WATCH THE CARDS AND BELIEVE THEM
There is a Japanese proverb that says, “If you believe everything you read, better not read.”
At the bridge table, you should try to read the cards, and almost always you can believe them.
In this deal, West leads the heart eight against four spades. East takes the trick with his ace and shifts to the diamond two. How should South continue?
East’s weak jump overcall would not have pleased a purist. He had a poor suit and two aces, but facing a passed partner, he judged it was better to try to disrupt the North-South auction. South’s two-spade response guaranteed at least 10 points and a fivecard suit (with only four spades, he would have made a negative double); West bid to the nine-trick level in his side’s known nine-card fit; North raised spades with fourcard support; and game was reached.
Note West’s lead. Since he had raised hearts, he led top of nothing. (If he had not bid, he would have led low from length, which would have given East a nasty problem at trick one.)
South should read East’s diamond two as a singleton. Then, somehow declarer must stop West from getting on lead and giving East a diamond ruff.
South should see that he is doomed if West has the spade ace. But if West holds the club ace, declarer can keep him from winning a trick by taking the second trick with dummy’s diamond ace and discarding both of his clubs on the heart king and heart 10. This is called a scissors coup. When back on lead, South draws trumps as quickly as possible.