Previous material updated, improved

Mike Lawrence wrote many excellent books quite some time ago. He has revamped them, and the latest is “Tips on Cardplay” (Master Point Press). In 300 pages, you get a vast amount of sound advice about declarer-play and defense, with approximately twice as much space on defense — which is as it ought to be because you are a defender twice as often as you are the declarer.

How should West defend in this deal? Against four spades, he leads his singleton heart. East wins with the ace and returns the heart queen, South playing the four and 10. What should West discard?

North’s two-heart cue-bid showed spade support and at least game-invitational values.

What is going on? If East began with the heart ace-king-queen, he should have won the first trick with the queen, not the ace. If East started with the heart ace-queen-jack, that is consistent with his play, but then why did South not try to win the second trick with his heart king?

Declarer knows from the bidding and the heart-deuce lead that West started with a singleton, and South does not want West on lead. If West trusts everyone, he should “discard” a trump at trick two(!) and shift to a diamond. Here, that produces the first four tricks for the defense — the only way given the heart lead.

Yes, South made a clever play, but East should have led the heart nine at trick two. Since South surely has the club ace, East could anticipate this being the only winning defense. When you want partner to ruff, lead a loser that declarer must cover.