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It’s Fri  Day for JIN Club players (and others!)

Do you remember?

A bad news pronouncement to start today’s hand. If you thought bidding was hard and you ran into trouble playing contracts, then the news about defending is not good! Defending can be very tough! So, do not worry if you get today’s problem wrong! We are going to “walk through” the defence of today’s deal…and then the music will stop as the question is asked!

 

You are South and our opponents had what we call a Stayman auction. 1NT was 12-14 and 2 was Stayman, East trying to find whether their partner had 4 hearts. However, 2 showed 4 spades and less than 4 hearts (they would bid 2 had they held 4 cards in that suit.)
So, East had enough high card points to bid 3NT.
Your partner led A, K and a third round of clubs won in dummy with Q. Declarer followed with a club to all three tricks. Next declarer played a diamond to their ace and then three more rounds of diamonds from dummy, your partner discarding 2 on the third round of diamonds. Which card do you discard on the fourth round of diamonds?

You had heard your partner say previously that if their first discard is low, then that says they like, have an honour, in the suit thrown.

If you think it does not matter which major card you discard, then you are wrong. It matters heaps! These were the four hands.

 

Well, our South did not think it mattered or else did not see their partner’s discard or else thought they had to keep a heart. They threw a spade..and suddenly West had made their impossible contract.

 

After winning a club and four diamond tricks, West played Q and then three more rounds of spades, 9 winning the fourth round…9 tricks…. Contract made!

Had you discarded a heart, you would have won the fourth round of spades and played a nervous heart (did not matter which one), your side would have taken 3 clubs, a spade and one heart trick (or else if West had not played spades: 3 clubs and AK)… down one.

How did you know to keep all 4 spades? Firstly, your partner’s 2 said they liked hearts (remember “low encourage”. Their first discard was 2.) So, you could afford to throw a small heart (you quite like the suit too!) Also, you knew from the bidding that West had four spades. One of the key rules in defending is:

the bidding?

(if you can), keep the same number of cards in a 4-card suit as declarer or dummy. South could, should, must keep four spades. Even had their partner not encouraged hearts, you still should try to keep 4 spades if you can… and you could! Next time it might not matter. This time, it most certainly did!

Welcome to the tough world of defending, “tough” but very rewarding when you get it right.

Richard Solomon

 

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