Susan Jeffers was a psychologist and author of self-help literature who surprisingly said, “We have been taught to believe that negative equals realistic and positive equals unrealistic.”

Why did that happen? At the bridge table, it pays to be realistic. Do not assume, for example, that an opponent has opened one of a suit with only nine high-card points.

What is the realistic defense that East should adopt in this deal? West leads the spade jack against four hearts.

North’s four-diamond response was a splinter bid, showing at least game-going values in hearts with a singleton (or void) in diamonds. If your partnership does not use splinters, North should respond three clubs if it would be a strong jump shift (which shows either an excellent club one-suiter or a heart-club two-suiter). If three clubs would not be strong, North should bid two no-trump, the Jacoby Forcing Raise.

Given that the spade 10 is in the dummy, East knows that his partner has led a singleton or from a doubleton – but which?

What would South hold in each case? Well, if the jack is a singleton, South started with king-queen-fifth of spades. Surely with that he would have opened one spade, not one heart. (South is mega unlikely to be 5-6 in the majors, especially as he did not try for a slam.) So, East should assume his partner has led from a doubleton. Since East has no outside entry card, he should signal encouragement with his spade nine. West will get in with the heart king, lead his second spade, and receive a spade ruff to defeat the contract.