|
Blocking & Unblocking on Defense
Some examples where it behooves the defense to block Declarer's suits or unblock its own suits.
Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games
If South leads a Diamond then Declarer has 11 top tricks when the Clubs behave. But is a Diamond lead really such a good idea? Declarer is virtually certain to have the ♦K, added to which South does not have any obvious entries to her established Diamonds. A major suit lead looks preferable, let’s say that South chooses a Spade, and let’s make it the Ten, that might help force an entry into North’s hand. The play might go: Spade Ten opening lead won by Declarer’s Ace Clubs are cashed (South pitching Hearts, Dummy pitching a Spade) Hearts are cashed (South pitches two Diamonds) Now, Declarer will cash the ♠K (his 10th trick) and exit a Spade, hoping to throw in South for a Diamond end-play. But South will alertly throw her ♠Q under the King, allowing North to win the third round of Spades with her Jack and fire a Diamond through.
That was a fine opening lead and good defense. An opening Heart lead (or even a Club!) will also hold Declarer to 10 tricks (provided that South unblocks the ♠Q at some point). However, the opening lead of a low Spade does not work, as Dummy’s Nine forces North’s Jack, after which South cannot escape the end-play.
How does 3♠ do? With accurate defense, 3♠ is down a trick (losing a trump, two Hearts and two Clubs), but there are some traps for unwary defenders. For example: The ♥A and ♥K are cashed Heart ruff Lose a Club Win Club return Cross to the ♠A ♦Q covered by the King and Ace Lose to the ♠K Now East is end-played! He has no Clubs left and must concede a ruff and sluff in Hearts or else lead into Dummy’s Diamond tenace. That was well-timed play by Declarer, taking that Diamond finesse and losing a Club before playing on trumps. With lesser lines of play 3♠ will be down a trick.
So how does the defense beat 3♠? East must unblock the Spade King! Even looking at only two hands, we think that East should see the end-play coming and find the unblock. Easy for us to say, looking at all four hands.
West leads the ♠Q, and let’s say that this trick is ducked and that Declarer wins the second Spade on the board. Declarer loses the Diamond finesse to West’s Queen, and wins the Spade return. Now it’s over to Dummy for another Diamond lead and, when East pops up with the ♦A and has no Spade to cash, Declarer is home with 10 tricks.
Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that East goofed on the defense! Yes, he must hop up with the Ace on the first round of Diamonds, protecting West’s entry to the long Spade. Now it is West who wins the defense’s second Diamond trick and can cash that 13th Spade, holding Declarer to 9 tricks. Jumping up with the ♦A was an alert play. Well done to all those Easts out there who managed to find it!
North knew that her side had a 9-card fit, but her modest collection of Queens and Jacks was not quite enough to compete to the 3-level, at least not vulnerable. In fact, 3♥ is going down one, and, after West’s strong bidding, East might well try a sporting double along the way.
In 2NT the play is most interesting. Here is one line where the defense lets Declarer escape with 9 tricks: Heart lead to the Queen and South’s Ace Heart to Declarer’s Queen (the suit is now blocked!) The K♣ is ducked The J♣ is ducked Now, let’s say that Declarer cleverly reads the suit as being 4-2 (perhaps North gave an ill-advised count signal). That being the case, he cannot persist with Clubs, that would allow North to pitch her blocking Heart on the trick, allowing South to win the A♣ and rattle off the Hearts. So, Declarer changes tack, playing A♦, K♦ and out a Diamond. North wins the Diamond, cashes her good Heart, and exits a Spade (that’s all that she has left). Declarer wins, cashes his good Diamonds, and reverts to Spades, scoring 9 tricks in all. Poor South never did score her A♣, nor the long Hearts.
Of course, the defense can do better than that! South must duck the first Heart! Having done that, she must also duck the first two Clubs as before. Now, when North gets in with her J♦, she crosses to Partner’s A♥, dumps her blocking Heart on the A♣, and watches gleefully as South cashes 4 more Hearts. Down two!
In 3NT it looks as if 10 tricks will be made, provided that South does not fall into this trap: Spade lead won by Declarer J♦, correctly ducked by South Diamond to South’s Ace Spade return, won on the board Diamonds cashed, Declarer pitching Clubs, South pitching Spades A♠ cashed, Declarer pitching another Club A♥ and K♥ are cashed A Heart is lost to South’s Queen. Now, 11 tricks are made. South had to unblock the Queen on the second round of Hearts, so that her Partner wins the third round and cashes the Diamond winner.
As it happens, N-S cannot make game, but with good defense they can score 500 from defending 1♠ doubled. Here is how the play could develop: North leads a Club to South’s Ace Club Three (suit preference), ruffed by North Diamond switch, low from Dummy, to North’s Ace, Declarer unblocking the Jack Q♣ ruffed with Declarer’s Ten Spade to South’s Queen Now, Declarer can escape for down one as one of the Heart losers goes away on a Diamond. What went wrong? Either defender could have been a star on the board: - South could have ducked the first round of Diamonds, cutting off the Dummy, and ensuring that Declarer will eventually wind up with two Heart losers. - North could have made the truly spectacular return (after the Club ruff) of the Q♦! Quite a play, blocking the suit and ensuring that there will be no second Diamond trick for Declarer.
Against 1NT, East leads the Q♠ and Declarer craftily ducks. West will have played the Five, which is the lowest missing Spade. As such, it looks to be discouraging but it could be from T5 or K5 (with A5 West might overtake and return the suit). Let’s say that East guesses right and decides to switch. All exits are potentially dangerous, what would be your choice?
How about the quite spectacular shift to the K♣?! Yes, it’s an expert blocking play which can hardly cost when you stop to think about it: - If Declarer has Qxx, she can always make 4 tricks in the suit. - If Declarer has Qx, she can win the Ace and unblock the Queen, and later risk the Club finesse for the same 3 tricks she could always make in Clubs. - If Declarer has xxx, she always had 3 tricks in the suit. - If Declarer has xx, the only way to hold her to one trick in Clubs is to play the King on the first round, either by the K♣ shift, or by rising with the King later in the play when Declarer leads a Club towards the board.
Here’s how the play might develop: Q♠ opening lead is ducked by Declarer K♣ won by Declarer’s Ace A♠ and K♠ are cashed Declarer exits a Spade Q♣ is cashed West shifts to a Diamond to East’s Queen Heart to the King and Declarer’s Ace Heart to East’s Queen Heart to West’s Hack Heart won by Declarer Now, with just two cards left, Declarer must concede the setting trick to West’s K♦. Nice defense!
The play in 4♥ is quite fascinating! For Declarer to have a chance of making the contract, trumps must be 3-3, but even then some stellar defensive play will set the contract. To have a chance the defense must start with three rounds of Spades, and the first line we’ll look at is one where the defense drops the ball Take 1: Two rounds of Spades are cashed The third round of Spades is ruffed The Heart Seven is ducked around to North In with the Heart trick, North has no Spades to lead, so Declarer wins the return, draws trumps, and has 10 tricks. Cut!
Take 2: For the defense to prevail they must to make sure that South wins the defense’s Heart trick, allowing Spades to be continued and causing Declarer to lose trump control. So, when the Heart Seven is led, South must split her honors, preventing the ducking of the trick into the North hand. If South does indeed split, Dummy must win the trick, and now another Heart is led from Dummy. North plays low, Declarer’s Ace wins, and now Declarer can safely exit to North’s Q♥, making his contract. The defenders have bungled again. Cut!
Take 3: Yes, on the second round of trumps, North might jump up with the Queen, trying to unblock the suit and force an entry into South’s hand. But that doesn’t work, Declarer simply ducks the trick. Cut!
Take 4: Let’s roll the cameras one last time and take a look at the winning defense. Two rounds of Spades are cashed The third round of Spades is ruffed The 7♥ is led, South splits her honors, Dummy plays the King, North unblocks the Queen! Stellar defense, now whatever Declarer does, he will be down one.
Against 3NT, East will probably lead a low Diamond, and that gives Declarer an easy 11 tricks provided that she can pick up the Club suit. The play is much more fun if East tries the surprise attack of the Q♠ on opening lead (not that we think he should). Declarer does not have the dummy entries to pick up both black suits, so she’ll win the A♠ in hand, and play on Clubs. Here’s how the play might go: Q♠ won by Declarer’s Ace J♣ covered by the King and Ace Back to hand with the A♥ Finesse the T♣ Cash the remaining 4 Club winners Cash the K♥ Here’s the end-position: Declarer ♠ T5 ♥ ♦ Q8 ♣ West East ♠ ♠ J4 ♥ T9 ♥ ♦ JT ♦ AK ♣ ♣ Dummy ♠ K97 ♥ ♦ 9 ♣ If Declarer remembers the bidding and if she has been watching the discards carefully, it will be a simple matter to exit with a Diamond, throwing East in and scoring the 11th trick when East is forced to return a Spade. An unlucky lead by East? Not really, but it was poor defense to hang grimly on to those high Diamonds. On the run of the Clubs, East should have seen the end-play coming and his only hope was to jettison a high Diamond, hoping that West had something good in that suit If, in the diagram shown, East’s remaining Diamonds are K7 then West will be able to get in with a Diamond, and instead of gaining a trick, the throw-in will actually cost a trick. Nice defense!
If South ends up declaring 3NT she makes an easy overtrick if West decides to lead a Heart. A low Diamond opening lead is less comfortable. She wins on the board and leads the J♥, which West should duck to disrupt Declarer’s communications. Deprived of an entry to her hand, Declarer now plays A♣ and out a Club. East wins and returns a Diamond. Which one? Yes, the Queen! This unblocks the suit and allows the defense to come to 4 tricks.
Against 3NT, the opening lead that initially makes Declarer the most nervous is the J♣. North ducks this, but then the Diamonds behave, so Declarer has 10 tricks, no more, no less.
Life is more fun if the opening lead is the optimistic J♠. Now Declarer wins the Queen, tests the Diamonds, unblocks the AK♥, runs the Diamonds, cashes the A♠ and Q♥. Declarer has won the first 10 tricks and has a free shot at an 11th by leading towards the K♣. North can win this and cash her T♥, but the K♣ does indeed end up scoring the 11th trick. Do you spot a flaw in North’s play? Yes, if she was on top of her game she could have unblocked the T♥ and 9♥! Now at Trick Ten, when the Club is led, North hops up with the Ace, leads a carefully preserved low Heart to South’s mighty Eight, and a Spade is cashed, holding Declarer to 10 tricks. Well done, you Norths who found that nice unblocking play, thereby overcoming Partner’s unfortunate choice of opening lead. Sure, East could have made 11 tricks anyway by leading towards the K♣ earlier in the play, but that would have been very risky indeed.
© BES, Inc All Rights Reserved | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home PlayArchives BiddingArchives Conventions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
