BRIDGE BITES #7
|
AN
OLD RUSE
Brian Gunnell |
Here’s a neat deception, but,
alas, it won’t work against modern signaling methods. You are West, defending
3NT after this auction:
None Vulnerable
South West North East
1NT Pass 2♣ Pass
2♦
Pass 3NT Pass
Pass Pass
|
♠ 54
♥
7542
♦
AQJT
♣ Q93 |
♠ KT86
♥
KT86
♦
542
♣ K4 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
Against 3NT you lead your 4th-best Spade. East’s Jack
is taken by Declarer’s Queen, then a Diamond to Dummy's Queen, and the losing Club
finesse to your King. How do you plan to beat this contract?
►
At this point you can count 9 or 10 tricks for Declarer, via two
Spades, and presumably four Diamonds and three or four Clubs. Your only hope for defeating 3NT
is that the defense can cash 4 Hearts. So, you shift to a low Heart, Partner
obligingly has the right Heart cards and, bingo, it’s down one! That was
pretty easy, all you had to do was to count Declarer’s tricks to find the right
answer.
Take Two!
Now, let’s change the
scenario. As before,
your opening lead is a low Spade, but this time East’s Jack fetches Declarer’s
Ace. He crosses to Dummy with a Diamond, and finesses the Club, losing to your
King. How do you defend this time?
►
Well, of course, you cross to Partner’s
♠Q, cash the remaining Spades, exit a Diamond, and sit back smugly, hoping to
score the setting trick with the ♥K
in the end-game. If you think that this defensive problem was not worthy of
your mettle, then think again, because you have just been had!
►
|
♠ 54
♥
7542
♦
AQJT
♣ Q93 |
|
♠ KT86
♥
KT86
♦
542
♣ K4 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ J932
♥
AJ3
♦
976
♣ 865 |
|
♠ AQ7
♥
Q9
♦
K83
♣ AJT72 |
|
Yes, when Declarer won that first
Spade trick with the Ace he was fiendishly false-carding, successfully tricking
West into continuing Spades instead of shifting to Hearts.
Twenty or thirty years ago, this sneaky ruse worked every time, but
nowadays there is a defensive antidote.
►
The antidote involves East telling Partner whether or not he likes
that opening Spade lead. When Declarer leads a Diamond at Trick 2, East can
signal with the Nine (high means “I like your opening lead”), or with the Six
(low means “I don’t”). On the actual deal, East plays the discouraging Six,
denying any more Spade honors and alerting West to Declarer’s shenanigans. That
signal is called a Smith Echo and is a common agreement among tournament
players. For more on this, please Google “smith echo for dummies”. No offense,
dear readers, it’s merely a search which will take you directly to a most helpful article.
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