BRIDGE BITES #106
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A
GOOD ATTITUDE
Brian Gunnell |
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♠ K
♥
J743
♦
J8765
♣ KJ7 |
♠ T96
♥
T982
♦
AQ
♣ T985 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
Both Vulnerable
South West North East
1♠ Pass 1NT Pass
2♥
Pass 3♥
Pass
4♥
Pass Pass Pass
You are West and against 4♥
you lead the Club Ten, won by Partner’s Ace. Partner shifts to the Diamond
Two. What’s your plan? And what are your carding agreements in this situation?
►
In the middle of the hand
(starting at Trick 2), many partnerships play “attitude leads”, whereby shifting
to a low card usually shows a high card in the suit, and shifting to a high card
is either from a weak holding or from the top of a sequence. If that is your
agreement, then it looks as if Partner has the ♦K.
So how will you beat this contract?
►
It’s easy when (a) you pause for thought, and
(b) trust your partnership carding agreements. Yes, you squander your Ace on
the first round of Diamonds. Then you lead the
♦Q, which Partner will overtake with
that King. The third round of Diamonds will promote a trump trick for the
defense. Down one!
►
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♠ K
♥
J743
♦
J8765
♣ KJ7 |
|
♠ T96
♥
T982
♦
AQ
♣ T985 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ J532
♥
5
♦
KT92
♣ A632 |
|
♠ AQ874
♥
AKQ6
♦
43
♣ Q4 |
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West made the spectacular play on
this successful defense but East also had a starring role. The standard lead
from that Diamond holding is the Ten, the so-called “top of an interior
sequence”. But East could envisage the trump promotion if West also had the
right trump holding. So, reasoning that it was more important to advertise his
♦K
than it was to make an ambiguous interior sequence lead, East shifted to the
Diamond Two. So, good play by both defenders, made possible by sound carding
agreements.
A Spectacular Deception!
Next, imagine the full deal is slightly different, like this:
►
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♠ K
♥
J743
♦
J8765
♣ KJ7 |
|
♠ T96
♥
T982
♦
AQ9
♣ T98 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ J532
♥
5
♦
KT2
♣ A6532 |
|
♠ AQ874
♥
AKQ6
♦
43
♣ Q4 |
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As you can see, we have tweaked
the defenders’ Diamond holdings. Again the opening lead is a Club to East’s Ace
and again a low Diamond comes back. West, who is a shockingly devious fellow,
wins with his Ace and returns the
♦Q.
East overtakes that and sends back a third Diamond. Naturally, Declarer ruffs
high, expecting that West started with a doubleton
♦AQ,
and later finds out to his chagrin that trumps are
4-1 and that he has just gone down in a cold contract!
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