Contract Bridge

If you tend to play impulsively, you often will fail to get the best possible result. There are simply too many built- in traps in bridge for anyone to be able to play first, think later and still come out all right.

Consider this deal where East won the heart lead with the ace and, recognizing that the eight was a singleton, immediately returned a heart. This didn’t work out well because, although West got his heart ruff, declarer made the contract. The only trick he lost after the ruff was the ace of trump. Declarer’s diamond loser was eventually discarded on one of dummy’s hearts.

East’s heart return was not very well thought out. He should have realized that declarer would almost surely make the contract after a heart return, and that the only real chance for an additional trick was to lead a diamond at trick two, hoping to find West with the king (or ace).

South inevitably would have gone down one after a diamond return. If he rose with the ace and returned a trump, East would take the ace and return a heart for West to ruff, whereupon West would cash the king of diamonds for down one. And if South played low on the diamond, West would score the king that much sooner and eventually ruff a heart to set the contract.

In the given situation, it is not enough for East to recognize that his partner’s opening lead is a singleton, and so spontaneously return a heart. East must look beyond that one thought and ask himself: “If I give partner a heart ruff now, which will be the third trick for our side, where is the fourth trick going to come from?”

It takes real discipline to stop and ask oneself questions like this before acting automatically at trick two. You can’t play impulsively and expect to get the best results.