Many players get sloppy in their declarer play by failing to anticipate bad trump breaks. There I was in 4S like every other East/West looking at what seemed an easy contract, with 10 tricks seemingly on top to cash out. Dummy came down with a rather bleak and flat looking............... 1085......987......1075......Q1082 .........opposite my rather huge and immensely powerful.....AKQJ4.......3........A43.......AKJ9
The defence took the opening heart lead with the Ace, but far too many declarers ruffed the heart continuation with the 4 of spades. However, on discovering a 5-0 break in the trump suit, they all foolishly ended up conceding another 3 tricks ( 2 red suit losers and a club ruff ) to go one off. Yes, because there was a mirrored distribution in the minors, three losers were inevitable .......but not four ! So even if the odds of a 5-0 trump break were pretty slim, why take that unnecessary risk ? A simple loser on loser play guarantees 10 tricks.... 100%. The solution of course is to pitch 2 losing diamonds on the inevitable heart force ( no other defence is better). Now I was able to ruff the fourth round of hearts in dummy with the spade 8, quite prepared to over-ruff the opposition's over-ruff if necessary. Ten tricks were there for the taking, courtesy of 5S, 4C and 1D. As I have always said: being good at this game simply means staying alert and not being sloppy. In other words, it is all about common sense and effective risk management
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