BRIDGE BY STEVE BECKER

Add a string to your bow

While declarer should certainly formulate a plan at the start of play, he also should remember that he is not playing in a vacuum. He has real live opponents who won’t sit idly by and allow him to achieve his goal without putting up a fight.

Consider this deal where the obvious approach at four hearts would be to negotiate a spade ruff in dummy, thereby limiting your losses to at most two spades and a club.

That is a fine idea — if the opponents let you get away with it. But when the deal occurred, East won the opening spade lead with the ace and promptly shifted to a trump.

South won the heart in dummy and, in keeping with his game plan, led a spade to the queen and king, whereupon West returned a second trump. Unable to ruff his losing spade in dummy, declarer now had to rely on a club finesse. But when the jack of clubs later lost to the queen and East returned a spade, the contract was down one.

The final result was due to South’s failure to adjust to defense he encountered.

Once East shifted to a trump at trick two, declarer should have abandoned his initial plan and instead sought an alternative to staking everything on club finesse. He might have spotted a better approach.

When the trump is returned at trick two, South should win in his hand and lead a club to the jack. If the finesse succeeds, his worries are over. But if, as in the actual deal, the finesse fails, all is not yet lost.

Assume East returns a trump to dummy’s ace at trick four. Declarer cashes the diamond ace, ruffs a diamond and draws the remaining trump. He then makes his contract because the missing clubs are divided 3-3, allowing him to discard his third spade on dummy’s fourth club.

This line of play is superior because it gives South two chances to succeed instead of only one.

Tomorrow: Choosing among alternatives.