October 2015 - 60

Advanced Players

Mike's Advice
BY MIKE LAWRENCE

michaelslawrence.com

Untangling a suit for the defense
Dlr: North ♠ A K 2
Vul: None ♥ Q 7 3
♦ 10 7 6 3
♣AJ3
♠Q53
♥A84
♦QJ92
♣KQ8
West
All Pass

North
1♦

East
Pass

South
3NT

Partner opens 1♦, and you (South)
bid 3NT. Your agreement is that 2NT
shows 11-12 points, so your 3NT response shows 13-14. An easy auction.
West leads the ♥J. What should you
be thinking? Well, before thinking,
you should ask what the opening lead
shows. Some players play that the jack
is the highest card in the suit. It would
be nice to know if this is true here.
When asked, East says that the jack
denies a higher honor. Given that, you

know West does not have the king*
(but see last paragraph), so you play
low in dummy. East plays the ♥6. You
win the ace and attack diamonds. West
takes the first diamond and leads the
♥10. Assuming you trust the information they gave you, a very reasonable
thing to do, you play low from dummy
and are rewarded when East plays the
king. He exits with a spade and you are
home. You concede another diamond
trick and claim the rest. Ten tricks.
Take a look at all four hands:
♠AK2
♥Q73
♦ 10 7 6 3
♣AJ3

♠J76
♥ J 10 9 5 2
♦AK8
♣95
♠Q53
♥A84
♦QJ92
♣KQ8

♠ 10 9 8 4
♥K6
♦54
♣ 10 7 6 4 2

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The ACBL Board of Directors will elect one member of the Foundation's five-member board for a three-year term at the fall board
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Candidates should send name, address, player number and biographical information
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60 Bridge Bulletin October 2015

Your play was rewarded. If you had
covered the ♥J at trick one, the defenders would have taken four hearts
and two diamonds. Down two instead
of making an overtrick.
Now, can the defenders do better?
In fact, the defense can defeat 3NT.
The key play comes at trick one. When
dummy plays a low heart, East must
play the king. This concedes a heart to
South, but it is a tainted gift.
Look what happens now. Say South
lets the ♥K win. This is a good play by
South, but it is not good enough here.
East continues hearts. West gets in
once with his ♦K, and he can set up
the hearts. He gets in again with the
♦A and takes two more hearts. The
contract goes down one. This is better
for South than going down two, but it
is not as nice as making an overtrick
when the defenders misdefend.
* Your opponents are allowed to
break from (or forget) their agreements, but in general, they follow them
for the reason that it may cause problems for the defenders if one defender
promises one thing and then produces
something else.
◾

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2015