October 2024 - 58

Intermediate Players
Boehm on Bridge
Par excellence - part 12
I
n par tournaments, the defenders
were occasionally instructed
what to play to set up the problem.
Assume you are declaring 6c
versus the lead of the c3; the defense
is required to play clubs whenever
possible.
North (Dummy)
s K 8 6 2
h K 5 3
d Q 10 3
c K J 10
South (You)
s 7
h A 8 7
d A K J 9
c A Q 9 8 7
It might seem simple to draw
trumps, run the diamonds, and
discard a heart loser from dummy.
The flaw is that this produces only
11 winners; the heart discard is a
mirage because you are unable to ruff
the master hand's third heart. The
sK will produce the 12th trick when
the ace is onside, but must the slam
depend on a finesse?
The par play is to lead a spade
from hand at trick two. Worst case
(barring an awful club break), East
tops dummy's sK with the ace and
returns a club, West following. The
stage is now set for a dummy reversal.
Win the club in dummy, ruff a
spade, cross to the d10, ruff the third
spade, cross to the dQ and ruff the
fourth spade with your last trump.
Enter dummy with the hK to draw
the missing trump and claim. In all,
declarer scores three spade ruffs in
hand, three high trumps in dummy,
58 | Bridge Bulletin | October 2024
four diamonds, and two hearts. In a
dummy reversal, it is more productive
to count winners than losers.
If clubs divide 4-1, the dummy
reversal must be abandoned because
you can't ruff twice in hand without
losing trump control. Hope that the
defender with four clubs has to follow
to four rounds of diamonds, allowing
you a heart discard and a ruff in
dummy.
In the next problem you are West
holding:
sA 10 5 4 h6 d8 7 5 cA K Q 7 2.
The auction:
West North East
Dbl
2NT(1) Pass
Pass 4h All Pass
(1) Limit raise or better.
You lead the cA and dummy
displays:
North (Dummy)
s 6 3 2
h Q J 10 4
d A Q J 10 6
c 3
West (You)
s A 10 5 4
h 6
d 8 7 5
c A K Q 7 2
Partner follows with the c4,
declarer the c9. What's your plan?
Assume that you are playing rubber
bridge where the goal is to beat the
contract.
Partner's lowest club is a suit preference
message denying interest in
South
1h
3h
BY AUGUST BOEHM
spades, the higher-ranking side suit.
If declarer's red suits are solid, it is
hopeless, so presume that partner
has a red-suit winner, either the
hA or the dK, quite possible since
South's 3h call indicated a willingness
to play under game. You must
further assume that spades are
the only possible source of tricks,
partner's lack-of-interest signal
notwithstanding. Signals are sources
of information, not commands.
Accordingly, shift to the s4, the par
play. Observe the effect:
s 6 3 2
h Q J 10 4
d A Q J 10 6
c 3
s A 10 5 4
h 6
d 8 7 5
c A K Q 7 2
s J 8 7
h 7 3 2
d K 3 2
c 8 6 5 4
s K Q 9
h A K 9 8 5
d 9 4
c J 10 9
Partner's sJ in combination with
your ten is enough to defeat the
contract. When East gains the lead,
a spade return to your A 10 sitting
over declarer's K 9 does the trick -
the defenders score two spades, one
diamond and one club. Without your
daring underlead, the timing is in
declarer's favor; he loses one spade,
not two. Daring though it seems,
the underlead represents the only
chance to defeat the contract. The
threat of dummy's potent diamond
suit prompted the deal's title, " Time
Bomb. " 2
October 2024

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