Fundamentally Unsound

	East 5 4 J 7 5 4 A Q J 4 J 5 4
South 8 K 8 3 K 9 8 6 Q 10 6 3 2

West	North	East	South
1	Pass	1NT	Pass
2	Pass	3	Pass
3NT	Pass	4	Pass

You’re South, defending at IMPs against 4 by West. North leads a trump, and declarer, having started with A Q 10 9, draws trumps, picking up your king. North discards the 3. Declarer next leads the 2: 7, Q, K. What do you return?

I play golf, sort of. When I go through a stretch of bad ball striking, which is often, I can invariably attribute it to a fundamental flaw such as a faulty grip or a hurried swing. Bridge is the same way – most errors stem from poor fundamentals.

Marshall Miles once wrote that a good defender’s most important attribute is the ability to distinguish the times when he must seek tricks in a hurry from those when he can wait. This concept of “active vs. passive” defense is deceptively hard to adhere to. Defenders always feel the urge to do something dynamic.

I watched the deal below in a medium strength IMP game on OKbridge.

North K 10 9 6 3 6 2 10 7 3 A 8 7
West A Q J 7 2 A Q 10 9 5 2 K 9	East 5 4 J 7 5 4 A Q J 4 J 5 4
South 8 K 8 3 K 9 8 6 Q 10 6 3 2

West	North	East	South
1	Pass	1NT	Pass
2	Pass	3	Pass
3NT	Pass	4	Pass

North had a clear trump lead. He had spade tricks to protect, and dummy had shown limited values and would provide little more than ruffing tricks. West put up dummy’s jack, winning, led a trump to his queen and cashed the ace. North discarded a diamond.

West next tried a finesse with the J. South won and shifted to a club, but West guessed right by playing low. North took his ace and led another club. West won, cashed the D AQ for a spade discard and led a spade to his queen. North’s king won the defenders’ third and last trick since West could ruff his last low spade in dummy.

Maybe South thought he had to shift to clubs since declarer, who had shown at least nine major suit cards in the bidding, would have a discard coming on dummy’s high diamonds. Still, that would leave declarer with spades to unload. Surely North had some good spades for his trump opening lead.

If South exits passively with the 9 (or a spade), West comes up a trick short. He must attack the clubs himself, losing two tricks there, and can take only four trumps, two spades, two diamonds and one ruff.

After North threw a diamond on the third trump, West could actually make4 at double dummy. Suppose he loses the diamond finesse and South returns a diamond. West wins in dummy and leads a spade to the queen. North takes the king and returns the 10. West wins with the ace, ruffs a spade in dummy and discards a club on the last high diamond, leaving this position:

North 9 6 — — A 8
West J 7 Q — K	East — — 4 J 5 4
South — — 8 Q 10 6

West ruffs a diamond, forcing North to bare the A. Then a club forces North to lead a spade from his 9-6 into West’s J 7.

The contract is still makable if South shifts to a spade when he takes the K.But if North throws a club on the third trump, saving his third diamond as an exit card, he always beats the contract.

All this is fanciful, but South’s actual defense wasn’t. Beware of snatching winners unless you see a clear danger that declarer is poised to make his contract.