|
BRIDGE BITES #108
|
TRUST
THE OPPONENTS
Brian Gunnell |
|
♠ AT
♥
72
♦
54
♣AKQJ872 |
E-W Vulnerable
West North East
South
1♣ Pass 1♠
4♥
5♣ Pass 5♦
5♥
Dbl
Pass
5♠
Pass
6♠ Pass Pass
Pass
On this deal,
West trusted Declarer’s bidding and found a brilliant shift
at Trick 2. And Declarer trusted West’s bidding enough to
find a clever counter and bring home her slam.
|
|
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
|
♠ KQJ9864
♥
8
♦
A932
♣ 9 |
On lead against 6♠, West cashed a
high Heart and had to decide what to do at Trick 2. If he had tried to cash a
second Heart then there would be no story to tell, as you would ruff that, draw
trumps and run the Clubs. But West was in a trusting mood, and concluded that
you were unlikely to have two Heart losers on this auction. So he found the
fiendish shift of the Club Ten, knocking out Dummy’s only side-suit entry before
trumps had been drawn. What will you do now?
►
One possibility is to hope for
2-2 trumps, in which case trumps could be drawn, ending on the board, and the
Diamond losers then disposed of on the Clubs. Is this likely to work?
►
Probably not! West did a
considerable amount of vulnerable bidding and probably has 8 or 9 Hearts. That
being so, it seems more likely that West has a singleton trump. If so, how do
you make your slam?
►
If you really think that trumps
are likely to be 3-1 (and you should!) then draw just one round of trumps with
Dummy’s Ace, and start running the Clubs, pitching Diamonds. As it happens,
East ruffs the fourth round of Clubs, you overruff, return to the board with a
trump (drawing East’s last trump in the process), and get rid of the last
Diamond loser on another Club winner.
►
|
|
♠ AT
♥
72
♦
54
♣AKQJ872 |
|
|
♠ 2
♥
AKQJT943
♦
KQ
♣ T3 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ 753
♥
65
♦
JT876
♣ 654 |
|
|
♠ KQJ9864
♥
8
♦
A932
♣ 9 |
|
Well bid, well defended, well
declared!
Back to Index
|