Defense was never meant to be easy

[sathyab]

is the title of a hand in Pietro Forquet's famous book, "Play Bridge with the Italians". It might well have been the theme of the entire sixth (and mercifully the last) session of the Blue Ribbon Pairs in Hawaii. Although, stated as a problem they're much easier, so I expect a lot of you to get it, of course :D

 

[hv=d=w&v=n&w=sakqj7hq8d97ct876&s=s9542hj96543dk4ck]266|200|Scoring: MP[/hv]

 

You're on a lead after a typically uninformative auction, 1s-p-3nt. When asked about 3nt the opponents inform you it's a balanced 13-15 hand which tended to deny three spades.

 

You lead the 5 of Hearts, Q by dummy, 7 by partner, playing UDCA and the deuce by declarer. At T2, he calls for the seven of Diamonds, 3 by pd, declarer playing the Ten. If you decide to win, how do you continue ?

[Free]

♣K

[Trumpace]

plan: win ♦K. Try ♣K, if it wins continue with ♦4.

[temp3600]

After having thought about the hand for several minutes, I duck smoothly.

[Echognome]

I play a spade. If declarer has a singleton spade, then he has to inconventiently take his spade tricks now.

[whereagles]

Bidding and play so far are consisten with declarer holding

 

xx

AKx

AQTx

xxxx

 

Seems like we should try and cashout our club tricks now, otherwise declarer makes 10 tricks.

[mikeh]

I always hate these guessing games, because it is possible to talk oneself into the wrong view.

 

As for the play in ♦s, one either ducks smoothly or one wins the trick. A slow duck is counter-productive. At the table, one therefore has to make the decision based on incomplete analysis unless declarer took a long time or you are a much faster analyst than me :( . Here, the hand type suggests winning, but this is an instinctive reaction, as if I were at the table.

 

Now, the prospect of declarer being xx AKx AQ10x 9xxx is very real and the ♣K is the correct play, hoping that partner will read this and overtake with AQJx, instead of hoping for a miracle ... that you hold Kx. Bearing in mind that you reached the last session of the Blue Ribbon, I like your chances :P

 

However, we do not need to rush into the play after the ♦ trick. And we have to think of our continuation after (if) the ♣K wins.

 

Are there possible scenarios where playing the ♣K will expose partner to a squeeze? If so, can we do anything about it?

 

If we play the ♣K, and it holds, partner may be in trouble if declarer is 2=3=5=3. Now if we play a major, declarer can cash the ♥s and run the ♠s, crushing partner if partner is, for example, xx xx J8xx AJxxx or AQxxx.

 

However, this squeeze can be destroyed by the simple step of returning a ♦ after the ♣ wins. (BTW, it seems to me unlikely that the scenario exists, since slam prospects are too good with declarer's posited hand to not respond 2♦.

[Guest Jlall]

Bidding and play so far are consisten with declarer holding

 

xx

AKx

AQTx

xxxx

 

Seems like we should try and cashout our club tricks now, otherwise declarer makes 10 tricks.

Is the play really consistent with that? Assuming spades aren't 5-1 declarer has 3 hearts, 5 spades, and a diamond. He is faced with potentially 3 or 4 club losers. It would seem normal to me to play a diamond to the queen planning to take 10 tricks if it wins, and if it loses and they dont find the club shift deciding later what to do. If declarer really was greedy enough to take this line (trying to make 5 when the KJ of diamonds are on, and hoping you dont find a club shift when theyre not) wouldn't he lead the 9 of diamonds from dummy? Sure that gives up on stiff J onside but thats not really a possible holding, and this type of chinese finesse is the most likely to work. Who covers from Jxxx(x)?

 

The play in diamonds really looks like AQJT or AJT to me. Of course that also suggests the CK shift so...

[sathyab]

Is it possible that declarer is trying to get you to shift to a club and his diamond play was just a ruse ? Could he have xx AKx JT8xx AQ9. With this hand unless he finds a lucky lay-out of clubs such as stiff J on his left, he seems to have only 10 tricks. By playing a diamond he might induce a club shift from you, also there're possibilities in diamonds that block the suit and might create some interesting minor suit squeeze posibilities.

 

Anyway here's the full hand.

[hv=d=w&v=n&n=s63ht7daj83cqj542&w=sakqj7hq8d97ct876&e=st8hak2dqt652ca93&s=s9542hj96543dk4ck]399|300|Scoring: MP[/hv]

 

As you can see, if you win, you must either play your stiff King of clubs or continue a diamond (I'd say that's really counter-intuitive) and partner shifts to a club holding declarer to ten tricks. If your club holds, practically any continuation is okay as partner can hang onto the stiff Ace of diamonds in the end. If you win and continue with a major, declarer cashes the heart honors pitching a club from dummy and dumps spades on your partner and he's the lucky recepient of a two-suit strip squeeze :(

 

Here's the five card ending:

[hv=d=w&v=n&n=s63ht7daj83cqj542&w=sakqj7hq8d97ct876&e=st8hak2dqt652ca93&s=s9542hj96543dk4ck]399|300|Scoring: MP[/hv]

 

The last spade finishes off your partner.

 

I did not find the club shift at the table, continuing with a heart instead. Unfortunately I'm not sure if this is exactly how the play went or if decalrer gave us (well my partner, I'm not getting in on that hand again) a chance to bust up the sqeeze by playing a club.

 

What I find fascinating is that if declarer plays for the top diamond honors to be split, this is a very attractive line of play and doesn't give defense a second chance beyond trick two.