Think a little more!

Last night on BBO I typed "Thinking..." a couple of times and when I made the contract Anusha prompted "So thinking works :)". Well of course thinking works, and the lack of forethought can end up losing your board. Case in point, this board came up a couple of boards after the "thinking" board and this time I didn't think much:




Anusha had opened a heart but led a diamond. As you can see, lazy play result in a quick -1. I should have immediately realized that if she had a 5-carder diamond to go with her 5+ cards in hearts, I wouldn't have time to set up all my tricks. Accordingly I need to play her for a singleton or doubleton club ace. This would require some careful entry management:


- Win the DA
- Cash the SK and the SQ. If they break 3-2, overtake the SJ with the SA to generate a second entry.
- Lead a club up to the J. If Anusha doesn't play the club ace, I play the CJ and duck a club back.


This gets me 3 club tricks if she has a singleton or a doubleton club to go with 4 spade tricks, the DA and one trick in whichever red suit they attack.


What if the spades break 4-1? Now I can try to sneak a finesse of the S9 and hope that Vinoth doesn't realize he has to hop up with the S10. But for a legitimate chance of making, I have to hope for diamonds 4-3 which would give me time to set up a heart trick and end up with 4 spades, a heart, 2 diamonds and 2 clubs. So it depends on how sleepy Vinoth looks ;)


Finally, how can I improve upon the line if the club ace is with Vinoth? Duck the first round of diamonds and take the second. Now he doesn't have a diamond to return; if he returns a heart, we gain the tempo to make the contract.


Cheers,
Prashanth.