Bridge Life - 18

Are We at the

Critical Point Yet?
BY A U D R E Y G R A N T

It might seem that the defenders
can take their time figuring out how to
defeat a contract. Yet the critical point
for a defender frequently arrives early
in the deal. Sometimes, in fact, the
opening lead determines the outcome
and, if we don't get it right, there is
no recovering.
The good news is that if we develop
a habit of analyzing the first trick
before playing to the second, we
can often determine how we are
going to get enough tricks to defeat
the contract.
Let's look at some examples. In this
first deal, we're West, defending 1NT:
West North

East

PASS PASS

PASS

South
1NT

♠7
♥Q432
♦ Q 10 4 3
♣ K 10 8 6
♠KQJ64
♥ J 10
W
♦6 5 2
♣743

♠9

N
E
S

♠3
We lead the ♠K, top of the solid
sequence. It wins the trick as the ♠7
is played from dummy, partner plays
the ♠9, and declarer the ♠3.
What now?
Once dummy comes down and
everyone plays to the first trick, there
is a lot of information available.
We've seen eight of the 13 spades.
Only five are unseen. It may be
challenging to track all the low cards,
but we can note that the ♠A, ♠10,
and three low spades are missing.
Having won the trick, we're still
on lead, and it's tempting to simply
continue with the ♠Q, planning to

16 www.acbl.org/bridgelife

drive out the ♠A and establish our
♠J and hopefully our low spades.
It may not seem like it, but we are
actually at the critical point in
the defense.
Here's the complete deal:
♠7
♥Q432
♦ Q 10 4 3
♣ K 10 8 6
♠KQJ64
♥ J 10
W
♦6 5 2
♣743

N
E
S

♠A92
♥ 8765
♦987
♣AQ2

♠ 10 8 5 3
♥AK9
♦AKJ
♣J95
When declarer gains the lead,
declarer has seven tricks: three
hearts and four diamonds. However,
on defense, we are entitled to seven
tricks: five spades and two clubs. We
just have to take them.
If we could see all the cards, that
would be easy. West would lead a low
spade to the ♠A, high card from the
short side to avoid entry problems.
After cashing his spades, West would
lead a club, effectively finessing
against dummy's king. As a defender,
it's not so easy.
When we lead the♠K, if partner
overtakes with the ♠A and returns
the ♠9, declarer covers with the
♠10 and ends up with a promoted
spade winner. It's the same problem
if partner doesn't play the ♠A and
we continue with the ♠Q. If partner
overtakes with the ♠A, declarer
gets a spade trick. If partner
doesn't overtake, the spade suit
becomes blocked.
So partner correctly plays the ♠9
on the first trick as an encouraging
attitude signal. It's up to us to
consider the message sent by the ♠9.
It's unlikely to be a singleton, since
that would mean declarer has six

spades and wouldn't have opened
1NT. With a doubleton ♠9 2, partner
would play the ♠2 as a discouraging
attitude signal. So we should
interpret the ♠9 for exactly what it
is, an encouraging signal showing
the ♠A.
Having worked that out, we should
continue with a low spade at trick
two. Partner wins the ♠A and
returns the ♠2, allowing us to take
the first five spade tricks.
It isn't over yet, however. We have
another critical play to make.
Were we watching what partner
discarded as we took our last two
spade winners?
Partner can't discard the ♣2, since
that would look like a discouraging
signal. Instead, partner discards the
♥5 and ♦7.
Were we also paying attention
to the low cards in dummy and our
hand? That would tell us the ♥5 and
♦7 are partner's lowest cards in the
suits. Partner doesn't want us to lead
a heart or a diamond, so presumably
partner wants us to lead a club.
If we lead a club after taking our
spades, we get two club tricks to
defeat the contract. If we lead a heart
or a diamond, declarer makes 1NT.
So the critical point came at both
trick two and trick six! Were
we ready?
The next deal is a famous one,
played thousands of times on a world
tour. It was surprising that almost
90% of defenders, regardless of their
skill level, did not defeat the contract.
We're again West, now defending
against 3NT after this auction:
West North
PASS

3NT

East

South
1NT

ALL PASS



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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Bridge Life

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