Bridge

Louis Pasteur, a French 19th- century chemist and bacteriologist who created the first vaccines for anthrax and rabies, said, “Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.”

This week we have been looking at active and passive defense. But also while the defenders are wondering whether to go after tricks or to sit back and wait for declarer to donate them, they must not lose sight of their target: the number of tricks they need to defeat the contract.

In this deal, South is in four spades. How should East defend after West leads the heart king?

West opened with a weak two- bid, showing a good sixcard suit and 5- 10 high- card points. East applied the Law of Total Tricks. ( When your side does not have the high-