Take some time to look elsewhere

Wayne Dyer, who was a wellknown self-help speaker and author, said, “A great hallmark of mental wellness is the ability to be in the present moment, fully and with no thoughts of being elsewhere.”

Yes ... and no! It is excellent to concentrate fully on what is happening, but in bridge, sometimes, you must not do the normal or the obvious and must look elsewhere. For example, in today’s deal, South is in three notrump. After West leads a fourthhighest spade four, how should East plan the defense?

The South hand is a borderline two-no-trump opening. There are only 6 ace-king points, counting 2 for an ace and 1 for a king. Usually, the hand will contain 7. Also, the hand’s spot-card count is low. North raises, hoping his club suit will provide five or six winners.

Against no-trump, if third hand wins the first trick, much more often than not, he will return that same suit. But it is always a good idea to analyze the full deal first.

As on every deal, East should check the high-card points. Dummy has 5, he has 14, and declarer probably has 20 or 21. That leaves at most 1 for West, which is presumably the spade jack (otherwise, West would have led top of nothing). So, returning a spade is a waste of time.

How about shifting to the diamond king? Ah, yes, that will establish three winners, and when East gets in with his club king, he can take five winners: one spade, one club and three diamonds.

Play slowly at trick one and consider the alternatives.