The Deadly Forcing Game


10 8 6 4
J 8 4
A 9 5 4
10 9
A K 3 2
6 5 3 A K Q 10 9 7
K J 10 2 Q 7 6 3
K J 2 A Q
Q J 9 7 5
2 Contract 7 spades
8 Opening lead: 3 of hearts
8 7 6 5 4 3 Vul: E-W

Yes, that was the contract, alrighty. Seven spades. A sacrifice. I'll say it's a sacrifice. The opponents couldn't make even 6 hearts on a diamond lead, much less 7, which they couldn't make on any lead. Be that as it may, the point here is how devastating the forcing game can be. The defense here already had a good board coming, beating any pairs in 7 hearts or in 6 hearts finding the diamond lead. But there are bound to be a few making 6 hearts, and the defense wants to best them also. How many tricks do they need? Well, for the nonce, let's just say they shouldn't waste any, and the forcing defense has gotta be the one that best upsets declarer's applecart.
West starts with a heart, East winning and continuing the suit as declarer ruffs. Declarer knocks out the A of spades and another heart is ruffed by declarer who now knocks out the K of spades. Having no more hearts to lead, West leads a low diamond, giving declarer an ace he's always going to get. And what does declarer do now? He would be looking at this hand:

10 8
------
9 5 4
10 9
3 ------
------ A 9
K J 10 Q 7 6
K J 2 A Q
Q
------
------
8 7 6 5 4 3

Where it should be evident that declarer simply has no winners outside his three trump, which he can cash separately, of course. (The lead is in dummy.) He has ruffed hearts twice at this point and cashed the A of diamonds, so that comes to six tricks, meaning down 7, which is coincidentally the exact number needed to beat any confreres making 6 hearts vul: 1700 for the defense here. 1430 for anyone making 6 hearts. Brutal.
Couldn't West have effected one more trick by leading a spade instead of the low diamond to the ace? That would appear to hold declarer to the A of diamonds, two ruffs in the closed hand, one winner on a trump lead, and one trump in dummy eventually. That's five, for down 8. Yeah, it would seem so, but do you want a real slaughter?
It might seem at a glance that declarer could get by with 5 losers. He has to lose two spades, a heart and two clubs. He can ruff the third round of clubs in dummy and now run the suit, no? Well, no. Actually, that would be the case if the defense cashed out its top winners and then surrendered the lead. Of course. But if the defense forces declarer, he's going to wind up with a few more losers. The problem, or one problem, is that heart forces, along with a few trump leads, will bring declarer to one trump in the closed hand when he hasn't even knocked out the top clubs!
At another table, opening lead was a heart, won by East, who shifted to a spade. West cashed the two top spades and continued the suit, declarer winning the third round in the closed hand with the 9, now leading a club which East won with the Q. The defense has come dangerously close to setting declarer up by cashing out all their top cards. Indeed, if East had cashed his A of clubs at that point, it would be all over for the defense. For declarer would have two trump and need only one to gain the lead and knock out the last club and one to regain the lead and cash club winners.
But East returned to the heart suit, cashing two heart winners. Cashing heart winners? Yes, declarer sluffed two clubs, outlasting East's hearts, as it were, for now he could ruff another heart in dummy. But there was no advantage (or loss) over ruffing round two of hearts. His winners would be three trump in the closed hand, one in dummy and the A of diamonds! Five tricks! If declarer ruffs round two of hearts, he can knock out the A of clubs, and on a ruff of another heart, he can knock out West's K of clubs. But he would then have no access to the three "good" clubs. Indeed, that would be declarer's last winner in the closed hand, with the A of diamonds and a trump in dummy, giving him the same five winners: the third round of trump, two ruffs in the closed hand, one in dummy and the ace of diamonds. Anyway, after sluffing two clubs on two heart leads, declarer was looking at this hand (with East on lead):

10
------
A 9 5 4
10
------ ------
------ A
K J 10 2 Q 7 6 3
K J A
Q J
------
8
8 7 6

One more heart lead, and declarer's goose is cooked for down 8! Any way you slice it, declarer has four more tricks coming at this point. Since the defense can't lead trump, declarer is always getting the Q J and 10 separately. If East leads a heart, it doesn't matter which hand declarer ruffs in. If he sluffs a club and ruffs in dummy, he now has no long clubs to set up! Or he can ruff in the closed hand, maybe go to the A of diamonds, back on a diamond ruff and eventually he'll get the 10 of spades as a winner on some lead. Either way brings declarer to just the number of tricks declarer is entitled to: the third round of spades, the A of diamonds and three ruffs. But East now shifted to the A of clubs! That's the suit declarer's trying to set up! And that gives declarer an extra entry to his clubs.
True, that's declarer's seventh loser (3 hearts, two spades and two clubs). He's not going to get a good board out of it, but now he doesn't need to lose any more tricks. Whatever the lead, say a diamond, he can ruff a diamond in the closed hand, ruff out the K of clubs and on re-entry to the closed hand cash a club winner. Down 7 against an unmakable slam can't be very good. The original contract was so outrageous that it hardly mattered whether declarer was down 7 or down 8, well perhaps for a few points. Still the point here is the potential of the forcing game. That trick could easily have been an important one. It could easily have spelled the difference between a good sac against a vul slam and a too-expensive sac.
Why did East shift? Afraid of a sluff-and-ruff? I've gotta think so. He had sluffed 2 of those powerful hearts on the 2nd and 3rd rounds of spades, and didn't seem to think the heart suit had value beyond the third round. I don't see how there could be any other explanation, since East could see on declarer's sluffing off on the heart leads that he's hurting and fearful of ruffing. But the sluff and ruff wouldn't have helped declarer in the slightest. For all his trump are already busy, by which I mean, already capable of being used separately. A sluff & ruff doesn't hurt in that case. If declarer sluffs a club to ruff that heart lead in dummy, that hurts declarer, since he's ruffing a club he could always ruff but not drawing clubs from the defense! [Well, it doesn't hurt declarer any more than the bidding had already.] And, of course, if he ruffs in the closed hand, he now has only one trump left in that hand, and upon knocking out the A of clubs and accepting a diamond return (East was out of hearts), he would have to use his last trump in the closed hand by which he can reach the clubs, though without any advantage, since he'd need to knock out one more honor, and then there will be no access to any remaining clubs.
To put this another way, declarer always has three ruffs coming sooner or later. The only question now is whether he'll also be able to establish a club for a winner or not, and East doesn't want to help him in that regard. A diamond lead (in lieu of cashing the A of clubs) would also have cost the defense a trick, giving declarer the opportunity to lead the second round of clubs from dummy while retaining two trump in the closed hand. At the end of that trick declarer would be able to ruff anything, ruff out the K of clubs, and he's got a trump left to cash the established club. Nope. It has to be a sluff&ruff heart lead. This either puts declarer in dummy with a ruff he's always got coming and not enough clubs to develop, or eats up one of the closed hand's trump, and not enough re-entry power to develop a club winner.
The hand illustrates another not too rare fallacy, I believe, and that is the presumption that a two-suiter, say 6-5 or 6-6 -- and particularly a non-vul two suiter? -- is a virtual open sesame on bidding: "Gosh, we don't have to lose five or six tricks off the top on a balanced hand. We've got a long side suit. We'll ruff in on those other suits soon enough, knock out a few trump leads and then hit our long suit, no?" Well, no. Not without some top honors. You just keep getting pumped, and even on a benign trump split, you don't have the strength to stop the run of winners by the defense. Here there's even a 9-card fit, and yet the result was disaster. Declarer never could get that 6-2 club suit established for lack of big cards.