Two Four-Carders
|
 Q J |
|
 A K 6 2 |
|
 9 6 |
|
 J 9 8 5 2 |
| 9 2 |
|
A 8 3 |
| Q 10 3 |
|
J 9 8 7 4 |
| K J 8 2 |
|
10 5 4 |
| Q 10 7 4 |
|
K 4 |
|
K 10 7 6 5 4 |
|
|
5 |
|
|
A Q 7 3 |
|
|
A 3 |
|
Against 2 spades, West led the 3 of hearts. Declarer took his two heart winners, sluffing a low club, then took a losing diamond hook. The defense alertly hit spades with ace and low, so that there would be no ruffs, and at this point, declarer could only lead out trump and hope for a goof -- which he got. Or is that the right term?
West threw the 7 of clubs for his first discard, then the two of diamonds, then the queen of hearts, and of course the damage was done. Declarer had been specifically looking for a diamond discard on the run of trump. Of course, he didn't know at this point whether that deuce came from a three-card holding, or even a five-card, but it looked good, and the discard did allow a second overtrick.
But there is an unhappy ending to the story. Declarer got one of his worst boards on the result! There were an awful lot of people in game bids getting much the same defense as that above, allowing the same 10 tricks for the same reason. In any event, I hope the unhappy ending doesn't lead anyone to think it's a chic thing to allow a trick when the opponents may have missed game.
How could West have known better? At the start of his discards, he had the queen of hearts, Q 10 7 4 of clubs and J 8 2 in diamonds. Certainly the queen of hearts should go first, since declarer had already shown out of hearts and East can protect that suit. So for his second discard, West has two four-carders to choose from. (He has only three diamonds then, but one round has been played, so three cards carry all the weight of an original four-card suit.)
For his second discard (the fourth round of spades), surely West could do no better than be guided by declarer's two decisions in regard to the minor suits, which were to sluff a club and lead a diamond. Just what club holding could declarer have that would be consistent with sluffing one club and holding a threat to West's discard of a fourth club? Combine that with declarer's interest in diamonds, and I would think a club would be strongly indicated. How about the fifth round of spades? I think West has to say to himself, "Declarer sluffed one club and has no entries to dummy's long clubs anyway if he drops my queen -- unless he started with an improbable A K 4 3 in clubs and chose to drop the fourth round so as to take a losing finesse. So I think I'll drop another club."
Declarer could then be held to 9 winners, it would seem. It looks as though he's going to have to lose three diamonds and a spade.
The scores, of course, showed that many were making game. Three no was a not-too-rare choice, and it looks impregnable at first glance, but I'm not too sure on a Q of hearts opening lead and East ducking two spade rounds in dummy. The only spade game I looked at started with a trump lead, and continuation, then a club to the ace at trick three, and a third round of spades at trick four, which got the deuce of diamonds discard. West was pseudo-squeezed. No suit had been bid except spades, and except for a rather unilluminating lead to the ace of clubs, to which everyone followed, only spades had been played at that point. Why couldn't declarer be looking at this hand?
|
K 10 7 6 5 4 |
|
|
J 7 5 |
|
|
A 7 |
|
|
A K |
|
In which case the diamonds are the only safe discard. A heart discard would obviously allow declarer to avoid a heart loser, and a club discard from that four-card holding would allow declarer to cash his top clubs, and now with two entries to dummy, ruff out the queen and return to dummy to cash a club winner, sluffing a heart. So West has no guidance whatsoever as to his best discard, and if you gave the original hand to experts with that starting defense (two trump leads), I dare say at least a third would get their discard wrong (since either a heart or club would be safe).
One declarer bid and made six spades! How'd he do that? Well, if helps if you pick generous opponents . . . The opening lead was a diamond. Declarer cashed his second diamond winner, ruffed a diamond, sluffed a club on the second heart and led to his club ace, ruffed a diamond, which was overruffed, and that was the end of the defense. Did you note the second defensive blunder?
The defense just happened to have the spots that would have allowed two spade winners without the overruff. The spade suit would have looked like this before the ruff of the second diamond:
On the overruff, which isn't required, of course, East and West both now have two spades under the 10, and declarer can gobble up all their trump with the K and 10 when he gets the lead. But let's duck that ruff with the Q. The trump suit would then look like this:
| ------ |
|
| 9 2 |
| A 8 3 |
|
K 10 7 6 5 4 |
And declarer will have to lead into East's A 8 3. East can duck the first high honor and sit back to await a lead into his tenace holding (though of course, a low trump lead would be won by the 9, the ace to come later). Or he can take the K (or 10) and get out with anything, including a low spade, since West nine would inhibit any sort of finesse.
So it appears to have been gift-giving time for the defenders. But the main point is the four-card suits West holds and the tenuous hints as to what he would do well to save. Hindsight? Well, suit yourself. But if push came to shove, I'd be inclined to discard what declarer is discarding.