Make the best opening lead.
Bridge Column for July 26, 2002, Harvey Bernstein
Both sides vulnerable.  South deals.
                              North
                              S: Q 10 8 3           
                              H: Q 9 4       
                              D: A 8 7 6 5   
                              C: A       
            West                             East
            S: A 5 4                         S: 6 2        
            H: A 8 7 2                       H: J 6 3      
            D: 4 2                           D: K Q 9 3           
            C: Q 9 8 5                       C: J 7 6 2       
                              South                         
                              S: K J 9 7
                              H: K 10 5     
                              D: J 10      
                              C: K 10 4 3 
          The Bidding:  
                  South    West    North    East                  
                   Pass    Pass     1D      Pass
                   1S      Pass     2S      Pass
                   4S      Pass     Pass    Pass
     If you are going to score well in any form of bridge
competition, you are going to have to be willing to bid close
games and then play them correctly.  The one constant that you
will learn from studying the results of the world championship
matches is that the bidding is very aggressive and games like the
one shown today are commonplace.
     South, holding an ace-less eleven count, passes at his first
opportunity.  North opens one diamond and South bids one spade. 
North is well aware that South is a passed hand, so when he
raises spades, his partner knows that he has a full opener -
maybe even a little extra.  The South hand has as much as
possible for the bidding so far and the jump to four spades is
fully justified.
     West opens the four of diamonds and South takes a moment to
consider the whole hand.  He is going to have to lose one spade,
one diamond, and one heart for sure.  If spades break normally,
he should be able to throw a heart on the king of clubs and score
ten tricks.  This is not a hand to take unnecessary chances on. 
Declarer calls for the ace of diamonds and leads a small spade.
     The king loses to the ace and West returns a diamond. East
wins and plays the two of trump.  Declarer wins in dummy and
trumps a diamond.  A club to the ace allows declarer to trump
another diamond.  The king of clubs is cashed and a small heart
is discarded from dummy.  A heart to the queen holds.  The queen
of spades draws West's last trump.  The eight of diamonds
provides a resting spot for declarer's last club, and a heart is
conceeded to the ace.
     This appears to be a normal result, but the defense could
have made it a little more difficult.  If the opening lead was a
small spade, West, upon regaining the lead, could play the ace of
spades and another small spade, reducing declarer's trump holding
to only one in each hand.  Declarer will not be able to set up
the long diamond trick and may not be able to come to ten tricks. 
Try it and see if you can. 
_______________________________________________________
Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.