Better Bridge in Barry County August 8 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  9 6 3 ♥  K 7 2  ♦  Q10 3 ♣  K 8 5 2
West ♠  J 10 5 4 ♥  10 5 ♦  K 9 8 7 2   ♣  9 3		East ♠  A Q 8 7 ♥  Q 6 4 ♦  6 5 ♣  J 10 7 4
	South ♠  K 2 ♥  A J 9 8 3   ♦  A J 4   ♣  A Q 6

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North Neither 4♠

 

North Pass 3NT	East Pass Pass	South 2NT Pass	West Pass Pass

Sometimes declaring bridge players are lucky. Sometimes the defense is lax in its card playing and allows a contract to be made when it really should have been set. Let’s look at what happened in today’s deal taken from a recent online tournament.

With neither side vulnerable, South opened the bidding at 2NT with 19 high-card points and one for the length in hearts. Why did South elect to ignore the five-card major as an opening bid? The most common reason is that 2NT, while not a forcing bid in most players’ agreement, tells partner a lot of information in one bid: twenty total points and a balanced hand. That is exactly what South had in her hand on this round. With a balanced hand as well as eight high-card points, North readily accepted the invitation to game in 3NT.

West led the 4♠, hoping to save the K♦ as an entry later on. Fourth card down from the spade suit seemed like a normal lead. What happened to the defense later on is suspect. Low from the dummy, Q♠ from East, and taken by South with the K♠.

South planned to take the clubs first with solid honors to see if the fourth club on the board would set up. Unfortunately, that line of action did not work, and South took three club tricks in a row, ending up on the board with the K♣. South next began to work on the diamonds leading the Q♦ from the board and letting it ride to West’s K♦. Here was the crucial point for the defense, and it appeared that the first part went according to their defensive plan: West led the J♠ winning, but East played the 7♠ on the J♠. What difference would that make? It made all of the difference in the world to the contract. Playing the 8♠ would have been an attitude signal card saying, “Lead another spade. I can take it.” Instead, West feared that the A♠ was in the South hand and shifted to the 9♦. South drew a sigh of relief as the defense failed to take the setting trick.

With the spades out of the way, the diamonds set up, it remained for South to get lucky again. South took the two diamond tricks, the J♦ and then the A♦, in her hand. East had failed again throwing away a small heart, leaving the Q♥ exposed to falling to a happy South. South took the K♥ on the board, and West threw the Q♥ on the K♥. Leading a heart back to her hand, South took the last four tricks with the J♥, the A♥, and the 9♥ and the 8♥. South took eleven tricks for two over, and a top score of plus 460.

Giving away a top board to North/South with a 93.5% was criminal. East/West failed in their defense in a number of ways, but most of the blame can be placed on East for failing to use proper defensive signals. Playing the 8♠ instead of the 7♠, while it seems rather insignificant, would have given West an inclination to continue the spade suit. The attitude card indicated an interest in continuing the spades instead of a shift to the diamonds. A return of the spade suit with encouragement from East would have resulted in three spade tricks for East/West, one diamond trick, and one club trick, the J♣. East must take the J♣ first, however, after winning a spade return as it is the last club out. Then East can lead her last spade. In addition, East must try not to throw away a heart on a discard. Instead, she should pitch a diamond, and save the three hearts to make it tough for South to know where the Q♥ is. On this hand, that may have been impossible once the spades were not led again. Sometimes, the declarer is lucky, and sometimes the defense is poor. In today’s hand, it appears that East/West need to review their defensive signaling to help them avoid a disastrous score on what should have been a top score for them.

 

Gerald Stein

August 1, 2013

Number of words: 866

Bridge Notes: Good news for those bridge players who wish to brush up or learn new skills in the defensive part of bridge. An American Contract Bridge League class on defensive signals, both attitude and counting signals, will be offered at Kellogg Community College this fall. Call the Life Long Learning office at KCC for information regarding “Defense in the 21^st Century.” Bring your partner and work on defensive skills together.