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Creating an Illusion?

Psychology is one aspect of bridge. What does it mean when an opponent fires back at you the suit you have just played? When you are in a small slam and have lost one trick, you cannot afford to make too many wrong guesses!

Thus, it might seem strange to look at this hand from a defender’s point of view. What do you do when you know more about the distribution of a key suit than the declarer does? Do you put them to the test straightaway or do you just exit passively and hope they misguess? Take a look:

 

 

Your opponents were playing 2 over 1 Game Force style, 5 card majors. Hence, they were in game force from the natural 2 onwards. 3 showed three hearts and a strong hand and 3 was first or second round control in that suit. Key Card did the rest with 5 showing one or four.

You lead 10 with dummy’s queen scoring, South playing 6 and declarer 7. Declarer plays 4 to 3, their own king and your ace. What now?

You know that the heart suit will be critical and that declarer will be keen to know the likely lay-out of this suit. You know that a successful finesse in hearts will land the contract. So, is playing a heart back straightaway wise? Does that show you know more than the declarer?

Michael Cornell “6: It must be right to play a heart back before declarer gets any count on the hand. (he will see the  break very early if he plays a couple of them). If he puts in the 10, shake his hand!”

So, Michael thinks there is no inference for declarer to draw. West will know that you, North, know how many hearts South has as everyone knows the declarer has three hearts. If North was not looking at the jack, they might perceive that the heart exit is safe. I asked Michael whether the heart continuation meant that North knew what the right play for the declarer in that suit was, to which he replied:

“Maybe. There could be a bluff/double bluff situation but if declarer has chances for 12 tricks without 4 extra heart tricks, he will be loath to put all his eggs on a heart finesse at trick 3.”

 Another very keen for a swift heart return is:

Nigel Kearney “6: Obviously we should also do this if we started with Ax. It is not just a psychological problem. If declarer has Q Kxx AKQxxx AKx, he has 12 tricks even with a heart misguess unless we play one immediately.

 An interesting lie of the cards with West having to overtake the Q to get to dummy, once they have misguessed in hearts. So, the heart return is necessary at that point, with only a heart misguess at trick 3 being able to defeat the contract.

 Our Christchurch panellists are united in their choice:

 Kris Wooles “2: This seems the most logical choice forcing declarer to make some choices before he/she learns too much about the shape of the opponents’ hands. Sure hoping declarer doesn’t guess the heart layout!

 

Bruce Anderson “2: I do not want to give any indication that I have three hearts. Presuming that West does have Kxx, a strong declarer will test the clubs and diamonds before making the fateful decision to either play for the hearts be 2/2, or 3/1 and finesse against the jack.

If declarer’s hand is something like xx Kxx AKJxx Kx then partner’s Jack will drop on the third round of clubs and I will show out of diamonds on the second round of that suit. So, I am trying to have declarer believe that I have six clubs and four spades, a singleton diamond, and so the hearts are 2/2.”

 So, Bruce believes a heart back does carry some inference about where the key jack is. Would Michael Cornell have been shaking Bruce’s hand had Bruce been declarer and Michael had returned the low heart?

 No-one got that close to West’s shape. It would seem West had alternative lines had a black card been returned by North. Unfortunately for the defence, the declarer should come to the right conclusion:

 

 

 

After the return of either black suit, West has 5 spade tricks, 3 clubs and 2 in diamonds. They need, normally, two heart tricks.

 5 rounds of spades and 2 more rounds of clubs would see North discard two clubs (on the spades) and South three diamonds. While two top diamonds would say just about everything about South’s shape (assuming the fall of the J is a genuine card)…two spades, seven diamonds and three clubs, as well as the known heart, this seems to me an unusual line to take, not being very informative unless diamonds are 7-1, or 8-0 or that the Q falls doubleton. (Declarer would have thrown a heart and 10 on the long spades.) 

 

On a more normal diamond break, West will arrive at trick 12 not knowing whether South's last two cards are two diamonds or a diamond and the key J.

Options!

 As declarer I would be happier with two bites at the cherry and would at trick3 or 4(depending on North's return) cash Q and eventually have to take the diamond finesse. Thus, on the actual deal, it would make no difference what North returned at trick 3. Since at the key point of the diamond finesse at trick 11 (after 8 black tricks had been won and 2 rounds of hearts played), I would only be losing to an original singleton or doubleton Q in the North hand.

 So, did the return of the heart indicate that North held J? I am not convinced it does as it seems a nice safe exit for North, even if the club is safe too. Of course, Nigel Kearney’s shape for declarer could be correct as well. All up, no declarer likes to go down at trick three when there are other ways of making the contract. This time all routes seemed to lead to success…and next time you are in the declarer seat and get your key suit returned as above, what would you do? Food for thought.

Two Voids! 

 

An interesting hand! What to bid? It is Swiss Pairs. Over to you.

Richard Solomon

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