the club winner.