A productive false card.
Bridge Column for May 6, 2001, By HARVEY BERNSTEIN
Neither side vulnerable.  North deals.
                              NORTH
                              S: K 10   
                              H: K J 9 5 4 2
                              D: Q 8
                              C: K Q 7 
            WEST                             EAST
            S: 7                             S: Q 9 6 2
            H: Q 8 7                         H: 10 6 3
            D: A K 7 2                       D: 10 5 3
            C: J 10 9 8 5                    C: 6 4 3 
                              SOUTH
                              S: A J 8 5 4 3 
                              H: A    
                              D: J 9 6 4 
                              C: A 2  
          The Bidding:
                  NORTH    EAST    SOUTH    WEST                  
                   1H      Pass     1S      Pass
                   2H      Pass     3S      Pass
                   4S      Pass     Pass    Pass
     This hand is from an international tournament that was held
in 1996.  The majority of the North-South pairs played three no
trump and were able to unscramble the entry problems and make the
game.
     At one table, however, the contract was a very reasonable
four spades.  West led the ace of diamonds.  The eight was played
from the dummy.  Sitting East was Larry Cohen of Boca Raton, FL. 
Cohen did his normal first trick analysis and played the ten of
diamonds, encouraging his partner to continue the suit.
     West obediently cashed the king of diamonds and Cohen played
the three!  From West's (and South's) perspective, Cohen held two
diamonds.  West continued with a third diamond and the declarer
found himself at the crossroads.
     In retrospect, it would have been easy to discard a heart
from the dummy and win the trick with the jack of diamonds, but
declarer was afraid that Cohen would trump.  With this in mind,
declarer called for the ten of spades from dummy.  If Cohen could
trump higher, it would be the last trick for the defense.
     Unfortunately for declarer, Cohen had to follow suit.  The
North hand lacks the entries for declarer to reduce his trump
holding and execute a trump coup, so Cohen's falsecard pays off
and the contract is defeated one trick.
     Many players would go to sleep with Cohen's hand.  Even with
four trumps, it does not look like there is any hope of beating
the four spade contract.  Cohen was alert and at trick one he
found a play that couldn't hurt and might be a big winner. 
That's a good lesson for every player.
_______________________________________________________
Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.