In their famous book, Adventures in Cardplay, Kelsey and Ottlik wrote, “The peculiarly satisfying quality of a bridge hand is that it is a fragment of human experience.” Whether or not you buy into such a grandiose statement, the fact remains that—if you look hard enough—some hands do contain within them a hint of life’s lessons. Take, for example, this hand I played about six months ago...
The setting, a BBO IMP-Paris Speedball game with an irregular partner, may excuse the bidding:
When the dummy comes down you briefly lament missing 6(or even 7!)Clubs, but quickly turn your thoughts to the present contract. The opponents play “standard” (4th best) leads, so you know the suit splits evenly. Take a moment to decide how you would play the hand before moving on.
There are basically two ways to declare this hand: the right way and the wrong way. Many declarers will begin the play along two essentially similar lines:
- Ruff a spade, Ace of diamonds, Ruff a spade, play high clubs
- Ruff a spade, AKQ of hearts, play high clubs
Both of these variations, ultimately, are at the mercy of the club split. In the first line, declarer is stuck in dummy with all of the enemy’s trumps outstanding. If clubs are 3-2 and a defender ruffs the third round, then declarer will be able to pitch his losing diamond before attempting to return to the closed hand with a diamond ruff to claim the balance. He may, however, be overruffed or subjected to a trump promotion. In the latter case it appears that declarer is better positioned, needing only to dispatch of his spade loser before crossing to hand with the sure Diamond Ace entry. However, if clubs split 4-1, and the defender with the short clubs holds the remaining trump, the defense will be able to ruff declarer’s winner and cash a spade trick.
How should declarer attempt to deal with an adverse club position? Play a small heart out of hand at trick two! This, undoubtedly, will appear bizarre, if not insane, to someone who has never seen such a play before. Losing trumps on purpose is hardly standard practice after-all. Yet, what can the defense return (assuming reasonable splits) that causes declarer much harm? If dummy is forced with a spade, he returns to hand with the Diamond Ace to draw trump and establish clubs, ruffing one if necessary. Dummy’s losing diamonds disappear on the run of the Heart AKQ. A minor-suit return allows declarer to use the Diamond Ace or dummy’s remaining trump for transportation.
Ducking a round of trump when in a 7-card fit headed by the AKQ is a common strategy to protect against a 4-2 break, which is about one-third more likely than a 3-3 break. If you’ve never seen this play before, I highly recommend you add it to your arsenal. Coups like these are extremely difficult to find at the table if you’ve never seen them before, and still a challenge when you have.
For reference, here is the complete hand:
As you can see, the club position wasn’t friendly. Luckily, West held both the Heart Jack and Heart 10, so the defense couldn’t manage a club ruff after the heart duck. Once declarer is lucky enough to clear that hurdle, he can manage a 5-0 Club split against either defender!
So, what life lesson can be drawn from this deal? I hope you’ll agree with me when I say:
Often, if you give a little, you’ll receive much more in return.
Special thanks to Gerardo Malazdrewicz for digging this hand up from the BBO archives.
