Declarer must sometimes be a pessimist

“I’d like to get involved in some charitable efforts,” Unlucky Louie told me, “so I thought about applying for membership in the Optimists Club.”

“So did you join?” “I didn’t apply,” Louie admitted. “I was afraid my application wouldn’t be accepted.”

As declarer, you must sometimes be a pessimist: You guard against a foul lie of the cards. On other deals, you must be an optimist: You assume the cards lie so that you can succeed.

In today’s deal, North’s leap to four hearts was preemptive. If South had a good hand, he might even take 10 tricks, but North’s bid was meant to deter EastWest from entering the auction. As it was, they had little to enter with, so four hearts was passed out.

When West led the queen of diamonds, South surveyed dummy gloomily. He took the ace, pitching a club from dummy, and led a trump. East won and led the ace and deuce of clubs, and West took the king and cashed the king of trumps. Down one.

South was no optimist. How would you play four hearts?

South must ruff the first diamond in dummy and lead a spade to his queen. He gets back by ruffing a high diamond, leads a spade to his jack and takes the ace. When East-West follow, South ruffs his last high diamond in dummy and leads the 13th spade.

East-West are helpless. If East ruffs with the ace of trumps, South throws a club, losing one club and two trumps. If instead East discards, South throws a club. West ruffs with his low trump, but when South gets back in, he leads a trump, and the defenders’ high trumps fall as one.