BRIDGE BITES #35
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THE CROCODILE
COUP
Brian Gunnell |
|
♠ KQT9
♥
8732
♦
K6
♣ 843 |
♠ J63
♥
J5
♦
932
♣ KT976 |
Dummy
West East
Hamman |
We’ll spare you the auction
and just say that American many-time world champion Bob Hamman found himself
in a poor 6♦
contract after East had overcalled Spades. You are sitting West.
You lead the Spade Three,
Dummy plays the King, East the Ace and Declarer ruffs. Then a Diamond to
Dummy’s King, a Diamond to Declarer’s Jack, and the
♦A.
Partner follows with the Seven, Ten and Queen. With trumps drawn, Declarer
now plays ♥A,
♥K,
♥Q,
East playing the Four, Six, Ten. As Hamman is going along his merry way,
what have you been doing other than following suit?
►
That’s right, you have been
busy counting the distribution, because that’s what successful defenders
do. Declarer ruffed the first Spade so East is known to have started with 6
Spades. Diamonds? East started with three of those also. How many Hearts
does Partner have?
►
When Declarer leads a
side-suit, the defenders give count when they can (sometimes it’s not
possible, as fighting for the trick obviously takes precedence). Standard
count signals are low-high to show an odd number in the suit and high-low to
show an even number. On the play of the Hearts, Partner played low-high and
therefore started with three of them. So, Partner started life with 6=3=3=1
distribution.
Next, Declarer leads a low
Club from his hand. Are you wide awake?
►
You must avoid the temptation
to win this cheaply with the Nine. If you do indeed play the Nine, East may
be forced to overtake with the Jack or the Queen, and will have to lead a
Spade (that’s all he has left), allowing Declarer’s Club losers to go away
on Dummy’s Spades. Instead, you alertly squander the ♣K, swallowing
Partner’s singleton honor, and you return the ♣T. Now Declarer never
reaches Dummy’s Spade winner, and eventually loses another Club. Nice
defense! When this deal was played in the 2006 World Championships, West
was caught napping and missed that Crocodile Coup.
►
|
♠ KQT9
♥
8732
♦
K6
♣ 843 |
|
♠ J63
♥
J5
♦
932
♣ KT976 |
Dummy
West East
Hamman |
♠ A87542
♥
T64
♦
QT7
♣ J |
|
♠
♥
AKQ9
♦
AJ854
♣ AQ52 |
|
No doubt, in a World
Championship, West would have been expected to find the winning defense, but
that does not detract from Hamman’s fine play. Note especially the decision
to leave Dummy’s Spade winner stranded, temporarily reducing the trick total
from 11 to 10. Cashing the Spade before taking the trump finesse would have
been fatal, giving the defenders an easy (Spade) exit in the end-game.
When you were sitting in the
West seat, we gently reminded you of the importance of counting. And that
was how you cleverly came up with the winning Crocodile Coup. Hamman also
was counting, and also concluded that East was 6=3=3=1, prompting him to go
for the end-play that you saw. But, suppose that the layout had been
slightly different:
►
|
♠ KQT9
♥
8732
♦
K6
♣ 843 |
|
♠ 8763
♥
J5
♦
932
♣ J976 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ AJ542
♥
T64
♦
QT7
♣ KT |
|
♠
♥
AKQ9
♦
AJ854
♣ AQ52 |
|
Let’s say that, once again,
Declarer correctly diagnoses the distribution and plays East to be 5=3=3=2.
The play goes the same as before, reaching this position:
►
|
♠ QT9
♥
♦
♣ 843 |
|
♠ 76
♥
♦
♣ J976 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ J542
♥
♦
♣ KT |
|
♠
♥
9
♦
8
♣ AQ52 |
|
Now Declarer cashes the
♣A
hoping to throw in East with a Club. But East cleverly jettisons the King! Nice play, Mr East, but it’s not over yet. Declarer cashes his red suit
winners, forcing East to pitch his Spades (if West instead pitches a Club
then Declarer simply ducks a Club). Dummy also pitches Spades and the
coup de grace almost occurs when Declarer exits with a low Club. But,
no, West has another Crocodile Coup at his disposal, this time rising with
the Jack to swallow East’s Ten. Down one thanks to spectacular defense from
both sides of the table!
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