All News

for Junior, Intermediate and Novice players...and others! It's Fri day. 

Keep your eye on the ball….

or else? Or else the news can be rather bad. At the risk of mixing metaphors, if you do not, you may find the horse has already bolted! Take a look:

 

1NT promised 11-14 hcp and your partner led 5, leading 4^th highest from length. That seemed quite a promising lead. You contributed 10 (lowest of equal value cards) which declarer took with their king.

Next came 2 from South which was won by K in dummy. Declarer next called for 3. Are you quietly following suit….or are you thinking?

What’s going on here? It seemed like declarer had everything…spades, a high diamond and was now attacking dummy’s long suit. A quick look at dummy would show hearts offered no hope for the defence. Yet, South had a maximum 14 count!

If you passively followed suit low, you would be recording a very fast -90. Hopefully, that was not you though going up with A seemed to have an initial negative moment as well as your partner’s Q fell under the ace. Well? It was indeed the time to be aware, to be positive, to take the contract down. It was your only chance. Here’s hoping you seized it!

 

You can see what South was aiming to do, score both black suit kings and then run off 4 heart tricks which along with K would allow them to make their contract. Not with you awake, though! You win A, cash Q and then play J. Hopefully, your partner will do the right thing in overtaking with A to play two more diamonds and then two winning spades, three more if South were to carelessly discard one of their spades on the run of the diamonds. Certainly a difference of two tricks (+ 200) maybe even + 300!

When the K scored, South might have cashed their heart tricks and then they need only be -100. They got a little greedy in hoping you, East, not only held A but would also, rather sleepily, play low.

It was a case of just keeping an eye on what declarer was doing and being aware that this was not an occasion for second player, you, to play low. It was much easier for you to rise with A than for West to take A at trick 2. They could not have realised that the diamond position was so favourable for the defence. Also, had they taken A, South could have escaped with 6 tricks: better for the defence if they ducked.

Note also your partner’s good play in overtaking your J with their A. Good defenders help their partner whenever possible. Had they played low, you should have found the spade switch but there was no need to give you that worry or opportunity to misdefend.

However, that would all have been irrelevant if you had not “closed that stable door” by rising with A. You did, didn’t you?

Richard Solomon

Go Back View All News Items