Sometimes a very good play is doing nothing
When Francine and I talked today I told her that I had written up the squeeze on declarer in 1♣ doubled. Francine told me that her favorite defense from Saturday was a different hand. When I looked at it I had to agree with her. it is pretty because it is a quiet play but not easy to find at the table. See what you think.
| West | Linda | East | Francine |
| pass | |||
| 1♠ | 3♣ | DBL | 4♣ |
| pass | pass | 4♦ | pass |
| 4♥ | all pass |
 |
East
♠ Q10 ♥ A10963 ♦ K963 ♣ Q5 |
| Francine
♠ A853 ♥ KQ84 ♦ 75 ♣ 643 |
I led the ♣J, declarer played the ♣ Q which held. Now declarer led the ♠10 off dummy overtaking with the ♠ J when Francine ducked. Declarer played a heart to the ♥ 10 and Francine won her ♥ Q as I followed. She returned a club. Declarer won the ♣ A and played another heart. As we will see this was a normal play but fatal. I showed out and declarer popped with the ♥ A. We have arrived at this position.
| Dealer:
Vul: |
Linda
♠ 6 ♥ – ♦ QJ102 ♣ K108 |
|
| West
♠ K974 ♥ J ♦ A84 ♣ – |
|
East
♠ Q ♥ 963 ♦ K963 ♣ – |
| Francine
♠ A85 ♥ K8 ♦ 75 ♣ 3 |
Now declarer led the ♠ Q from dummy and Francine made the simple play of ducking the spade. She did this even though dummy would now be void and had lots of trump to ruff spades. But rising would be fatal allowing declarer to set up three spade tricks in hand. When she ducked declarer did not have the entries to set up spades. Try as he might West cannot come to more than two diamonds and two hearts to add to the five tricks he already had taken. Here is the whole hand.
| Dealer:
Vul: |
Linda
♠ 62 ♥ 5 ♦ QJ102 ♣ KJ10872 |
|
| West
♠ KJ974 ♥ J74 ♦ A84 ♣ A9 |
|
East
♠ Q10 ♥ A10963 ♦ K963 ♣ Q5 |
| Francine
♠ A853 ♥ KQ84 ♦ 75 ♣ 643 |
If I had just lead a top diamond the hand would have been impossible from the get go. I talked myself into a club lead for no sensible reason as I look back at the deal.
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Bridge-related
Re: Your Club Lead
1. I know that you purposely led a club to let Francine make her play later on. Thus, you should get all the credit on the hand! 🙂
2. Actually, I don’t think that it’s so automatic to lead a diamond on your auction. It’s wrong in many situations, especially if Francine has a club honor.
3. The Solution?
Years ago, I think I was playing on a Spingold team with Mark Itabashi, but not with him. We all managed to “qualify” ourselves for the non-National events that were held the next day. Anyway, Itabashi and I figured we would have a go at it for the first time in the Regional pair game.
Believe it or not, this type of situation came up twice! However, I believe that the auction was one level higher the first time. We had little idea what we were playing, but instead of raising to the 5 level with some crappy holding in the suit, it seemed like it might be better to roll out 4NT since it was available. It clearly was not our hand, and on the auction, it had no meaning in standard bidding. Anyway, by some miracle, it worked!
Later, there was a similar hand, but at a level such that 3N was available. Once again, a NT bid could be used to show junky support.
I believe it worked again!
Anyway, despite some lunacies, we managed to win with about 65% for the day, but I don’t think we would have without this spur of the moment “treatment” that was also understood as intended by partner each time. (It was a lot easier the second time!)
—-
That method would also work on your hand. Of course, it is better to define ahead of time exactly when it applies.
Al, the Plumber of the Depths of Lunacy!