General Bridge Discussion > Interesting Play Hands

Defensive Errors!

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OliverC:
Played a hand with Eszter last night where neither of us shone:

Opps bid to 4 !S via 1 !S - 2 !D - 3 !C - 4 !S. Your Partner leads a trump and Dummy goes down with

6 !S led.
                    !S KQ4
                    !H A653
                    !D J10964
                    !C 10

You hold:
!S 973
!H K9874
!D 3
!C AJ32

Declarer draws trumps in 3 roundsending in Dummy, Partner showing out on the 3rd round and signalling for a Diamond. Declarer leads 10 !C from Dummy. What's your plan?

I erred in two ways here.

Firstly, I rose with the Ace of Clubs (which almost certainly sets up two Club tricks for Declarer). Better to duck, hope that Declarer rises with a top honour and now that's their last Club trick.

Secondly I woodenly complied with Partner's request for a Diamond and led my 3 !D. A decent amount of thought would have made me switch to the King of Hearts instead: Clearly Partner does not have a singleton Heart, or they'd probably have led it initially. Regardless of the Heart position, it's critical to get the Ace of Hearts off Dummy, to kill the entry to any possibly Diamond tricks.

In practice, Eszter held

!S 62
!H Q2
!D AK872
!C 9764

Eszter won my Diamond switch with the K !D. Even at this point, she should have seen the danger the Diamonds in Dummy posed and should have switched to the Q !H in an attempt to drive out Dummy's Ace, but she took her second Diamond trick and that was the end of the defence.

Assessing what the dangers are on a given hand is critical to good defence (and Declarer play, for that matter). Here, Dummy had no trumps left. Even if I rose immediately with the Ace of Clubs, it should only have been with the intent of leading the King of Hearts to kill dummy stone dead. Note that leading a smaller Heart isn't necessarily good enough. It has to be the King.

FeaxSA:
Quite good this kind of new coop ...........in defense. make pair more wised
wd Oliver keep it up
 

OliverC:
LOL, Hardly a new coup... :)

lute57:
Thanks for sharing these hands, Oliver.

Although Defense is not really part of OCP, it is an area that most of us can benefit (speaking for the intermediate and advanced players). Sometimes I feel like one of those bodybuilders with huge arms and a massive chest but with pencil sticks for legs. Great bidding system knowledge but average to mediocre declarer and defensive play  :( It is nice to receive some advice in the other areas of playing bridge so we can round themselves out proportionately.

OliverC:
Yes, that's why I've created this Board on the Forums.

A few people have moaned about the lack of advice on Defence and Declarer Play during the OCP course. Inevitably I concentrate on bidding, because that's what OCP is all about. During most of the OCP course, I rarely allow example hands to be playe unless the play contains some interesting feature (eg: a possible squeeze or whatever).

Play is, however, a critical component in our skill as a Bridge Player. You cannot hope to improve your level of Bridge unless you devote at least as much time to improve:

* Your reading of the hand (ie: taking inferences)
* Counting the hand
* Defensive signalling and reading Partner's signals
* Effective Trump Control
* Your knowledge and awareness of tactical positions (eg: Endplays, Squeezes etc)
* No Trump tactics (eg: Holding up, throw-ins, etc)
* Consideration of tactics based on the scoring method in use (eg: Safety Plays or "going for broke")...as you trying to improve your bidding. Indeed, many people take the view that the bidding system you use is an entirely minor consideration, and that most of the time you should concentrate on improving your play.

I don't really have the time to teach all of this stuff (the OCP Course lasts for a full 12 months as it is). I am painfully aware, however, that we all use a bidding system that gives us a huge advantage, but that advantage is often lost by the fact that play skills are not nearly as high in the case of many OCP practitioners. I have written quite a few articles on play (and bidding) (You can find them on the OCP site and on the IAC site), but this Board will allow people to highlight concerns or problem hands they have on Play, or for me to post an occasional hand that examples something in the list above.

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