In today's deal, West leads the heart 10 against what turns out to be a fairly shaky no-trump slam. (Maybe a jump to five no-trump by North to offer a choice of slams would have been more sensible.) East wins the heart ace and returns the three to your king. What is your plan to make your contract?

Obviously, you need East to have the club king to have any chance of making your contract. If he has that card and clubs are 3-2, then almost any plan will succeed. When he has four clubs headed by the king, you will need West to have at least two diamonds, but suppose that West has four diamonds.

The simple line is to win the second heart, lead a diamond to the king, then take a club finesse. When you next cash the diamond ace and lead a diamond toward dummy, West meanly puts in the 10, robbing you of an entry to dummy. Now you need clubs to split 3-2, since you have no more entries to the board.

A better line is to win the diamond ace at trick three, then lead the diamond jack and overtake it if West follows suit. You take a club finesse and are left with the Q-9 of diamonds in dummy facing two small diamonds in hand. Whatever the original lie of the diamonds, you can now insure two further entries to dummy to allow you to take two more finesses in clubs and bring home your slam.

Today's deal is a relatively simple example of good judgment both in the bidding and play of the hand. Let's look at the auction first.

South made the decision to upgrade his 17-count into the range above a strong no-trump because of the conjunction of aces plus a chunky five-card suit. So he jumped to two no-trump at his second turn, and North had a simple raise to game in no-trump.

West led the heart seven, and declarer, not wanting a spade shift, took East’s queen with the ace. After cashing the king and jack of clubs, then finessing against East’s club 10, she played off her remaining club winners, West discarding three spades and two diamonds.

Now South had reached the decision point of the hand, when he led the diamond queen. It had become clear that if West had the diamond king, South would always make three no-trump, either by running the queen or rising with the diamond ace and playing a diamond back to the 10. Even if West could duck the second diamond, declarer would still have nine top winners (two diamonds, five clubs and the major-suit aces).

The advantage of going up with the diamond ace was that it was a safety play, in that while giving up overtricks if West had the diamond king, it would bring home the contract when East had begun with a singleton king. So South called for the diamond ace, and when the king fell, proceeded to make 12 tricks.

Against four hearts West began with three top clubs, South ruffing the third round. This hand boils down to playing the trumps for one loser, which is best done by assuming East has the heart queen.

West could have defeated four hearts after cashing the club ace and king by shifting to a diamond to dislodge an entry from dummy.

But West played the third club — as I suspect we all might do. With no particularly deep plan in mind, South ruffed and cashed the spade ace, overtook the spade queen with the king, and led the heart three to the 10. When it held, he crossed to dummy with the diamond 10 and ruffed a spade, then went back to dummy with a second diamond to the queen and led the heart eight. If East played low, declarer would let the heart eight hold, then lead out dummy’s top spade and remain in dummy for a trump coup. If East covered the eight with his ace, he would have to lead a diamond, and declarer could take dummy’s ace and be in dummy for the trump coup.

There is one trap in the deal (though I do not think many defenders would get this right for the right reasons). If declarer leads the heart eight from dummy at trick six, instead of the low trump, East can defeat the game by winning his ace and returning a diamond. Then declarer does not have enough entries to dummy for the trump coup.

Against four spades West led the club jack, which not only began to set up tricks for the defenders, but also threatened the entries to dummy. Declarer could see that he was in jeopardy of losing two tricks in each of the minors, with no particularly convenient way to establish a discard for himself.

At one table declarer decided to delay taking the club finesse leaving himself the option of playing for the doubleton club king on his right, rather than taking the club finesse immediately. He rose with the ace, drew trumps, cashed the heart ace, then played ace and another diamond. East won the diamond queen and exited with a low heart, letting declarer shake his second diamond loser. However, when the club king failed to behave, he was down a trick.

In the other room South decided to take the club finesse immediately. East did the right thing when he won the club king and returned the suit. Now declarer fell back on a finesse for his contract. Can you see which finesse? He unblocked the heart ace, then led a spade to the eight, trying to create an extra entry to dummy. When the spade eight held, he ran the heart queen to pitch his club loser.

West could win the heart ace and lead either minor, but nothing could stop South from crossing back to the spade ace and pitching one of his slow diamond losers on the heart jack for his 10th trick.

Against South's contract of three no-trump, from a pair game, West obediently led the spade eight, and most declarers sensibly held up the spade ace for one round, but then took the second spade trick.

The contract could not be made without bringing in the club suit, so some players took the simplistic approach of playing ace, and another club to West’s king, whereupon 10 tricks rolled in.

At other tables the more astute Wests unblocked their club king under declarer’s ace, appreciating that their partner must hold the jack. Otherwise, why had South not entered dummy and led toward his club jack, to keep East, the danger hand, off lead?

Another declarer crossed to dummy with a heart at trick three, and led the club five, under which East sleepily followed with the three. Declarer played the eight, and West was forced to win with the king, after which there was no defense.

The unluckiest declarer of all crossed to dummy and led a small club. East inserted the 10 (which suggested ownership of the jack), and when South played the ace, West unblocked the king. Now the contract had to fail.

There is no guaranteed route to success. Best is for South to lead toward the club queen at trick three, and West must duck his king. Declarer puts up the queen and leads a low club from dummy, on which East plays the jack (NOT the 10). Now South has to guess whether to duck or win the trick.

From the 2000 Spingold, Joey Silver of Canada found a nice line in defense.

He led a top club against four hearts, and his partner, Debbie Rosenberg, followed high. With dummy having a singleton, this was an extension of the Obvious Shift principle. Since a diamond would have been West’s logical switch, her encouragement in clubs showed no great interest in his switching to diamonds if he regained the lead.

Declarer won the club ace and deceptively returned the heart queen at trick two. Silver took the ace and accurately shifted to a spade. When declarer finessed, Debbie Rosenberg won her king and shifted to a diamond. Now declarer had no chance, since whatever he did, he would be left with two diamond losers.

At the other table West ducked declarer’s play of the heart queen, for fear of crashing the heart king in his partner’s hand. That allowed South to take the spade finesse next, with his endplay chances intact. East won the spade king and shifted to the diamond 10, but declarer could take this with the ace and eliminate the spades by ruffing out the suit. When West was thrown in with the heart ace, he had to offer a ruff and discard or give South a trick in either minor, while South still had a heart entry back to hand. (It is curious that the winning line for declarer and the winning line for the defense both involve playing spades at trick three.)

Defending against four hearts, West led the club king, then thoughtfully shifted to the spade jack, appreciating that he would need to set up winners for his side before declarer could establish the diamond suit for discards.

South played low from dummy and won his spade ace. It looked logical to draw trump next, then play a spade to the king, followed by another spade. East won the trick and exited with the spade nine, ruffed by declarer in dummy.

Declarer could now deduce that West had a singleton diamond and so played a low diamond from dummy. If West won the trick, he would have to concede a ruff-and-discard by leading a club, whereas if East rose with the diamond king he, would be the one endplayed.

Note that East might have exited with the fourth diamond instead of leading the fourth spade. Now to make the contract, declarer must duck this trick, which will leave West endplayed to give the ruff-sluff again. If declarer takes the diamond ace, then East will be able to get in again and cash his two winners.

The contract can be defeated only by an initial spade lead. (However, the play is quite complex if declarer wins the spade king, draws trump, then plays a club. The defenders must win and play a diamond, and when declarer takes the trick and plays a spade, East must go up with the queen to swallow his partner’s 10.).

The three little pigs came back from their bridge class, where they had been tested by a deal from "A Bridge to Inspired Declarer Play" by Julian Laderman (Master Point Press).

The Big Bad Wolf, who just happened to be in the vicinity, asked them if they had done well. The first little pig brought out the diagramed deal and said that it had caused him fits. Declaring four hearts on a spade lead, he had won in hand, drawn three rounds of trump, then played diamonds from the top. When diamonds did not break he was down like a stone (inappropriate, I know, for someone building his house from straw).

The second pig did better. He won the spade lead, took a heart finesse, then played three rounds of diamonds at once. Alas for him, the hand long in diamonds won the third round of the suit and led a fourth, promoting the heart king to the fourth trick for the defense. (There was still an inevitable heart and club to come.)

The Big Bad Wolf may have thought to himself, “I woodn’t have played the hand that way,” but he would never have uttered such a bad pun out loud.

The third little pig had grasped the theme. After winning the heart queen, he ducked a diamond. He could win the return, draw a second trump, then ruff the fourth diamond at his leisure.