I was saddened to hear of the death of Bobby Richman, an American who moved to Australia and represented that country internationally for over two decades. When you look at all four hands here, you may wonder how Richman could make four hearts — and indeed, the solution is extremely elegant.

Although declarer can eventually set up the diamonds, the defenders will by then have taken two diamonds and two clubs. But after West led a low trump, Richman won the ace, overtook the trump queen with the king, and played three more rounds of trumps, throwing two clubs and a diamond from the dummy and squeezing East.

East could afford two small clubs. But on the next trump he could not throw a spade, or declarer would establish a long spade in dummy with a spade ruff — having the diamond ace as the entry to it. Nor could he discard a diamond, or declarer would set up that suit for one loser. East therefore bared the club ace. No harm appears to have been done yet, but Richman now ducked a diamond, West winning and switching to a club to East’s ace.

That player had no club to return, so shifted to a spade. Declarer won with the king and continued with ace and another diamond, setting up that suit. It was East who won the trick, perforce. With no club left, he had to play a spade to the ace, and declarer now discarded his remaining club on the long diamond.

One of my more prolific correspondents is Tim Bourke from Australia, who has written about the arcane side of bridge as well as expounding on basic technique. He sent me this fascinating deal that he had played recently, which includes elements of both sides of the game.

For those of you who prefer the auction using standard methods, I suggest you focus simply on how to make four spades, without worrying about the strong-club opening bid.

The spade game looks to be off a trick in each suit, but on a heart lead to the ace and a shift to the diamond queen (reasonable enough, though a heart continuation would have worked better), the hand can now be made, despite the bad trump break.

Bourke took the diamond ace, cashed just two top spades, finding the bad news, then played the club king (carefully unblocking the eight from dummy). West took his ace, then got out with the club nine to the 10, jack and queen.

Now Bourke cashed the remaining high spade and exited with a spade to West. That player had nothing but hearts left, and was obliged to lead the heart queen. Bourke ruffed with his last trump, led the club two to dummy’s seven to allow him to cash dummy’s heart winner and discard his diamond loser, then was able to come back to hand by leading dummy’s priceless club four to his five, to cash the club three at trick 13.

As today's quotation suggests, there is nothing new under the sun. Likewise, in bridge most themes have been seen before. I am however indebted to Jean-Paul Meyer for the idea of this deal, which sees you reach four spades in the teeth of a strong no-trump overcall by East. Given the vulnerability, you would assume he therefore has at least a decent 15-count.

When the club 10 is led, East overtakes and cashes his club winners. You ruff the third, and would presumably settle down to a quick count of the hand, which suggests East has all the missing high cards.

When you play the spade king, you are hoping West has two spades or a bare 10. No luck today; East wins the third spade and exits in clubs. Whatever you do now, you won’t succeed.

The winning line is counterintuitive, but essentially fail-safe. Instead of leading a spade to the ace, give up the first spade to East by leading to dummy’s jack! Win the likely spade return, cash the two top hearts (a maneuver known as the Vienna Coup, setting up your heart jack as the threat in that suit). Then run the spades, and you can guarantee that East will be squeezed in the red suits. After five rounds of spades, three clubs, and two hearts, you will have the heart jack and two diamonds in hand, the ace-king-jack of diamonds in dummy, and if you haven’t seen the heart queen appear, you will play diamonds from the top.

Consider the play in five diamonds, on the lead of the top spade. You appear to have one heart and at least one club to lose.

You could cross to the heart ace and simply take a club finesse for the contract. However another possibility is to win the spade and play ace and a second heart — trying to duck the heart into West, so that you can establish the suit without letting East on lead for the fatal club shift. If you follow that line, you might duck the first heart if West follows with the king.

An alternative approach that has a lot to recommend it is to play West for all three spade honors. Instead of requiring the heart king to be well-placed, try winning the first spade, crossing to the heart ace, then leading the spade 10 and discarding your heart loser. West wins and can do little but play a trump back. You win in dummy, ruff a heart high, go back to a trump to ruff another heart high, and use the diamond nine as the entry to dummy to cash the three heart winners to pitch club losers. You end up scoring one spade, six diamonds and four heart tricks.

If the spade jack turns up in East, you can always fall back on West’s having the bare heart king left. If that is not so, then the defenders will win, play clubs, and you are little worse off than before.

Techniques for defending against possible squeezes can be found in the literature, but less has been written about the concept of persuading declarer that you have been squeezed when, in fact, you have not. This deal is an amusing example.

After the Stayman sequence, North showed diamonds and a major, game-forcing, then jumped to slam when the fit came to light. Six diamonds was not a bad contract, of course, superficially depending on the heart suit yielding four tricks, but with considerable extra chances if the spade king was onside.

Declarer covered the spade jack with dummy’s queen, then ducked the spade king, won the spade continuation, and ruffed a spade high in dummy. Then he cashed the club ace (a maneuver known as the Vienna Coup, catering for the possibility of either defender’s holding the guarded heart jack as well as the club king and queen) and followed by running five rounds of trumps.

From West’s point of view it seemed sure that declarer held the heart queen but not the jack (for then he would have claimed). It was essential to try to persuade South that the heart jack was guarded. West discarded first the spade 10, then the club nine, 10 and king (carefully preserving the club four and his three low hearts).

Convinced that West had shed all his clubs in order to keep four hearts, declarer cashed the heart king and queen, then finessed the 10 – only to lose the last two tricks.

Among the brotherhood of bridge writers, Frank Stewart is someone I would be happy to call a friend. His new handbook of basic bidding, "What's Your Call?" helps the average player improve his valuation skills.

The book is far more about judgment than system. Today’s deal is a 26-card example in which Frank quotes the North hand at the point where the auction has reached five spades. He recommends a raise to six spades. South rates to need trump honors and you have more than your fair share.

The play might be stimulating if diamonds and spades do not break. South ruffs the club lead, takes the trump king and jack, both ducked, then crosses to the diamond ace to continue drawing trumps. East wins the third trump and exits with a second club, letting declarer take the ace, ruff a club, then draw the last trump. West can let go one heart and one club, but on the fourth trump he must keep his diamonds and two clubs. So he comes down to a singleton heart.

Declarer pitches a diamond and a club from dummy on the spades and plays the diamond ace and king. On finding the bad break, he must next lead the heart jack. East has to cover with the queen. When West’s 10 appears, declarer can later finesse against the heart nine for his contract.

The book can be obtained (autographed on request) from Frank Stewart, $23.95 postpaid at P.O. Box 962, Fayette AL 35555. All profits go to local Alabama charities.

Today's deal occurred in the Mitchell Open Board-a-Match Teams at the San Francisco Nationals last fall.

The defense to two spades started well, with West leading the diamond queen, overtaken by the king. Rank, East, switched to the club nine, and declarer, Norberto Bocchi gave the matter some thought. When West played the club queen, Bocchi made the fine play of ducking to cut the defenders’ communication.

West continued with the club five, which Bocchi took in dummy to lead a diamond. That gave Rank, East, his first problem: Should he win or duck? Rank decided correctly that his partner’s second club (a high one in context) was suit preference – thus he should not hold the diamond jack. Rank played the diamond ace and next played a third diamond. If declarer had ruffed, West could have overruffed and given Rank a club ruff for down one. Bocchi foiled that plan, however, by pitching the club jack on the third diamond. This play seems counterintuitive, but now the defenders could score only one further trump winner – there was no club ruff and no diamond overruff.

Contract made, a result that swung a full board because East-West at the other table had made plus 90 in two diamonds. Note, though, that as Rank pointed out, he could have defeated the contract with the inspired shift to a trump instead of playing the third diamond. West would have won the ace and given his partner the club ruff; then the third diamond re-promotes the trump queen.

Today’s deal comes from a regional Swiss at the San Francisco Nationals. As they came back to score up, West was grumbling that his opponents had caught a lucky break by staying out of a game that could not be made because of a bad trump break. Fortunately, he had not taken into account the resourcefulness of his teammates – Josh Donn and Roger Lee.

They had bid their way to four hearts after Donn had produced a Bergen raise of one heart to three clubs, showing a heart raise of four or more cards, with less than limit-raise values.

West led a helpful club jack, and Lee won and led a diamond up. West correctly took the diamond ace and exited with a diamond. (Yes, a passive club makes declarer’s task far harder, but he can still just about survive.)

Lee took the diamond king, pitching a spade from hand, and led a heart from dummy. East’s discard revealed the bad trump split, and Lee put up the heart king, taken by West with the ace. A second club went to Lee’s ace, and he followed with a club ruff, diamond ruff, the spade king and a spade to the ace.

In the four-card ending, Lee ruffed a diamond to hand, while West helplessly followed suit, then exited with his losing spade. Not only did West have to ruff her partner’s winner, but she then had to lead into declarer’s heart tenace at trick 12. Contract made!

When Jeff Aker and his teammates — Doug Simson, Bryan Maksymetz and Larry Chao — won the Monday Compact Knockout, Bracket I at San Francisco, this deal materially helped their cause. Against four hearts doubled, West led his singleton spade to the king and Aker's ace. A diamond to the queen and ace allowed East to give his partner a spade ruff.

Aker now ruffed West’s continuation of the club ace and led a heart from hand. West correctly split his heart honors, so Aker took the heart 10 with dummy’s king, then finessed in diamonds by leading to the 10. He could next cash the diamond king to pitch dummy’s spade for his fifth trick.

Aker next ruffed his diamond as West pitched a club, then ruffed a club to hand. Now if Aker had led his top spade, West would have ruffed high and returned a trump. That would have left South with a spade loser. Instead, Aker played his low spade. It would not have helped West to ruff high, because Aker would have had only winners left. So West discarded another club, and Aker ruffed the spade in dummy, ruffed a club to hand, and cashed the heart ace for his 10th trick.

Can you spot the defense that East-West missed? East had to return the spade jack rather than a low spade at trick three. Now declarer cannot discard the spade from dummy on the diamond, as it would have been a winner that he would be throwing away.