May 2020 - 56

Advanced Players

Mike's Advice
BY MIKE LAWRENCE

michaelslawrence.com

The light comes on
Dlr: South ♠ Q J 10 8 7 3
Vul: E-W ♥ A 10
♦654
♣72
♠K9654
♥9
♦K72
♣AK53
West

North

East

Dbl

4♠

All Pass

South
1♠

West led the ♥Q, taken by the ace.
East played the 7. It looks like East has
the ♥K.
South noted that he has a spade loser
and three potential diamond losers.
Given East has ♥K, it's extra likely
that West has the ♦A. If East should
have the ♦A, 4♠ would make, but
South preferred to look further to see if
he could make 4♠ if West held it.
At trick two, South ruffed a heart in
his hand, East playing the king. South
led a trump and West took his ace, East
showing out. West led his remaining
spade, East discarding two low hearts
on these two tricks.
South now saw a chance to get 10
tricks. He played the ♣A K and led
a third club, intending to ruff it in
dummy. His plan was to come back to
his hand with a spade. He would lead
his last club, expecting West to follow. South would discard a diamond
from dummy, letting West win the
trick. West would have no safe lead. A

56 Bridge Bulletin May 2020

diamond would give South his ♦K and
a heart would give South a sluff and a
ruff. Are you OK with this plan?
Here's something to think about.
When South led the ♣A, ♣K and a
third club, West followed with the 8, 10
and queen. What do you make of this?
If West had the ♣Q J 10 8, he would
have led one in preference to the ♥Q,
a suit in which he had a much weaker
sequence. So it looks like East has the
♣J. A reasonable deduction is that
West started with the ♣Q 10 8. If
South ruffs this club and later leads his
fourth club, East will be the one with
the jack. If East gets in, he will lead
a diamond, which declarer had been
hoping to avoid.
This is one of those moments where
you need to be alert to the clues and
switch to plan B. If you judge that East
has four clubs to the jack, you will
discard a diamond on this trick, not the
next club lead, which was the original
plan.
Here's the layout:
♠ Q J 10 8 7 3
♥ A 10
♦654
♣72
♠A2
♠-
♥QJ86
♥K75432
♦AQ98
♦ J 10 3
♣ Q 10 8
♣J964
♠K9654
♥9
♦K72
♣AK53

Given West has two spades, he can't
have four cards in each of the other
suits. He has three or fewer cards in
one of them. It's possible that if West
has three clubs, no line will work. But
on this occasion, there is a line. You
have to spot it in time.
Postmortem: A small aside in the
bidding. West's double was normal,
and East must have been tempted to
bid 5♥, but the vulnerability was poor
for this choice. Still, it might have been
a winning bid. As it is, the defense
can take two clubs and a ruff and the
♥A for down two. If doubled, minus
500 wouldn't be good. But it would be
good if North-South failed to double
or if they bid to 5♠. Imponderables
everywhere. Keep in mind, though,
that if North-South can't make 4♠,
5♥ would be giving up a minus score
instead of getting a plus score.
Look at the West hand. Wouldn't
you agree that the heart lead does not
feel 100% safe? Wouldn't you prefer to
have the ♣Q J 10 to lead from instead?
As it was, West could have defeated
4♠ by getting rid of his ♣Q when
South played the ace and king. Are
there any defenders that are that good?
Perhaps the Rueful Rabbit or one of
his friends. If anyone ever made a play
like this, it would make for a very good
story.
Bonus line: You might play West for
the singleton ♠A, so you could win the
♥A at trick one, play the ♣A K, ruff a
club, ruff a heart, ruff a club, and play a
trump.
◾
http://www.michaelslawrence.com
May 2020

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