Lewis Thomas, whose annual award is given by the Rockefeller University to a scientist for artistic achievement, said, “We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have language. We have affection. We have genes for usefulness, and usefulness is about as close to a ‘common goal’ of nature as I can guess at. And finally, and perhaps best of all, we have music.”

This week, we have been looking at the deals when a defender should, or should not, overruff declarer. The general principles are fine, but sometimes a defender will have to guess. In this deal, for example, South is in four spades. West leads the heart 10. East wins with his queen, cashes the heart ace, and continues with the heart king. After South ruffs with the spade jack, what should West do?

South’s rebid of two spades guaranteed at least a six-card suit. With, say, 5-2-4-2 distribution and the same honor cards, South would have passed over East’s intervening two-heart bid. North would have had another chance to continue his hand description.

Should West overruff? If South started with A-K-J- 7-2 of spades and East with 10-8-6, West would have to overruff to gain the defenders two trump tricks.

However, the general principle is to overruff with tripleton queen-low-low unless partner rates to be short in the suit. Here, South has shown at least a six-card suit in the auction. West should discard. Then the contract must fail. But note that if West overruffs and, say, shifts to a diamond, declarer wins in the dummy, plays a trump to his 10, cashes the ace, and claims.