TAKE CARE NOT TO SUFFER A REVERSAL
Charles Caleb Colton, an eccentric English cleric and writer who died in 1832, said, "Deliberate with caution, but act with decision."
That is a good rule for bridge. When the dummy comes down, declarer should deliberate with care, looking for dangers to his contract and trying to find a line of play to get around them safely.
In today's deal, for example, South is in four spades. West leads the heart queen. After winning with his ace, what should declarer do?
South's jump to four spades is a slight stretch, but we love to bid vulnerable games because they pay a big bonus. Any time you smell a game, bid game.
Declarer seems to have four losers: two spades, one heart and one club. But South can eliminate that heart loser by ruffing it on the board. However, should he play a round of trumps first?
If the defenders are astute, he should not. West will win with his king and lead his remaining trump. East will take that trick and play his last trump to denude the dummy of spades. Then declarer will lose those four tricks.
Instead, South should cash his heart king and cautiously ruff the heart two with dummy's spade jack. Do not risk East's overruffing the spade two. As West overcalled in hearts, there is a great risk that East has only a doubleton heart -- and he probably played high- low to emphasize that fact.
In one of my classes, though, a West cautiously passed over one spade. Now South, unwarned, incautiously ruffed the third heart low and went down.