Do you sense the deja vu?

No sooner had I written yesterday’s column than I saw two more deals featuring the same theme.

At favorable vulnerability, South had a normal three-bid, though there is a school in Australia that claims hands with eau-de-cologne distribution (47-11) should bid game immediately. After North’s raise, East was trapped. He didn’t like to double because his defense was hardly cast-iron, but he was too strong to pass. After all, his side might have had a slam available if North were making a defensive raise with few high cards.

West led the club three, fourth best. After winning with the king, East could assess the prospects with reasonable accuracy. South was marked with 7-4 in the black suits.

If that were true, there was only one defense: He should switch to a trump at trick two.

If East doesn’t lead a trump, South will score six spade tricks (losing one to East’s queen), the heart ace, heart king and two club ruffs in the dummy.

If East does lead a trump, declarer has no answer. If he ruffs a club in the dummy, East gets his spade queen back. If South draws trumps, he will win only seven spades and two hearts. In the end, he will lose

either three clubs and a red-suit trick, or four clubs.

The guideline is that if declarer is planning to ruff losers in the

dummy, lead a trump even if it apparently costs you a trick in the

suit. If declarer takes his ruffs, the trump trick returns to the defender. If declarer doesn’t take his ruffs, he

has nowhere to jettison his losers.