quiddity Posted November 29, 2012 Report Share Posted November 29, 2012 There was a hand in yesterday's SF pairs game with an interesting defensive theme that I hadn't seen before. Unfortunately the hand wasn't very good as instructional material (since some of the bidding was insane), but here is the theme: [hv=pc=n&w=sqj762hkt8dj652c8&n=skt43hq64dk98ckt2]266|200[/hv] You are West, defending a 3♥ contract. You lead the stiff club, dummy plays low. Partner wins the ♣A and returns a middle club. From the bidding you can place partner with exactly one more ace somewhere. How do you defend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiddity Posted December 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2012 No bites? East is placed with exactly one more ace and the middle club return suggests that it is the ♥A. West can see 3 trump tricks (one ruff and the H-AK), unless East also has ♥J. In that case West can ruff, cross to East's J, and get another ruff. The ♥A will be the fourth trump trick. But how will East know to stick in the J? His tendency will be to fly ace to give partner a second ruff. The answer is for West to ruff with the ♥K at trick two. If East does have the ♥A, I don't think this play can cost. This was the actual hand from the pair games in SF a couple of days ago: [hv=pc=n&s=sa5h97532da7cqj74&w=sqj762hkt8dj652c8&n=skt43hq64dk98ckt2&e=s98hajdqt43ca9653&d=n&v=b&b=13&a=p1cp1sp1np2spp3hppp]399|300[/hv] Declarer also has an interesting problem if West ruffs low and returns a side-suit. Maybe the best play is to win in dummy and lead a low heart off the board hoping for East to fly ace (if he has it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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