May 2018 - 54

Intermediate Players

The Real Deal
BY LARRY COHEN

larryco.com

Passive or aggressive
I recently read about this deal from
the 2008 Senior World Championships, and it surprised me.
East held:
♠A 10 9 8 6 4 ♥J 6 2 ♦8 ♣A 9 4.
In a team match, neither side vulnerable, his left-hand opponent (South)
opened 1♦. This was raised to 2♦,
inverted, showing 10+ HCP. East
ventured 2♠ and opener tried for
game with 3♥. Partner raised to 3♠
and RHO jumped to 5♦ and bought it
there.
Partner leads the ♠2 and you see:
♠5
♥AQ3
♦A6542
♣Q652
♠ A 10 9 8 6 4
♥J62
♦8
♣A94
Against suits, this pair was playing
low from odd and third-best from even.
This method is popular among experts to help them count out the hand.
Here, you know partner started with
either three or five spades; with four,
he would have led third-best. You play
your ace, declarer following with the
queen. And now?
I always preach that the most important consideration on defense is deciding whether to go passive or aggressive.
What's your play at trick two?
There is danger in playing another
spade. It looks like partner started with
five, and a spade would give a ruff and

54 Bridge Bulletin May 2018

sluff. A trump could be safe, but not if
partner started with Q-x-x. Here, passive would be a low heart. How could it
hurt? No matter who has the king, this
won't give away a trick.
The most tempting play is the ♣A;
that is what most inexperienced players would play - "a trick is a trick."
However, either the ace or an underlead of the ace is a very dangerous play.
The reason to make such an aggressive
shift would be if you were afraid that if
you didn't, your ace would go away. If
there is nothing in dummy on which to
throw things (as here), then go passive.
The expert East player inexplicably
laid down the ♣A at trick two.
This was the Real Deal:
Dlr: South ♠ 5
Vul: None ♥ A Q 3
♦A6542
♣Q652
♠KJ732
♠ A 10 9 8 6 4
♥ 10 8 7
♥J62
♦ 10 7
♦8
♣J73
♣A94
♠Q
♥K954
♦KQJ93
♣ K 10 8
No surprise, this was a disastrous
decision. Declarer soon claimed 11
tricks and plus 400. Had East made a
passive shift - either red suit would
do - in the goodness of time, declarer
would likely lose two clubs tricks. Yes,
double dummy, he can make by taking a backwards finesse - leading the
♣10 from hand. Of course, if dummy

ever leads a low club, East has to follow
second-hand low.
East had committed what I teach is
the most common error on defense:
wasting your aces to capture only low
cards. Or, as I sarcastically put it in my
classes, playing the ♣A means, "One
trick for you, two tricks for them."
◾

King/Queen of Bridge

If you are a graduating high school
senior and an ACBL member who plays
and promotes bridge, you could become
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winners have been cited for outstanding
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administrative and recreational activities
related to bridge. The ACBL Educational
Foundation will present a scholarship up
to $2000 to the King/Queen of Bridge.
This competition was established
in 1973 by Homer Shoop, an Indiana
banker, and is administered today by
the ACBL Educational Foundation. A
list of previous winners reads like a who's
who of bridge: Jeff Meckstroth, Bobby
Levin, Steve Weinstein, Joel Wooldridge,
Martha (Benson) Katz, Eric Greco, Gavin
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For more information, please visit
acbl.org/kingofbridge.

http://www.larryco.com http://www.acbl.org/kingofbridge

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May 2018