August 2014 - 60

Advanced Players

Mike's Advice
BY MIKE LAWRENCE

 www.michaelslawrence.com

An interesting defensive deal
This deal came up in a practice
match between two good teams:
Dlr: East ♠ A J 10 8 3
Vul: None ♥ 10 4
♦764
♣ 10 8 2
♠765
♠KQ94
♥KJ8762
♥Q
♦Q3
♦ J 10 2
♣95
♣AKQ43
♠2
♥A953
♦AK985
♣J76
West

North

1♥
2♥

Pass
All Pass

East
1♣
1♠

South
1♦
Pass

This auction was well judged. East
has a good hand, but he restrained
himself when West rebid hearts. A
wise move.
As an aside, look at the bidding
from North's perspective. Would you
consider bidding 1♠ over 1♥? I mention this only because it is a bid worth
considering. North doesn't have much,
but he does have a good suit that can be
shown at the one level, and he has three
low cards in partner's suit.
Against 2♥ by West, North led the
♦4. South won with the king, declarer
playing the 3, and returned the ♠2
to North's ace. Important question:
Assuming that North correctly reads

60 Bridge Bulletin August 2014

South to have led a singleton, which
spade should North return?
North returned his low spade, the
3. South ruffed dummy's queen and
now had to consider if leading a low
diamond back was a good idea. If North
has the ♦Q, he can win and give South
a second spade ruff. How can South tell
whether to lead a low diamond?
The answer is by looking at the spade
North returned. North knows that
South will ruff the spade return. South
will want to know if North has a reentry, and the only reentry that is possible is the ♦Q. If North has the ♦Q,
he should lead a high spade. Ostensibly,
the ♠3 asks for a club return, while
denying interest in a diamond return:
A good example of a suit-preference
inference.
An aside: North's signal said that he
did not have the ♦Q, but South already
knew that. How did South know?
North has shown up with at least five
spades to the ace. If North also had
three diamonds to the queen, he would
have bid something over West's 1♥.
So South knows that declarer has the
♦Q. Do you see any hope for South to
set 2♥?
There is a very good hope. South
cashed the ♦A, on which West played
the queen, and then led another
diamond. Everyone at the table knew
that North was going to follow suit, so
West discarded his last spade and won
the diamond in dummy. It was time
to draw trump and West led dummy's

queen.
South took his ace and led one more
round of diamonds. Here is the layout
of the remaining cards with South
leading the ♦8:

♠-
♥KJ876
♦-
♣95

♠ J 10 8
♥ 10
♦-
♣ 10 8 2

♠-
♥95
♦98
♣J76

♠K9
♥-
♦-
♣AKQ43

If West were in now, he would draw
trump and claim. But South's diamond
return caused a problem. This play is
known as an uppercut. If West ruffs
low, North overruffs with the 10. If
West ruffs high with the jack, he can
cash the king, but South's 9 turns into
the setting trick.
What South had to do on this hand
was ask himself what North could have
that would suffice to set 2♥. Once he
eliminated the chance that North had
the ♦Q, he looked for a second chance
and spotted that the ♥10 in North's
hand would do the trick. A good combination of defensive signals and imaginative thinking led to a well earned
down one.
◾

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2014