High then low equals win not loss

At the bridge table, does it pay over the long haul to be cautious or aggressive?

In today’s deal, West, with an eight-card suit and a weak hand, would have usually bid immediately at the four-level. However, West was worried about the adverse vulnerability. But if West had bid four hearts, probably South’s four-spade rebid would have ended the auction. When West bid only three hearts and North raised spades, South aggressively jumped to slam, hoping that his partner had a little something useful. South saw that he could ruff his two heart losers on the board. He won trick one in hand and cashed the heart ace, dropping East’s queen. Declarer paused, taking a quick look at East. Could that queen really be a singleton? No, it was obviously a false-card. South ruffed the heart six with the spade seven. Disaster! East overruffed and returned his last trump. Declarer had no home for his heart jack and went down one. If only South hadn’t sent a boy to do a man’s job, he would have been safe. He should have cautiously ruffed the heart six with the spade 10. He would have returned to his hand with a club to the ace and ruffed the heart jack with the spade seven, not caring when East overruffed. The declarer would have won East’s return, drawn the last trump and claimed the slam.