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Disaster Defence.

Today, there are no brilliancies but just a sad tale of all that could have gone wrong, which indeed did go wrong. Eventually, someone had to prosper by getting a good result. To start with, a defensive situation:

 

 

1NT was 15-17 and 2 a transfer to spades. South must have liked the spade bid as after East’s lead-directing double (‘ like hearts”), they jumped to 3, a super-accept. North must have really liked this bid because with a bit of shape and a 5-count, they freely bid to game. That seems an over-aggressive bid, especially as Pairs was the game.

West was happy to lead as directed, their singleton Q. East won trick 1 with A and returned 5. South, who followed with 6 at trick 1 followed to trick 2 with 8 as you ruffed with 3. Which card do you play to trick 3?

It is always a great idea when you are giving your partner a ruff, or even possibly doing that, to indicate with the card you play which suit is best to return. It is also a good idea to make your signal as clear as possible.

The sad tale…for the defence!

West was not quite sure what to do next and decided to cash their A. Although not necessary at that point and certainly not the best defence, that act was by no means crucial. However, West’s next card, 5, certainly was, as these were the four hands:

 

 

West was determined to find a way back to their partner’s hand to score another heart ruff. That one-eyed defence allowed South to make their contract by simply winning Q and drawing trumps.

What went wrong

It was certainly not all one-way in the West direction. East’s double of 2 is surely questionable. East’s hearts were reasonable at best and were South not to have such a good spade fit with their partner…and were the North hand not so weak, then 2xx (and why not!) could make.

(Had East stayed silent, West had an awkward lead to a spade contract. They may well choose a club. Although South can now make 4 by finessing Q, it is by no means certain this will happen and is certainly no reason for East’s dangerous double of 2.)

East should really have had better hearts for their double. The double backfired in a different way, too. Had they passed, it is doubtful that South, with minimum hcp for their bid would have jumped to 3. East would likely have been in the pass-out seat to 2 and might have risked a take-out double, enabling East-West to find their diamond fit (even 4 is a realistic make). As it was, South up-valued their hand, no doubt hoping that their partner had shorter hearts…and the diamond fit was lost.

East could also have helped their partner by returning J at trick 2, a clear sign for a diamond return though that might have backfired had West held a doubleton heart and the defence’s diamond trick would disappear on a fourth round of hearts. 

Back, though, to West. At trick 2, the defence had taken 2 tricks. West still had A and what looked like an almost certain club trick, with the 4 card suit in dummy. They either got greedy or lost focus, the primary aim of the defence being to defeat the contract, certainly one bid on such a small number of hcp.

Certainly, a small diamond at trick 3 to East’s K beats this ambitious contract by two tricks, assuming that when they get their second ruff, West exits Q or a diamond. That’s nice defence, possible if West had interpreted the 5 return as asking for a diamond. Most of the unseen hearts (to West) were below 5.  However, let’s be sure we are beating this game by laying down A, maybe even leading a low trump and by certainly not playing a speculative club. After all, South did have a strong no-trump hand with a maximum 7 or 8 hcp in the majors (West could tell that). It was not thus so surprising that the club exit backfired.

 

•        So, watch the strength of lead-directional doubles.

•        Guide your partner as clearly as you can as what is the best suit to play after gaining a ruff.

•        Keep track of the hcps in declarer’s hand.

•        And above all, remember the primary aim of the defence (unless the opponents are sacrificing) is to beat their contract by one trick. Extra under-tricks are a bonus.

Had East-West followed the above, they would have been writing down a plus score from this board.

Richard Solomon

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