BRIDGE BITES #8
|
A
LITTLE WHITE LIE
Brian Gunnell |
On defense, sometimes a little
white lie is necessary in order to point Partner in the right direction. No
more clues, here’s your problem:
♠ K86
♥
KQ6
♦
KQJT6
♣ 76 |
|
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ 9732
♥
T982
♦
A8
♣ 843 |
None Vulnerable
South West North East
1♥ 2♣ 2♦
Pass
2♥ Pass 4♥
Pass
Pass Pass
You are sitting East, trying to
beat 4♥.
Partner leads the ♣A. Where can you find four defensive tricks?
Assuming that West has the Ace-King of Clubs, it seems more than likely that
Declarer has the ♠A and the
♥A for that opening bid,
so at first glance it may appear that the best the defense can do is to take its
two Club tricks and the ♦A.
That's not enough! Any ideas for an extra trick? OK, now that you’ve solved the problem,
let us proceed ...
►
That’s right, at Trick 1 you will
false-card with the ♣8, showing a doubleton! Your plan is to conjure up a trump
trick out of thin air. Look what happens! West next cashes the ♣K, and you
complete your fake high-low. Then West plays a third round of Clubs and who can
blame Declarer for ruffing that trick high in Dummy? Obviously he doesn’t want
you to overruff, and, anyway, squandering that high trump costs nothing if the
trumps are 3-1 or 2-2. But they are 4-0, so you score a trump trick and it’s
down one!
►
|
♠ K86
♥
KQ6
♦
KQJT6
♣ 76 |
|
♠ QJT5
♥
---
♦
7432
♣ AKT95 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ 9732
♥
T982
♦
A8
♣ 843 |
|
♠ A4
♥
AJ7543
♦
95
♣ QJ2 |
|
It was necessary to fool Partner
as well as Declarer. If you had signaled honestly in Clubs, then, at Trick 3,
West would no doubt have shifted to the ♠Q, hoping that you had the
♠A
(and not the ♦A),
and trying to grab a couple of Spade tricks before they disappeared on the
Diamonds.
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