Although you don’t specifically blame either defender, the strong implication is criticism of W. The real culprit, however, is E. At trick 8, when S loses a C to W, E knows where every single card lies as between his partner and declarer. A little thought will tell him to discard a D rather than a H, and now even if W leads a H, the contract is doomed.

Hi Dear Mr Wolff
Perhaps East should get part of the blame. Had east discarded a diamond instead of a heart on third club , he could have escaped the endplay in diamonds by returning heart when in with the trump. Since the diamond deuce lead from West at trick two is a certain Singleton, East should have seen what was coming
Regards

Oops
I was drafting on my mobile and did not see David’s post which makes my post redundant
Regards

Hi David & AVRR,

Both of you are right on target, and in AVRR’s case, being crossed in the mail behind David,, occurs frequently, and in my view, is not preventable, and certainly, no reason to apologize.

However, from the Polish Juniors standpoint, when on defense, likely as much as declarer emphasizes counting, counting, and counting
some more is what it is all about (as the unseen hands, slowly, or sometimes not so slowly, become inferential). Without which, the defenders will instead, merely guess what to do, which in turn, is simply neither accurate nor satisfactory.

Until or unless, that critical final step being vitally necessary, even a player with vast potential will never reach the goal he needs to compete with the world’s best. And once done, like learning to ride a bicycle, never forgotten.

That said, perhaps Nick’s East hand opponent, at least a bit later, learned how he had erred, allowing him to move forward in what had to be a powerful moment in advancing toward his future bridge career. In the earlier stages of learning the necessary tools for bridge success, it can be difficult and, at least, a little embarrassing to fail, but better when very young then later, when one’s discipline kicks in and those types of errors almost never occur.

And for a commercial for bridge in the schools, that type of essential compliance is often part of many, if not all worthwhile occupations in life, therefore encouraging youngsters to encounter it early, while only learning to play which at times, becomes very challenging.

Thanks to both of you for joining in and rightfully assessing the blame where it belongs, which could open up doors for others to benefit.