"A long time" is not an acceptable answer to a scientifically minded 10-year-old. Overlooking the Grand Canyon, my father explained how it was made by the Colorado river eroding a plateau.
"How long did it take?" I asked.
"A long time," was his unsatisfactory reply. I decided to test it by leaving our hose running in a corner of the yard. It turns out that it takes longer for a Grand Canyon to form than it does for the neighbors to complain about their garden flooding.
While I didn't succeed, I did appreciate that patience and time can cause great things. If you aren't in a rush to take your tricks as a defender, you can erode declarer's strength until it collapses entirely.
You, West, hold:
7643
AKJ32
98
A3
The auction goes:
| West | North | East | South |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|||
| 2 |
3 |
Pass | 3 |
| Pass | 4 |
All Pass |
| Vul:None Dlr: S |
K52 10987 AQ3 KQ9 |
| 7643 AKJ32 98 A3 |
You lead the A and take a look at dummy. After declarer calls for a card, partner plays the 4 and declarer follows suit.
You are using standard signals, but it's entirely possible partner has a singleton (why didn't they play a higher singleton?!?).
You continue with the K, partner plays the Q and declarer follows suit. Notice that partner, correctly, did not play high-low with a doubleton queen. Playing the Q guarantees the J (and you might find an underlead in some cases, though obviously not on this deal). Both declarer and partner are out of hearts, so what comes next?
The auction should tell us everything we need to know. Declarer has a minimum opening. We can see 14 points in dummy, combined with our 12 and partner's 2 (that Q) is 28 points. Declarer has the rest of the points, so playing a diamond is pointless.
All hope is not lost, though. On this deal, you can still make life very uncomfortable for declarer. If you play another heart, partner might be able to ruff. In that case declarer can overruff, but will have the same number of trumps as you. You will get in later with the club ace (barring truly bizarre distribution) and be able to play another heart.
In order for this plan to work, though, we need to keep a heart winner. That means at trick three, we should lead a LOW heart. If you play a high heart, you are setting up a winner in dummy.
Partner ruffs the low heart now and starts eroding declarer's trump holding when declarer overruffs. This is a deal type that might benefit from dealing it out. See what happens in this position if you play a heart vs any of the other options.
Current position (after three cards are played):
| Vul:None Dlr: S |
K52 10 AQ3 KQ9 |
|
| 7643 J3 98 A3 |
76542 108754 |
|
| AQJ8 KJ10 J62 |
A good declarer will try a couple rounds of trumps (keeping a trump in dummy) and hope that your partner is the one with the A. When you win the A and play your good J, declarer has no winning options. Declarer can discard a winner in a side suit (while conceding the setting trick) or ruff, but now you are guaranteed to win a trick with your long trump.
An inexperienced (or optimistic) declarer might draw all of your trump starting at trick four and play winning diamonds then a club. You can now win your club and two heart tricks for an extra undertrick.
The full deal:
| Vul:None Dlr: S |
K52 10987 AQ3 KQ9 |
|
| 7643 AKJ32 98 A3 |
9 Q4 76542 108754 |
|
| AQJ108 65 KJ10 J62 |
Even if partner were void in spades (improbable on the auction), giving declarer a heart trick wouldn't matter (declarer still has to lose a club unless something very strange is happening).
As a defender, patience is often a virtue. If you patiently hammer away at declarer's trump suit, you will find your side creating big problems for declarer... eventually.