August 2018 - 54

Intermediate Players

Boehm on Bridge
BY AUGUST BOEHM

H is for holdup
Years ago, I taught bridge for a day in
Ossining NY at the notorious federal
penitentiary, Sing Sing. An organization sponsored an outreach program
to help socialize prisoners scheduled
soon for release. I wondered how to
ingratiate myself if faced with a truculent or hostile audience. I proposed the
topic of stealing tricks through deception; the sponsor was not amused. Perhaps perversely, I decided on holdup
plays.
The basic purpose of the holdup
play is to disrupt the opponents' communications. Focusing on notrump,
with only one sure stopper, hold back
your winner as long as possible. For
instance, opening leader starts a suit
where dummy holds x-x, you hold
K-x-x, RHO wins the ace and returns
the suit. Hold up and win your king on
the third round. If RHO had played the
jack at trick one, you should win the
king because it's now or never, assuming the ace is on your left.
Dummy holds x-x, you A-J-10, LHO
leads low, and RHO plays an honor at
trick one. Don't hold up because it will
cost you a trick. Win trick one, leaving you with a second stopper, J-10
against their high honor. Suppose
dummy holds J-x, you A-10-x, and the
lead is a low card. Don't squander your
honor cards - duck in the dummy at
trick one and win the ace if RHO plays
a royal. The combination of dummy's
singleton jack plus your 10-x guarantees a second stopper.

54 Bridge Bulletin August 2018

It is often correct to hold up with a
sure double stopper, such as A-K-x,
when you must lose the lead twice.
♠ J 10 3
♥AK65
♦832
♣A73
♠AK5
♥73
♦ Q J 10 9 5
♣K64
In 3NT versus the lead of the ♣Q,
hold up the first round. You need to
develop the diamonds, and the gain
comes when the clubs divide dangerously, 5-2, and the high diamonds are
split, e.g., West holds ♣Q J 10 9 5 and
♦K 6 4, giving East ♣8 2 and ♦A 7. If
you win the first club, East can win the
first round of diamonds and return a
club - West will establish his long suit,
retaining the ♦K entry, to set you one
trick. If you hold up at trick one and
win the expected club continuation,
the defenders' transportation is ruined.
If West wins the ♦K, he can establish
his clubs but lacks a re-entry, and if
East wins the ♦A, he has no more
clubs to play. The shift in timing gives
declarer his contract.
An essential provision of the holdup
technique is that the defense leads declarer's most vulnerable suit. Let's say
that declarer's spades are 9-8-2 facing
A-K-5, and the hearts are 10-7 opposite A-6-3. If the lead is a spade, don't
hold up, because you allow the defense

to shift to hearts, your weakest suit.
Holding up here amounts to playing
with fire.
The defenders may also make good
use of the holdup technique. For example, you are East defending 3NT.
North (Dummy)
♠654
♥A72
♦ K J 10 9 6
♣93
East (You)
♠ J 10 8 2
♥54
♦AQ2
♣ J 10 8 5
South opened the bidding 1♣ and
jumped to 2NT after North's 1♦ response. West leads the ♥J, denying a
higher honor. Declarer wins in hand to
advance the ♦5, partner follows with
the 3, and dummy inserts the 9 - plan
your defense.
You should hold up, preferably in
tempo. Declarer probably doesn't have
enough strength to make his contract
without the diamond suit. In all likelihood, he will return to his hand and
repeat the diamond finesse. Now, you
pounce. When declarer started with
a doubleton diamond, your holdup
play has severed his communication.
Dummy has the ♥A entry to drive out
your ♦A but no way to return and use
the diamond winners. If you win the
first diamond, dummy will be worth
three diamond tricks. When you hold
up, dummy wins one. Try it.
◾

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2018