Both Defenders?
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|  A 5 |
|
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 K 10 7 6 5 |
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 A K 3 2 |
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 9 3 |
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| J 9 3 |
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10 8 6 2 |
| A Q J 8 |
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9 2 |
| Q J 7 2 |
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8 6 5 |
| 10 5 |
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A K 8 6 |
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K Q 7 4 |
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4 3 |
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10 9 |
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Q J 7 4 2 |
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How did the defense turn this overly ambitious 22-hcp 3 no bid into 11 tricks for declarer? It would seem totally improbable to turn that hand into one trick short of slam, but there was such an array of mistakes that it did happen -- on the computer. I have tried to steer clear of computer examples for perhaps an obvious reason, but when each defender wantonly violated the 4-card principle (which I suppose is tantamount to saying the programmer was awfully careless about 4-card suits), I decided to put the hand under this heading.
Opening lead was the 10 of clubs, East going up to cash his top honors and continuing the suit as West discarded the 7 of diamonds! You can see enough mistakes already to give declarer 8 top tricks with a 9th available on a heart lead, though declarer didn't have to get around to risking the whole hand on that. Now came the 9 of diamonds -- which held! Another diamond lead allowed declarer to run the suit as hearts were jettisoned from the closed hand. On the last diamond, East discarded the deuce of spades, though he held two useless hearts and a club that is not only useless, but which he should be glad to get rid of (since the club suit is known and he doesn't want to lead that suit for any reason). And the rest is history. Declarer only needed to run his winners at this point.
What should the defense have done? Well, there are enough errors to satisfy a glutton for mishaps. East should duck the first lead. Declarer almost surely has at least one club trick coming, and East shouldn't begrude him that. But if he lets the 10 ride, declarer's going to have a tough time picking up a second club winner. With the 10 spent, the 9's as good as an honor to knock out one top honor. A third club lead, however, would have to be into East's K 8 tenace. Beyond that, once having won the first round, East should shift, for the makeup of the clubs, with that lead of the 10, should be fairly self-evident. A spade lead would not be untoward here, but I'm getting into subtler decisions and want to return to the obvious.
West should certainly not play his 7 of diamonds at his first opportunity, an obviously misguided signal to convey some good stuff in diamonds, which he certainly had until he announced that he had good stuff in diamonds! Keep the same number as dummy, I've often exhorted readers, and here the lowly 3 of diamonds did soon win a trick on that ridiculous discard. West should also cover the 9 of diamonds. The hand is balanced enough that it doesn't look as though he'll smother a partner's stiff 10. If declarer subsequently leads a low diamond, West can go low, and if the 10, then another cover. Who has the 8? West has no way of knowing, but that'll control the 3rd round of the suit and it belongs to his partner. And lastly, East should certainly not discard from his four-card spade suit, even though, unlike his partner, he can't see a four-card suit. But he can see that his last club can only be counterproductive and that the only reason for a heart is to lead to his partner's possible ace if he gets the lead, and so he is unlikely to need two.
With these elementary defensive tactics, it's doubtful that declarer would make 9 tricks, must less the 11 he did bring home.