Avoiding pitches on defense

An attribute that can distinguish a good declarer is planning to set up a side suit to pitch losers.  Correspondingly, an attribute of a good defender is to frustrate declarer’s planning to set up a side suit to pitch losers. 

With that advice in mind, what is your defensive plan as East, after your partner – more about him later – leads the ♥5 against a 3♥ contract?

Holding three small diamonds over dummy’s K9-fifth, I think your first concern should be declarer’s potential to establish the diamond suit for discards.

What holdings of declarer can establish the diamond suit for discards?  How many discards?  Will the discards increase declarer’s trick total?

You first consider that declarer’s holding Axx will generate two discards.  Any Axx?  Yes.  With the ♦QJT among the unseen five diamonds, the worst Axx holding declarer can hold is ATx.  Consider what tall timber will fall from partner on the top two diamonds, and how powerful will grow dummy’s ♦9.

How about declarer’s diamond holding of Ax?  With a 3-3 split of diamonds, that holding can also produce two discards.  In fact, if declarer holds AQ doubleton, the diamond suit will produce three discards.

Even a singleton ♦A held by declarer will produce two discards, one on the ♦K, and, with heart entries being used to establish the diamond suit, one on the fifth round of diamonds.

Further analysis discloses that even if declarer lacks the ♦A, the diamonds can be established for two discards any time declarer has more than one and fewer than four diamonds, provided dummy has sufficient entries.  But declarer will, of course, have to first lose the lead.

Accordingly, an active defense should be considered.  Having won the ♥A, to which black suit should East switch at Trick 2?

Placing declarer with exactly three spades, given partner’s opening weak 2♠ bid, East can ascertain that declarer benefits by discarding spades on diamonds only if declarer has three discards; otherwise declarer is still left with one losing spade and you can see that the other two spades can be ruffed in dummy, probably without causing declarer to lose any more trump tricks.  As analyzed above, declarer can benefit from three discards only if declarer’s diamonds are specifically AQ-tight (3=4=AQ=4 or 3=5=AQ=3).

But declarer might benefit by discarding only two clubs on established diamonds, if declarer’s club holding is xxx or Axx (3=X=Y=xxx/Axx).  And if declarer’s diamonds are specifically AQ-tight, declarer will be able to discard up to three clubs on the diamonds.

Therefore, I think East should switch to a club at Trick 2.

The actual hand is as follows:

A club return holds declarer to ten tricks.  Any other return allows declarer to take eleven tricks (3 hearts, 2 spades, 1 spade ruff, and 5 diamonds).  -170 would score 8 mps on a 15 top and -200 would score 4½  mps.

Muttering something about “losing tempo”, partner excuses his failure to have led his top two clubs, a defense that, with the addition of a club ruff, would have held declarer to nine tricks for -140 and a score of 10 mps.

Oh yeah, I was the partner on opening lead.