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Good defense is mostly a matter of plain common sense. As a case in point, take this deal where South was in three hearts and West led the club ten, which held the trick after dummy and East followed low. West then continued with the nine, won by East with the queen.
This was followed by the ace of clubs, on which West discarded the deuce of spades, and then the king of clubs, ruffed by declarer with the jack. West overruffed with the queen, but South had no trouble scoring the rest of the tricks and so made exactly three hearts.
It might seem that the outcome was entirely normal, but the fact is that West could and should have defeated the contract. All he had to do was to discard another spade when South ruffed the fourth club with the jack. Had West done that, declarer could not have stopped him from eventually scoring two trump tricks to put the contract down one.
While it might seem normal for West to overruff the jack with the queen, the simple fact is that refusing to overruff assures West of scoring two trump tricks rather than one with his Q-9-7-5, regardless of South's trump holding or how he proceeds.
The hand illustrates once again that bridge cannot be played mechanically, and that a moment's reflection is likely to pay greater dividends than a rapid play.
Tomorrow: Countdown to 13 tricks.