All News

Time to Shine.

So much about play and defence is in the avoidance of errors. So, here’s an opportunity for you to do something positive to beat a contract. Down to business. You are West, playing Teams:

 

 

You lead your singleton and are mildly surprised that North had chosen to raise spades though perhaps the marginal diamond stop put them off the no-trump game. Declarer plays low from dummy and on your partner’s A, plays the jack. Partner returns the 7 with declaring playing 2.

You ruff. What now?

When giving a ruff, one’s partner should give some idea of which suit you might return: low for the lower of the 2 outstanding non- trump suits and a high card for the higher. The 7 seemed somewhere in the middle, unless declarer had started with a 3 card club suit.

What happened?

West thought the 7 was higher rather than lower and exited a low heart. That drew the jack from your partner and the queen from declarer. There were to be no further tricks for the defence.

 

 

Declarer drew trumps and crossed to the A, discarding their diamond losers on the high clubs, making 11 tricks.

What could/should West have done? Why, play the K! How South would have hated to see that card appear. He could try ducking but West would then continue with a second heart. Declarer might as well win the ace and try a high club discarding a diamond. West ruffs and should exit their remaining trump. South has to lose a diamond trick for one down.

When West exited a small trump, South had no option but to play low and hope West had led away from the king. He needed that A as the only way he could get across to dummy after drawing trumps.

Yes, in playing your K, you effectively gave declarer two heart tricks but without that switch, there were no red suit tricks for the defence.

Say East had held the A and South had held 3 clubs. That was possible since the 7 might have been the lowest from an original AT7 holding. That kind of decision is what makes defence tough at times. If you believe South has only 2 clubs, then that possibility does not apply here. As it was, the 7 was a middle no preference “do what you think is best, partner” card. I hope you did.

A final word for East. Here’s hoping you complimented your partner on the switch….maybe South should too. Too often, it is mistakes which allow contracts to slither home or maybe fail when they are cold. For once, a defender had to do something really good to beat 4.

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

 

Go Back View All News Items