BRIDGE Thoughtful defense

Bridge is not a game that can be played by rote — thinking is a basic requirement. To play mechanically is certain to lead to poor results.

For example, take this deal where West led the king of hearts, which held, and continued with a heart, ruffed by declarer. South lost a club to East’s ace and then had 11 easy tricks, eventually discarding his diamond loser on dummy’s fourth spade after the last trump was drawn.

The contract could have been defeated, however. East should have overtaken the king of hearts with the ace and returned the king of diamonds at trick two. This would have saddled declarer with an unavoidable diamond loser.

The winning defense was not really difficult to find. All East had to do was to overcome the natural aversion to wasting an ace on his partner’s king. However, a little thought should have convinced East that overtaking the king was a perfectly sound play that could not cost.

The bidding, the opening lead and dummy’s threatening spades all indicated that a diamond shift at trick two was mandatory. West’s heart raise had to have been based on three, four or five hearts. If he had five hearts, no harm could come from playing the ace, since in that case declarer would ruff the first trick. If West had four hearts, South would have one, and East could again afford to play the ace and make the vital diamond shift.

Finally, if West had three hearts, the ace play could do no harm, since West was marked with the queen by his lead of the king. All signs therefore pointed in one direction: that East should play the ace of hearts at trick one.

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