The Law Of Symmetry.
Bridge Column for January 20, 2007, Harvey Bernstein
Special To The Plain Dealer
Both sides vulnerable.  South deals.
                              North
                              S: 8 6 4 2           
                              H: 5           
                              D: A Q J 9 8 6 2
                              C: 6       
            West                             East
            S: A 7 3                         S: 10 9 5       
            H: 8 4                           H: K Q 7 6 2  
            D: 4                             D: 7 5               
            C: A Q J 9 7 5 3                 C: 10 8 4      
                              South                         
                              S: K Q J
                              H: A J 10 9 3 
                              D: K 10 3    
                              C: K 2      
          The Bidding:  
                  South    West    North    East                  
                   1H       3C      3D      Pass
                   3S      Pass     4S      Pass
                   Pass    Pass
          Opening lead: 4D
     Ely Culbertson (1891-1955) was a driving force behind the
popularity of the game of bridge.  One of his contributions was
known as the "law of symmetry".  He held that because a deck of
cards is often not mixed completely prior to the deal, the
distribution of those cards will not be as random as the players
would suspect.  I have found this to be true - but in a random
sort of way.
     I was playing at a local club game with Amelia Ivancic of
Cleveland Heights when todays hand raised it's ugly head.  They
say that confession is good for the soul.  They also say that you
learn more from your mistakes than from your successes.  While
that may be true, it does little to ease the pain of the moment.
     When Ivancic's three diamond bid came back to me it would
have been easy to simply bid three no trump.  I felt that my club
control was not sufficient to support that and so bid three
spades in an effort to get more information from partner.  Four
spades became the final contract.  West led his singleton diamond
and I was convinced, by the bidding and the distribution that I
could see, as well as Culbertson's theory, that the spade suit
was going to break badly for me.  I took an impossible line of
play that allowed the defense to use it's trumps to their best
advantage and beat me two tricks.
     In retrospect, if the first trick is won in the South hand
with the king or the ten of diamonds and the king of spades is
led to trick two, the defense will score only two black aces and
making four spades, with an overtrick, will be a top score on the
board.  Even if the outstanding trumps divide two-four, ten
tricks are almost a certainty for a score better than all of
those playing in three no trump (making only three) or five
diamonds.
     As declarer, when you have a running suit outside of the
trump suit - go after trumps as soon as possible.  Confession may
be good for the soul, but it comes in a poor second to playing
well.
______________________________________________________
Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon. 
To reach Harvey Bernstein:
hjb0416@yahoo.com