Today’s hand is from an eight-deal Chicago event with total point scoring. We are not presenting this as a problem. Rather just as something to be seen and enjoyed.
Both from the revealing bidding and from the line of play adopted by the declarer, the defenders were more than convinced that he was trying for an over trick.
How the father and son duo nailed the declarer is to be seen to be believed. Enjoy the scintillating defence.
Play at the table:
The bidding is a pretty standard Precision sequence.
West led ♥2, presumably his fourth best heart. Dummy won the ace, with East contributing an encouraging nine. Declarer
entered hand by the DA and ran the ♣Q. East now did something which very few of us would have courage to do at the table when he followed with the ♣2! Convinced that ten tricks are there for the taking, declarer repeated the finesse.
Alas! East won and played a diamond. Declarer played small from hand. West won the ten but played back a heart, locking declarer in dummy. With no entry to hand for the club winners, declarer went two down in the ice-cold contract.
The complete hands were:
Post Mortem
Full marks to East for ducking the first club. He was quick to realize that declarer had the AK of diamonds and, if he did take the ♣K, declarer was good for an over trick as the spade Ace was right.
Also, East did well not to continue hearts as it would have enabled declarer to unblock the ♣A from dummy and chalk up nine tricks. It was brilliant defence to attack declarer’s entry to hand by playing back a diamond!
What about West? Even more brilliant than East, not playing back a diamond. Had he done so, it would have enabled declarer to pitch the ♣A to free the club suit.
It was a crime to try for the over trick, in total point scoring,. when there were nine easy tricks. Greed did him in as East West punished him with great defence.
Did you enjoy the subterfuge? Do let us know in the comments section below!
Disclaimer : All opinions are entirely those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the BridgeFromHome Team.
he can win with DA low club to A and can enter hand via DK and claim 9 tricks
Hi Sekar, Thanks for writing in.
Clearly the best line of play after the opening lead was to cash the club Ace and give up a club for 9 tricks guaranteed.
However, given the line of play adopted by declarer, he used up one entry to his hand to go for the club finesse. When he tried again and failed, his only hope for making the contract is that he gets a chance to discard the club ace.
Winning the second round of diamonds does him no good because, unless he gets the club ace out of the way, he has no source of tricks. If he wins the DA, he has to lose two diamonds, the SA and two hearts to go down two.
With this line, he was actually hoping for a mis-defence which, alas, did not happen!
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why declarer played a small diamond
he can win with DA low club to A and can enter hand via DK and claim 9 tricks
Hi Sekar, Thanks for writing in.
Clearly the best line of play after the opening lead was to cash the club Ace and give up a club for 9 tricks guaranteed.
However, given the line of play adopted by declarer, he used up one entry to his hand to go for the club finesse. When he tried again and failed, his only hope for making the contract is that he gets a chance to discard the club ace.
Winning the second round of diamonds does him no good because, unless he gets the club ace out of the way, he has no source of tricks. If he wins the DA, he has to lose two diamonds, the SA and two hearts to go down two.
With this line, he was actually hoping for a mis-defence which, alas, did not happen!