Charles Darwin said, "The very essence of instinct is that it's followed independently of reason."
Yesterday's deal featured a fatal defense — ruffing an opponent's winner — that would be instinctively followed by many, who would be playing without reason. This deal is another example.
You are East, defending against four spades. Your partner leads the heart ace, promising the king as well. What would be your plan?
Perhaps North-South should have found a way to three no-trump by North, which would been hard to beat. (East would have to lead a heart, and West would have to shift to a diamond.) North wanted to respond two no-trump, natural, but in his partnership it would have been the Jacoby Forcing Raise, guaranteeing four-card spade support.
No worries, though, because four spades made. When West led the heart ace, East instinctively started a high-low with his doubleton. So, at trick three, West led a third heart to give his partner a ruff. But, as you can see, that cost East his natural trump trick. South won East's club shift, drew trumps, and ran the clubs to discard his diamond loser.
East should reason that three rounds of hearts cannot serve any purpose, and that a diamond switch from West would probably be beneficial. At trick one, East must play his heart three, not the 10. If West trusts his partner's signal, he will shift immediately to a diamond. (East cannot have a singleton heart, because South would have rebid two hearts with four.) Then the defense gets four tricks: one spade, two hearts and one diamond.
Yesterday's deal featured a fatal defense — ruffing an opponent's winner — that would be instinctively followed by many, who would be playing without reason. This deal is another example.
You are East, defending against four spades. Your partner leads the heart ace, promising the king as well. What would be your plan?
Perhaps North-South should have found a way to three no-trump by North, which would been hard to beat. (East would have to lead a heart, and West would have to shift to a diamond.) North wanted to respond two no-trump, natural, but in his partnership it would have been the Jacoby Forcing Raise, guaranteeing four-card spade support.
No worries, though, because four spades made. When West led the heart ace, East instinctively started a high-low with his doubleton. So, at trick three, West led a third heart to give his partner a ruff. But, as you can see, that cost East his natural trump trick. South won East's club shift, drew trumps, and ran the clubs to discard his diamond loser.
East should reason that three rounds of hearts cannot serve any purpose, and that a diamond switch from West would probably be beneficial. At trick one, East must play his heart three, not the 10. If West trusts his partner's signal, he will shift immediately to a diamond. (East cannot have a singleton heart, because South would have rebid two hearts with four.) Then the defense gets four tricks: one spade, two hearts and one diamond.