Do not always go with first idea

An anonymous Internet user wrote, “I was in the hospital today and saw this cute guy with a cast on his leg, and my first thought was that this one can’t run away.”

It is often best to go with your first thought. It is especially galling to stop, analyze, then make a mistake, when if you had acted instantaneously, you would have been successful.

However, there are deals in which the converse is true: The first thought is wrong, and a different approach needs to be chosen.

Which applies in this deal? Against four hearts, West leads his fourth-highest club. After East wins with the ace, what would be his immediate reaction? Is it right here? If not, what is?

South opened with a textbook weak two-bid: a decent six-card suit and 6-10 high-card points. North bid what he hoped his partner could make.

East’s immediate reaction will be to return a club — lead back partner’s suit. If it were a notrump contract, that would usually be best.

But when there is a trump suit, third hand should pause to consider the alternatives. In particu- lar, he should wonder from where four defensive tricks might come.

Given the dummy, East can see two: his club ace and heart king. Assuming West has the club king, that is a third. The fourth will have to come from spades, and there isn’t a moment to lose because dummy’s diamonds are threatening to provide discards.

At trick two, East must shift to the spade eight, the high card denying an honor in the suit. Then the contract will fail. But note that if East leads a club at trick two, South will take one spade, five hearts and four diamonds.

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