Plan ahead for success.
Bridge Column for March 21, 2003, Harvey Bernstein
Both sides vulnerable.  North deals.
                              North
                              S: K J 10 3         
                              H: K Q J 9     
                              D: A 5         
                              C: A J 5 
            West                             East
            S: A 9 8 6                       S: 4            
            H: 8 5 4                         H: A 7 6 2   
            D: K 10                          D: Q J 9 8 7 2       
            C: 9 8 7 6                       C: 10 2      
                              South                         
                              S: Q 7 5 2
                              H: 10 3       
                              D: 6 4 3     
                              C: K Q 4 3  
          The Bidding:  
                  North    East    South    West                  
                   1C      Pass     1S      Pass
                   4S      Pass     Pass    Pass
     Today's hand is a good example of what can happen when
declarer gets just a little sloppy.  The bidding was very
standard and the contract looked pretty solid.  Had the trump
suit behaved, there would be no story to tell.
     The opening lead was the nine of clubs and declarer played
the ace from the dummy.  East contributed the two.  At trick two
declarer called for the three of spades.  East played the four
and declarer played the queen.  West ducked with the six.  There
was no reason for South to be concerned so he played a second
spade toward the dummy.  West played the ace and East signaled
with the nine of diamonds.
     West got off lead with the king of diamonds.  Declarer won
the ace in dummy and played the king of hearts.  East won the ace
and played the queen of diamonds, followed by the jack.  West
discarded a heart while declarer trumped the trick in the dummy. 
This play had the affect of promoting one of West's spades to the
honorable position of the 'setting trick' in what appeared to be
an unbeatable contract.  Where did the declarer go wrong?
     As is usually the case in hands such as this, the error was
a very small one made early on.  At trick two, declarer must play
the king of spades, retaining the queen in his hand.  When the
defense ducks, declarer should continue with another high spade
from the dummy.  
     Now, when West wins the ace and switches to the king of
diamonds, declarer can win and safely knock out the ace of
hearts.  When East wins that card and plays two rounds of
diamonds, the dummy will still have a small trump to control the
diamond suit, and there will be a club entry to hand so that
declarer can draw the last trump from West.
     In order to find the correct line of play, try to picture
what could go wrong as the hand plays out.  Forcing yourself to
try to do this early on (before you play to the first trick) is
one of the most important skills a player can strive to acquire.
_______________________________________________________
Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.