Overtricks and undertricks.
Bridge Column for October 21, 2001, Harvey Bernstein
Both sides vulnerable.  South deals.
                              North
                              S: 5 2              
                              H: 9 6 4 2     
                              D: K J 6 5 3   
                              C: Q 2     
            West                             East
            S: Q 8 6 3                       S: 7 4          
            H: K Q 10 7 3                    H: A J 8      
            D: 9 4                           D: Q 10 8 7          
            C: 10 4                          C: 7 6 5 3     
                              South                         
                              S: A K J 10 9
                              H: 5          
                              D: A 2       
                              C: A K J 9 8 
          The Bidding:  
                  South    West    North    East                  
                    1S     Pass     1NT     Pass
                    3C     Pass     3S      Pass
                    4S     Pass     Pass    Pass
     This hand was played at a duplicate tournament and four
spades was the contract at every table.  The opening lead was the
king of hearts.  I was surprised to see that half of the field
went down in this iron clad game.  Do you see what happened?
     At trick one, East signaled with the jack of hearts and West
continued with a small heart to the ace.  Declarer trumped with
the nine of spades and entered the dummy with the queen of clubs,
in order to lead a spade to the ten.  West won the queen of
spades and played the queen of hearts.
     Declarer had to trump with the jack of spades.  When he
played the ace and king of spades and discovered the bad split,
he had to lose a trump and two hearts to West for down two.
     The excuse was, of course, "If the spade finesse works I
will make six!"  But the contract was four, not six, and even
though overtricks at matchpoints are very important, you should
attempt to maintaim some degree of safety for your contract.
     Declarer should win the second heart trick by trumping and
immediately lead the ace and king of spades.  When both defenders
follow he can switch to clubs or diamonds and continue to play
minor suit winners.  The defenders can trump in twice and lead
hearts, but declarer has the jack and ten of spades to control
the tempo and win ten tricks.
     If the opportunity presents itself to score over tricks
without endangering your contract, then by all means, take
advantage of it.  On the other hand, try to recognize the dangers
that may present themselves early on so that you don't have to
come up with any excuses at all.
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Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.