BRIDGE

This is a defensive problem, so take the East cards and block out the West and South hands. Your partner leads the jack of spades. This is almost certain to be a singleton, since you can see the 10-9 in your hand and a doubleton jack is one of the worst leads in the game. Declarer wins with dummy’s king and cashes three clubs, following once and then discarding the nine and jack of diamonds. He then leads a low trump from dummy. How will you defend?

When the deal arose in an international match between France and Belgium, both Easts made the same mistake. They rose with the ace to give their partner a spade ruff. West ruffed all right but the ruff was with the king and the defenders scored only three tricks, allowing the game to make. As East, you should count the tricks available to the defence. You will score the trump ace, a spade ruff and (you hope) the ace of diamonds.

How can you score a fourth trick? This will be possible only if your partner can win the first trump and cross in diamonds for a spade ruff.

So, you should play low on the first trump. Declarer should have played a fourth club, throwing his last diamond. This would break the link between the defenders and allow him to make the game.