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Deadly Shifts
Partners do not always find the killing opening lead (really, they don't!) or else the killing lead cannot be made from that side of the table. How sweet it is to save the partnership bacon by finding a killing shift later in the hand.
Related Play Problems Play Problem 37
Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games
What does South’s Double mean? You could make an argument that it should be a take-out Double for the minors, or, alternatively, that South is showing a good (passed) hand. South was following the general guideline that doubles of No Trump bids are usually value-showing, after which West beat a hasty retreat to 2♥.
Playing in 2♥, Declarer will obviously score at least 7 tricks, via 5 trumps, the K♠ and the A♣. But will the defense manage to get their 6 in time? The danger is that the 13th Diamond will set up a Club or a Spade pitch, as in this line of play: Diamond the South’s Ace J♦ covered by the Queen and Ace Club shift won by Dummy’s Ace (good play to decline the finesse!) Trumps are drawn A Diamond is conceded to South Now that 13th Diamond is indeed established for a Spade pitch. The initial Diamond lead was not fatal to the defense, but at Trick Two it was essential for South to shift to the Q♠ (ducked by North), giving the defense the timing to set up their 6 tricks.
If North sells out to 2♠ then the defense can score 5 tricks in this astonishing fashion: ♣A opening lead Club ruff Low Heart to South’s Queen Another Club ruff With the ♠A still to come this dazzling defense holds Declarer to 8 tricks. But in real life it will be 9 tricks. South leads a Heart, and the Club shift gets the defense one ruff, but South has no entry to provide the second ruff.
With such a good trump suit and with a singleton Club, and also being non-vulnerable, many Norths will compete to 3♥, which may receive a highly speculative Double from West at one or two tables. East leads the ♠K and when Dummy goes down Declarer can count 5 trump tricks and two Aces. The only possibility for more is in Diamonds, either the ♦K, or the 13th Diamond, or even a Diamond ruff. Here’s how the play develops: ♠K won by Declarer’s Ace Diamond to the King and West’s Ace Trump return (good shift!) won on the board Diamond from the board, low from West (more good play!), won by East ♠Q is cashed East’s ♠J is ruffed by West (West’s third fine play!) Heart won by Declarer Another Diamond is won by West Another Heart, finally ending Declarer’s hopes for a Diamond ruff! After this fine defense Declarer is held to just 7 tricks. It’s worth reviewing West’s fine performance in this defense: (a) He spotted the danger of that 4th round Diamond ruff and shifted to a trump. (b) When Declarer played the second round of Diamonds, West played low. He had seen East’s Nine on the second round. If that was to show a holding of 9x then Declarer’s play made little sense, she would be needlessly risking a Diamond ruff. So, it seemed more likely that East had started with J9. Of course, that Nine on the first round could have been from 9543, but with holding East would probably play the Five. (c) Ruffing Partner’s Spade winner was certainly flashy, but actually it was the easiest of the three plays. Anyway, if you were North and you bid 3♥, and got victimized by a Double and three fine plays by West, then -300 will be your result.
Against 1NT, East leads the Q♠ (overtaken by the King, of course), and after 4 rounds of Spades East must find a shift. West will have pitched a low Club and Declarer two Diamonds. In view of the pitches a Diamond looks best and this is indeed necessary, otherwise Declarer will set up two Club tricks (and 7 altogether) before the defense can establish the setting trick in Diamonds.
Was this good defense? Not really, West missed the opportunity for a fine play. After overtaking the Q♠ on Trick One he can beat the contract another trick by shifting to the Q♦. This can hardly be wrong … West can see 6 defensive black tricks and Diamonds are the obvious source of a 7th. See what happens … Declarer wins the Diamond shift, loses a Club, wins the Diamond, loses a Club, now West cashes the A♠ and the 9♦, and leads a low Spade to Partner who has two Spades and that lovely 8♦ to cash. Down two!
Against 2♥, West does not have a very attractive choice of leads, and we suspect that many will try a passive Spade. East’s Ace will win the trick, and now the only defense to hold Declarer to 8 tricks is a low Club to West’s King, and a Club back to the Ace. East continues with a 3rd round of Clubs, and as Declarer has no useful pitches she hopefully ruffs with the 9, which wins the trick. Now, a Heart to Dummy’s Queen, but Declarer cannot get back to her hand to draw the rest of the trumps. East will get in with the A♦, and a 4th round of Clubs promotes a trump trick for the defense, and 5 tricks in all. Nice shift by East at Trick Two!
The defense to 3♠ is most interesting, look at it from the South perspective. North leads the Heart Four, an obvious singleton. What is North’s distribution? South can count her Partner for probably 2 Spades (surely West has 6), which means that she is either 2=1=6=4 or 2=1=7=3. Where are Partner’s high cards? Probably nothing in Spades, also nothing in Hearts. We doubt that Partner has AK♣ (most players would start with the A♣ in that case), and probably not AK♦ either.
So far, so good. Let’s start by giving Partner 2=1=7=3, perhaps: ♠ xx, ♥ x, ♦ AQxxxxx, ♣ Axx. What happens if we give Partner her Heart ruff at Trick Two? Now the contract is cold! North cannot profitably attack Diamonds, and Declarer has enough entries with which to establish the Hearts and avoid two Diamond losers. No, the winning defense in this case is to deny Partner her ruff and switch to the J♦. This allows the defense to score 4 side-suit tricks plus a trump promotion on the third round of Diamonds. Down one!
Next, let’s give Partner the 2=1=6=4 hand: ♠ xx, ♥ x, ♦ AQxxxx, ♣ Axxx (the actual case, of course). If we (as South) give Partner her Heart ruff at Trick Two, we will also give Partner a chance to go wrong at Trick Three: - If she plays on Diamonds that will be Declarer’s 9th trick. - If she cashes the A♣, then Declarer will unblock the King, and again has a chance to set up the Hearts (imagine the actual hand, slightly changed, such that Declarer has the T♠ and can ruff a Heart with that, and such that Declarer also has the all-important Three of Spades and can use that as a later entry to the board). - If she finds the passive trump exit the contract will be down one.
All in all, this seems like a hand where South should take charge of the defense. So, she shifts to the J♦ at Trick Two, setting up a trump promotion whichever of the two cases exists.
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