To kick off the week, let’s test our defense skills. Today, we’ll be covering the East and South cards and challenging ourselves to beat a contract of four spades. Are you ready for the challenge?

Before we begin, let’s take a look at the bidding. Your partner’s raise to two hearts over North’s double didn’t promise much. In fact, it may have been a preemptive bid to disrupt the opponents’ bidding. However, South’s bid of two spades shows that they have some strength and are looking for a potential game. With your hand, you have the strength and shape to compete to three hearts. But North had other plans and bid game, hoping their honors were well placed.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the East and South hands. As East, you hold the ♠KQJ, ♥A, ♦KQJ, ♣KJ109. This is a strong hand with a solid suit and a potential ruffing value in diamonds. As for South, they hold the ♠A109, ♥KQJ109, ♦A109, ♣A. This is also a strong hand with a long, solid suit and all the top honors.

With these hands in mind, let’s see if we can beat the contract of four spades. As the defense, our main goal is to take as many tricks as possible and prevent the opponents from making their contract. In this case, we need to take at least five tricks to defeat the contract.

The first step is to lead out the ♠K, the top card in our strongest suit. This is known as the “opening lead” and it’s crucial in setting the tone for the defense. By leading out the ♠K, we are showing our partner that we have a strong spade suit and we want them to continue leading spades.

Next, our partner should lead back a spade, preferably the ♠J. This forces South to use their ♠A, which is now a “singleton” (the only card of that suit in their hand). By forcing them to use their singleton, we have effectively neutralized their strongest suit.

Now, it’s time to switch to a different suit. Since we have a strong diamond suit, we should lead out the ♦K and ♦Q. This puts pressure on South, who now has to use their ♦A and ♦10 to take the tricks. By doing this, we have effectively taken three tricks and are well on our way to defeating the contract.

But we’re not done yet. We still need to take two more tricks to defeat the contract. This is where our ruffing value in diamonds comes into play. By leading out a low diamond, we can force South to use their ♦K or ♦Q, which we can then ruff with our ♠J or ♠10. This is known as a “ruff and discard” and it’s a powerful defensive play.

With our strong spade suit and ruffing value in diamonds, we have successfully taken five tricks and defeated the contract of four spades. Congratulations, you have successfully defended against a strong contract!

But what if South had a different hand? Let’s say they held the ♠A109, ♥KQJ109, ♦K109, ♣A. In this case, our strategy would have to change. Instead of leading out the ♠K, we would lead out the ♠Q. This forces South to use their ♠A, which we can then capture with our ♠K. This is known as a “forcing defense” and it’s a great way to disrupt the opponents’ plans.

In conclusion, defense is a crucial aspect of bridge and it’s important to constantly challenge ourselves to improve our skills. By testing our defense against different hands, we can learn new strategies and become better players. So, next time you’re at the bridge table, don’t be afraid to take on the challenge and test your defense skills. Who knows, you may just surprise yourself with your abilities. Happy playing!