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Helping Partner
We help Partner all the time by following lead conventions and signaling correctly. But, once in a while, we have the opportunity to go the extra mile, and make a surprising play which makes it impossible for Partner to wrong. This is especially true when we can clearly see what is going on, but fear that, from Partner's side of the table, things might not be so obvious.
Related Play Problems Play Problem 239
Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games
Against 4♠, West leads the K♥. The first question East asks himself is “What is Declarer’s hand?” If Declarer has 8 Spades then no doubt Dummy’s 8♠ is an entry and Declarer scores 8 Spades and 2 Diamonds for 10 tricks (even if she has no Diamonds). Can the defense take 4 tricks first? The answer is “No!”, there’s a maximum of two Hearts and a Club to be grabbed. Is there a danger that Declarer can take 11 tricks if we don’t cash our winners right away? Only if Declarer has 9 Spades, and that’s quite a long shot. So, there’s really no rush for East here, he should just play low on the opening lead, and let Partner figure out what to do. He’ll probably shift to a trump (fearing a Heart ruff on the board), which may seem bad at first sight as it allows Declarer’s Club loser to vanish. But, no matter, it’s still just 10 tricks for Declarer. One defense to avoid like the plague is to overtake with the A♥ and return a Heart, Partner will think that you want to overruff Dummy, and that will be 11 tricks.
Here’s a familiar lead situation after the opponents reach 3NT. The two unbid suits are a major and a minor and you have equal length holdings in both. As East, which do you lead? There’s a tendency to lead the major, all the more so as South has denied 4 Spades with her 3♣ rebid. On the other hand, East’s Diamonds are less feeble than the Spades, so perhaps that is the suit to lead. You (East) can agonize as much as you like but it doesn’t matter too much because the key decision comes later in the play. Let’s say that East leads a Diamond, to West’s Ten and North’s Ace. Now, Declarer plays on Clubs, and when West gets in on the 3rd round will he be smart enough to find that Heart shift? That will hold Declarer to 10 tricks, while a failure to shift to Hearts will result in 12 tricks. Actually, the smart one here has to be East! He is the one who is looking at the AK♥, and who can also detect a woeful absence of Diamond Kings in his hand. So, while discarding on the second or third round of Clubs he makes things crystal clear for West by pitching away the Q♦! That’s a play which denies the K♦ and will bludgeon even the sleepiest West into shifting to a Heart. Nicely done, East, your side got its 3 tricks!
OK, you’re West, how do you defend 5♥ doubled? As you can presumably make 4♠, your objective is to score 5 tricks for a worthwhile penalty of +500 against your game of +420. You are on lead. One possible source of 5 tricks is two Diamonds, two black tricks and a Diamond ruff. You lead the ♦K (the normal lead from AK when holding a doubleton). Partner plays the Nine (showing the Ace or Jack, he’ll be assuming that you have led from KQ). What next? You’d like to cash the ♦A and cross to Partner’s hoped-for ♠A or ♣J. When you cash the ♦A you expect Partner to give suit preference now that he knows you have a doubleton. He’ll hardly give suit preference for the ♣J, but he might well give preference for the ♠K, encouraging you to underlead the ♠A if you have it. What’s the solution? Yes, at Trick 2, cash the ♣Q! It’ll take a few seconds for Partner to figure this one out, but when it holds the trick he’ll conclude that you have the ♣AKQxx. Suddenly that ♣J is a big card! At Trick 3, West cashes the ♦A and East gives suit preference with the ♦3! Now the Club underlead gets to the East hand, and the Diamond ruff achieves the much-to-be-desired +500! Subtly done by E-W!
Against 3♠, North leads her singleton Diamond, giving South the chance to defeat the contract with some spiffing defense. She wins the trick with the Ten, and can tell that, as North led the Two, it is Declarer and not North who has the remaining Diamond. So, South returns the ♦4 at Trick 2, forcing North to ruff! North will wonder why South made her ruff instead of simply cashing a second Diamond, and the inescapable conclusion will be that South wants a Club ruff. So back comes the ♣Q (suit preference) which is duly ruffed, then a Heart to North’s Ace and a second Club ruff. Nicely done for down one!
If South ends up in 3♥, she should be down one, but, in practice it might well make. West leads a Spade, won on the board. Now, Declarer plays a Club, won by West’s Jack. West shifts to a Heart to stop the Club ruff in Dummy, and East is posed with a big dilemma: - if South has the A♣, and West the A♦, the killing defense is to take the A♥ and play another Heart - if South has the A♦, and West the A♣, the killing defense is to duck the first round of Hearts. However, if East guesses wrong it will be 100% West’s fault! Yes, West missed the chance of a really terrific play. He should win that first Club trick with the A♣! He can reasonably assume from the play of the Club suit that the K♣ is with East, so the extraordinarily far-sighted squandering of the Ace solves East’s later problem. One wonders how many Wests in the entire world would find this play at the table! Not many we suspect, and, sad to relate, not us! Playing the A♣ in this situation would truly be a thing of great beauty.
If West defends 1NT he can make a quite beautiful (and difficult) play if he is absolutely at the top of his game. West leads the 8♠ (no, the beautiful play comes later) to East’s King, back comes a Spade to West’s Jack, then the A♠ felling Declarer’s Queen. Now is the time for the terrific play … West leads the Two of Spades, deliberately blocking the suit. East has no choice but to win this 4th round of Spades and make the deadly shift of the Club Ten, setting up at least 3 Clubs to go with the 5 Spades. Great defense for down two and +200! Any other defense and Declarer has 7 tricks.
3♠ turns out to be high enough, because, although the trumps are 2-2, the Heart Ace is offside. However, there is the possibility of a defensive miscue. West leads the K♣, and now, if the defense plays a third round of Clubs, Declarer ruffs, draws trumps, ruffs out the Q♦ and scores a whopping 11 tricks. West can avoid that unpleasantness by continuing with the T♣ at Trick Two. East will win that with the Ace, and should reason that a Heart shift is called for. If, instead, West lazily continues with the Q♣ at Trick Two, then East might fail to overtake, reasonably concluding that Partner started with KQx and that 3 Clubs need to be cashed. West's thoughtful play of the Club Ten makes things crystal-clear for Partner.
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