Case for the defence

The text book stuff we read while cutting our teeth learning the ABCs, featured in this deal from the finals of the recently concluded HCL Championships, featuring Formidables, arguably India's top dog team pitted against the sugar candy men of Dhampur Sugar Mills.

The hand below had many interesting facets

A Case For The Defense

HCL Gold Teams Finals, Session II

Board 17. Dealer North. Vul- None

The Auction:

On your 1 Spade overcall, as South, 2 Diamonds by West showed Hearts (transfer), 3 Diamonds by East was Diamonds.

You are South. You lead your 4th best spade, the eight. The dummy comes down.

On winning the Spade Queen, declarer ducks a Heart to your Jack. You play the Spade King which holds .

It's time to take stock. The bidding and play indicate that declarer has 4 Spades (your partner has indicated 3 cards), 5 Diamonds, and at least a doubleton club. Declarer's play of hearts indicates he has a doubleton, and is unlikely to hold the Diamond Jack. He must have the black Aces, Club and Spade, and the Diamond King.

"Now what?" said the monkey. You have 3 heart tricks and the Spade King. You could set up a diamond trick for your partner! and mess up declarer's communications. What about a spade continuation? It's a Bath Coup situation. Continuing spades will give declarer an extra trick, making 3 spade tricks overall? Or even shift to a club. Declarer has Ace doubleton

The key is declarer’s play at trick 2. Why is declarer horsing around with his moth eaten heart suit, in which you hold his  3  Get  Out  Of  Jail  Cards?

The answer lies in giving the devil his due. Overcoming the mental block of not falling for the Bath Coup, you continue spades ! When in with the second heart, continue yet another spade, to set up your long last 5th spade. You gotta  play  spade  4 times !  That's  a  lot  of  hard  work.

Interesting to note that both declarer and defender get 3  tricks  apiece  in  each  other's  primary  suit.

A STRIPPING STEPPING STONE AT TRICK 11

Having worked out the defence above, let's shift focus to declarer's elegant card play. He rightly chased his raggedy heart suit au lieu of the Diamonds breaking. He ducked the Spade King at trick 3 and got that breather, which he gladly  grabbed,

Here  is  the  full  hand:

In reality, the defense shifted to a Club. (Even shifting to a diamond doesn't help). He won in hand, with the Club 10, as it transpired and continued with the Heart Queen. Now the spade shift became redundant, as declarer was in control. He wins any shift in hand, cashes his minor suit winners, Club Ace and Diamond King, enters dummy with the Diamond Ace, cashes the Club King Queen and exits with the 3rd heart to South's Ace, stripping him of all exit cards. With only  the Jack-Nine of spades left at trick 12, the defender had to concede the last 2 tricks to the Ace -Ten. The Stepping Stone !

Please welcome Ashok Goel, the head honcho and owner of  the  Champions,  Dhampur  Sugar  Mills.

Take  a  bow,  Ashok!

(For all his efforts, Ashok still lost on the board! His opponents played in 4 Hearts in the other room. 1 Imp to Formidables )

Disclaimer : All opinions are entirely those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the BridgeFromHome Team.