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

                                               Play Problem 185

 

 

Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games

 

 

21	♠ T2 ♥ AK5 ♦ AK52 ♣ J972	From 1st November, 2006
♠ AK6 ♥ 97 ♦ QJ9 ♣ AK654	North West             East          Dummy	♠ QJ95 ♥ JT83 ♦ 8743 ♣ 8	Dlr     North Vul     N-S
© BES, Inc  All Rights Reserved	♠ 8743 ♥ Q642 ♦ T6 ♣ QT3	West    North   East     South             1NT     Pass    Pass Pass

 

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 7^th.  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!

 

 

25	♠ KQ984 ♥ Q ♦ KQ9 ♣ Q984	12th September, 2007
♠ JT5 ♥ 852 ♦ A8653 ♣ KT	Dummy West             East           South	♠ A62 ♥ JT3 ♦ T4 ♣ AJ652	Dlr     North Vul     E-W
© BES, Inc  All Rights Reserved	♠ 73 ♥ AK9764 ♦ J72 ♣ 73	West    North   East     South             1♠        Pass    1NT Pass    2♣       Pass    2♥ Pass    Pass    Pass

 

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 3^rd 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 4^th round of Clubs promotes a trump trick for the defense, and 5 tricks in all.  Nice shift by East at Trick Two!

 

 

9	♠ T3 ♥ 4 ♦ AQT863 ♣ A854	21st May, 2008
♠ K98765 ♥ K6 ♦ K54 ♣ K9	North West             East           South	♠ A42 ♥ T98763 ♦ 92 ♣ Q6	Dlr     North Vul     E-W
© BES, Inc  All Rights Reserved	♠ QJ ♥ AQJ3 ♦ J7 ♣ JT732	West    North   East     South             1♦        Pass    1♥ 1♠        2♦        2♠        3♦ 3♠        Pass    Pass    Dbl Pass    Pass    Pass

 

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 9^th 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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