July 2018 - 54

Intermediate Players

Boehm on Bridge
BY AUGUST BOEHM

G is for guarding
One of the most delightful books on
bridge is "Right Through the Pack"
by Robert Darvas and Norman de V.
Hart, consisting of 52 deals (definitely
advanced), each featuring one particular card in a starring role. Honor cards
are quite accustomed to the spotlight,
but the little spot cards are flattered to
receive equal billing.
Spot cards are important to send
attitude, count and suit preference
messages, but there are other important usages where attention must be
paid. Consider the parity principle:
Keep equal length with the opponents'
long side suits. For instance, dummy
holds ♠A K Q 5 and your spades are
6-4-3-2. Be wary of discarding a
spade, because it will cost a fourthround trick - your 6 tops dummy's 5, if
the suit is distributed:
♠J98

♠AKQ5
♠ 10 7

♠6432

In the next example, you hold ♦A 5 2
and dummy shows ♦K Q J 10 3. Defending 1NT, your partner runs a suit
and you have a discard to make. Can it
hurt to throw a diamond? Yes, because
your diamond spots protect your ace,
not from capture, of course, but you
may need to hold back your ace until
the third round if declarer started with
three diamonds and dummy lacks an
outside entry. For instance:

54 Bridge Bulletin July 2018

♦86

♦ K Q J 10 3
♦A52
♦974

A diamond discard means you must
win the second round, which could be
very expensive for the defense.
Spot cards clearly have an important guarding function, but sometimes
they must also unguard. Suppose you
are defending 3NT, dummy (North)
displays ♣A Q J 7 6 3 and no outside
entry, and you (East) hold K-5. As soon
as declarer gains the lead, he advances
the ♣10 and partner follows with the
deuce (standard count). You must be
prepared and have nerves of steel to
follow with your 5-spot in tempo. Your
king is left unguarded, but declarer
doesn't know it unless you hemmed
and hawed before ducking. A fleshand-blood declarer will repeat the finesse from his original holding of 10 x,
expecting the king to be onside. You
have just killed dummy's long suit, saving four tricks. By the way, if declarer
holds ♣10 x x, he should still finesse,
catering to ♣K x x onside, and you get
to score your king anyway. Only if declarer started with four clubs does your
play cost a trick, but it will have been in
a noble effort.
Try a full deal - playing matchpoints,
you are East defending 4♠. South
opened 1♠, West intervened with 2♣,
North doubled, and after you passed,
South jumped to 4♠. Partner starts off
with the ♣A K Q.

North (Dummy)
♠Q
♥A8742
♦ K 10 6 5
♣J42
East (You)
♠6543
♥ J 10 6 3
♦QJ4
♣86
You have a discard to make - what
shall it be? Both a diamond and a heart
are dangerous because you likely have
sole responsibility to guard each red
suit. Accordingly, you should "discard"
a trump. You don't care if it holds
the trick or gets overruffed. The gain
comes when the deal resembles:
♠Q
♥A8742
♦ K 10 6 5
♣J42
♠9
♠6543
♥KQ5
♥ J 10 6 3
♦973
♦QJ4
♣ A K Q 10 7 3
♣8 6
♠ A K J 10 8 7 2
♥9
♦A82
♣95
Unable to establish the hearts, with
West's ♦9 preventing a late squeeze,
declarer is left stranded with a diamond loser, stopping an important
overtrick.
◾

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2018