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PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
“To continue or to switch”? That is the question.
One of the hardest parts of defence can be when you lead the ace or king from a long suit of your own (headed by AK), with Qxx, appearing in dummy…and you have to decide whether it is safe, indeed correct, to continue that suit. This was the dilemma facing several defenders in the recent Inter-Provincial Championships.
Take a look at the following:
| South Deals N-S Vul |
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| West | North | East | South |
| You | Dummy | ||
| 1 ♦ | |||
| 2 ♣ | 2 ♥ | 2 ♠ | 3 ♦ |
| 4 ♠ | 5 ♦ | Pass | Pass |
| Dbl | All pass |
A lively auction like the above would have left you hoping you could do some damage to your vulnerable opponents in 5
. Three aces and a king, along with your partner who made a free bid. It all sounds promising for the defence….or does it?
It really is a good idea to play count signals when you lead from a long suit headed by AK. When Qxx is in dummy, this becomes even more important.
Let’s say your side is playing reverse signals where “low then high” card shows an even number of cards and “high then low” means an odd number.
So, you lead the 
K (“king for count, ace for attitude (like/dislike)) and after dummy’s 3, your partner plays 6 and declarer an ominous looking 8. What do you play at trick 2? You would not like a second high club ruffed, would you?
Not sure about the club position? How about a nice safe 
A to ensure the contract’s defeat (they cannot deny you your trump ace!)? How are you feeling when the A is ruffed and declarer ruffs a spade to dummy and calls for the K on which they discard….
| South Deals N-S Vul |
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| West | North | East | South |
| You | Dummy | ||
| 1 ♦ | |||
| 2 ♣ | 2 ♥ | 2 ♠ | 3 ♦ |
| 4 ♠ | 5 ♦ | Pass | Pass |
| Dbl | All pass |
...a club! Unlucky? Not really.
What did partner’s 6 mean? If declarer’s 8 was a true card (i.e. a singleton), your partner held 762. Yes, they could have played 6 from a 3 card suit but they should make their signal as clear as possible for you. Therefore, your partner does not hold 3 clubs…and that they hold two or maybe even one club. Leave that A for trick 3 once you have already played A safely a trick earlier.
What about natural count where from three small cards, you play the lowest? That 7 (high, low from a doubleton) cannot be the lowest of three and therefore, you are safe to continue.
All a declarer can do in such a situation is to false-card and hope the defence go wrong.
However, as long as the defence played accurate count cards, reverse or natural, that 8 should have been exposed for what it was…and 5 should have been defeated. As you can guess, that did not always happen.
Richard Solomon
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