Learning how to think on defense.
Bridge Column for September 12, 2003, Harvey Bernstein
Both sides vulnerable.  East deals.
                              North
                              S: 6 5             
                              H: 4           
                              D: K Q 8 6 4   
                              C: J 9 7 6 2 
            West                             East
            S: J 10 9 4 2                    S: K Q 7        
            H: A Q 8 3 2                     H: K J 10 7   
            D: J 7                           D: 5 3         
            C: 3                             C: A 8 5 4       
                              South                         
                              S: A 8 3
                              H: 9 6 5      
                              D: A 10 9 2 
                              C: K Q 10   
          The Bidding:  
                   East   South     West   North                  
                   1D(1)  Pass      1S     2NT(2) 
                   Pass     3S      Dbl     Pass
                    4S      5D      Pass    Pass
                   Pass
(1) A "precision" one diamond - a hand with less than 16 high
card points and no five card (or longer) major suit.
(2) "Unusual Two No Trump" shows at least five cards in each
minor suit.
     This hand, from a matchpoint duplicate bridge game,
illustrates a very good point on "thinking the right way".  You
could hold a debate regarding the individual bids made during the
auction but the fact is that the East-West partnership should
make a vulnerable game in either major and the North-South pair
should be defeated in their minor suit sacrifice.
     Here is what happened.  West led the three of clubs. 
Declarer called for the two from dummy, East played the ace, and
declarer smoothly played the king of clubs.  East played the king
of spades.  Declarer won the ace, drew trumps, ran clubs and made
eleven tricks for plus 600.
     If West leads the jack of spades at trick one, declarer
should lose a spade, a heart, and a club for down one.  Doubled
or not, this will not be a good score for East-West.  If East can
determine that the three of clubs is a singleton, he can win the
ace, return a low club for West to trump, win the heart return
and play another club.  This defense beats five diamonds by two
tricks.  While this score is still not better than making a game,
it will be better than many other pairs defending five diamonds
or five clubs and only getting a one trick set.
     So, how does East know that the king of clubs is not a true
card?  If the king of clubs was a singleton, West would be
leading from the original holding of queen-ten-three.  The
question that must be asked is why would West lead from this
holding when North has made a bid that says he has both of the
minor suits?  And the answer is, if that is West's club holding,
he would not have led from it!  Therefore, South is false-carding
and West has led a singleton.
     Many players simply don't look deep enough into the
position.  However, even if you don't want to think that deeply,
it is usually correct to return partner's suit.  It is rarely
wrong, and if it is wrong, it is rarely your mistake.
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Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.