BRIDGE BITES #38
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THE ANTI-BATH
COUP
Brian Gunnell |
The Bath Coup is well known
by now:
865
KQT94 73
AJ2
West leads the King and
Declarer craftily ducks. Now if West continues he gives Declarer a second
trick in the suit. The rule for East here, when holding Jxx, is to
encourage with his higher spot card, hopefully that agreement will save
West from the ignominy of the Bath Coup. The following deal has a twist on
that, the so-called “Anti-Bath Coup.
♠ KJT
♥
865
♦
72
♣ AQT96 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ AQ5
♥
AJ2
♦
A64
♣ J875 |
Against your 3NT contract
West leads the ♥K.
What are the dangers of taking your Ace immediately?
►
That’s easy enough. If you
win the first trick and then lose the Club finesse to East, he will fire
back a Heart and, if the suit is 5-2, that will be down one in a hurry.
Should you play a low Heart on the first trick?
►
If you duck then West, having
seen Partner’s discouraging Heart Three, is likely to shift to a Diamond,
and that will also lead to defeat if the Club finesse loses. So, playing
the Ace is risky, and so is playing the Two. But the rules of the game say
that you have to play something, go ahead …
►
Yes, try playing the Jack!
West will assume that you have AJ doubleton and will continue the suit. You
win the second round and take the Club finesse. If that finesse loses then
either (a) the Hearts are 5-2 and East is out of the suit, or (b) the Hearts
are 4-3 and the defense only has four tricks.
►
|
♠ KJT
♥
865
♦
72
♣ AQT96 |
|
♠ 962
♥
KQT94
♦
JT8
♣ 42 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ 8743
♥
73
♦
KQ953
♣ K3 |
|
♠ AQ5
♥
AJ2
♦
A64
♣ J875 |
|
Of course, a Diamond shift at
Trick 2 beats the contract, but that clever false card diverted West from
the winning play. But West erred grievously! After that first Heart trick
(King, Five, Three, Jack), he should have smelled a rat. Where was the
Two? East would not play the Three from 732, instead he would play his
lowest card saying “I don’t have the Jack!” So, an alert West (and one who
trusted his Partner to signal correctly) could have figured out that
Declarer had false-carded. But, in the heat of battle, such clues can be
missed!
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