An unusual defense.
Bridge Column for June 3, 2001, By HARVEY BERNSTEIN
East-West vulnerable.  South deals.
                              NORTH
                              S: K J 7
                              H: Q 10
                              D: J 9 7 3 
                              C: A 6 4 2 
            WEST                             EAST
            S: 4                             S: 5 3
            H: A 9 4 2                       H: K J 8 5 3 
            D: A 10 8 2                      D: Q 6
            C: K J 8 3                       C: Q 10 7 5 
                              SOUTH
                              S: A Q 10 9 8 6 2 
                              H: 7 6  
                              D: K 5 4  
                              C: 9
          The Bidding://
                  SOUTH    WEST    NORTH    EAST                  
                   3S     Double    4S      Pass
                   Pass    Pass
     This hand presents a problem that many players will get
wrong because it goes against the grain of a lot of what they
have learned over a life time of playing bridge.
     West led the three of clubs against the four spade contract. 
Declarer called for the ace from dummy and then trumped a club in
the closed hand at trick two.  A spade to the dummy provided an
entry to trump another club.  Dummy was re-entered with yet
another spade, West discarding the nine of hearts.  The last club
was trumped in the South hand.
     Declarer led a heart towards the dummy and West played the
ace and then led a small heart to East's king.  East led the six
of diamonds.  South played low.  West played the ten (nothing is
better at this point) and declarer called for the jack from
North.  A small diamond was covered by the queen, king, and ace,
establishing the nine of diamonds as the game going trick.
     Do you see the error?  Here is the end position when East
wins the king of hearts:
                              NORTH
                              S: 7
                              H: Void
                              D: J 9 7 3 
                              C: Void 
            WEST                             EAST
            S: Void                          S: Void
            H: 4                             H: J 8 5   
            D: A 10 8 2                      D: Q 6
            C: Void                          C: Void              
                              SOUTH
                              S: A Q  
                              H: Void  
                              D: K 5 4  
                              C: Void
     At this point in the play, East has an inferential count on
the South hand.  He knows that South started with seven spades
and one club.  He has watched South follow to two hearts.  Since
West made a takeout double of the opening three spade bid, it is
safe to infer that he started with four hearts, which would mean
that South could have no more, leaving him with three diamonds.
     The defense has two heart tricks and needs two diamond
tricks in order to defeat the contract.  With the jack-nine in
dummy, West has to have four diamonds headed by the ace-ten in
order for the defense to have any chance at all (he can't have
the ace-king because if he had that holding he would have led one
of those cards at trick one).
     With this information, it is easy to see that the defense
has to make South play diamonds himself.  To accomplish this,
East must exit with a heart, allowing declarer to trump in one
hand and discard in the other.  We are taught never to do this,
and yet, as in everything else, here is an exception.  Declarer
will discard a diamond from the South hand and trump with North's
last spade.
     His only choice at this point is which diamond to lead from
the dummy.  East will play the queen on the jack.  If he leads a
low diamond, East will play the six.  In either case, declarer
will lose two diamond tricks and be defeated.
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Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.