More matches are lost through carelessness at the beginning than any other cause - Harry Vardon, six times Open Golf Champion (1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, 1914).
In bridge, carelessness at trick one can be very expensive, and not stopping to consider the whole hand is often the reason for the error. Today, Elsa Nelson, West, was careless at trick one, but her Guardian Angel was watching over her shoulder:
I don't think Elsa is worth a free bid of 2S on the West hand. East's Benji 2C was forcing, and she can safely pass to find out which is partner's suit. Still, there is no arguing with success and 6S was about a 50% contract, depending solely on the club finesse. The finesse is wrong, as you can see, but look what happened. North led a heart as her partner had overcalled in hearts and Elsa ruffed, but with the two of spades! Now there was no entry to the West hand and she was forced to drop the king of clubs offside after drawing trumps.
The Rabbi would also make Six Spades of course following his rule which, as Harvey explains, is that you have to drop the king of clubs when it is singleton offside. Elsa's Rule, created today, is that you have to drop the king of clubs offside when there is no longer an entry for the finesse!
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