Author Topic: Great Defence  (Read 2742 times)

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Offline OliverC

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Great Defence
« on: July 22, 2017, 10:01:44 PM »
Eszter defended really well on this hand earlier today: Opps are in a contract of 5 !D (The bidding went 1 !D - 5 !D ). They're not vulnerable and you are, and you have led the 4 !S and this is what you can see:

Dummy
 !S 72
 !H 54
 !D A965
 !C AQJ105
                   You
                   !S Q10643
                   !H AQ86
                   !D J842
                   !C -

On the opening trick, Declarer took my Jack of Spades with their Ace, and led the Queen of Diamonds which held the trick, Partner (me) contributing the 10. Declarer erred badly, by continuing with a small Diamond to Dummy's Ace, on which I discarded the 10 !H (the main purpose of which was to convey to Eszter that I didn't have a Heart honour - The Spade position was fairly clear, since Eszter wouldn't underlead the Ace, and I certainly didn't want to suggest a Club).

Declarer now took the King of Spades and ruffed a Spade in Dummy. Now a 3rd round of Diamonds to Declarer's King left your Jack the boss trump. Declarer now led a Club to Dummy's Ace and a Club back to their King, on which Eszter discarded 2 Hearts. A third Club followed and Eszter still didn't ruff. Only on the 4th round of Clubs did she ruff, knowing that Declarer was now cut off from the all-important 5th Club in Dummy, because he'd started out with !S AKx, !H ??, !D KQ73, !C Kxxx. Eszter now exited with the Queen of Spades and Declarer was endplayed. If they ruffed, she then had to lead away from !H Kx and if they discarded a Heart, Eszter could simply cash the Ace of Hearts for the setting trick.

Note that even if she was unsure exactly how many Clubs Declarer had started with, it's completely safe for Eszter to wait until the 4th round before ruffing. Declarer is known to have started with 3 Spades and 4 Diamonds. If they only started with 3 Clubs, then they must have 3-card Hearts and can only discard one of those 3 cards on the 4th Club. If they only started with 2 Clubs, then they must have 4-card Hearts. If they started with 4 Clubs, then they only have 2 Hearts, but never get the opportunity to discard anything if you ruff the 4th Club. Ruffing too early is fatal, however, if Declarer still has a Club left in their hand. You can take your Jack of Diamonds, but Declarer will always be able to discard all but one of their Hearts on the long Clubs if you don't cash the Ace first.

No question, Declarer completely stuffed this contract, which is cold for 11 tricks. With KQ73 opposite A9xx in the Diamond suit, consider the possibilities: If the Diamonds are 3-2 it makes no difference how you play the suit. If South has J108x, there's nothing you can do. What you can cater for, especially when RHO drops the 10 on the first round of the suit, is LHO having started with J8xx. So the next card must be the King, because when RHO shows out on the second trick, you're in a position to take the marked finesse on the 3rd round.

If it wasn't for the 4-1 !D break, of course, the hand is cold for 12 tricks in Diamonds, but nobody got to 6 !D . Nearly half of the field were in 3NT making anything between 9 and 12 tricks. The only Pairs in slam were one pair in 6NT-1 and one in 6 !C -1 (6 !C is no good, because the !S ruff doesn't gain you an extra trick)
« Last Edit: July 22, 2017, 10:09:31 PM by OliverC »
Oliver

Offline lute57

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Re: Great Defence
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2017, 01:20:39 AM »
Nice defense, Eszter. Thanks for sharing, Oliver.