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Or play it!

Hold Up…and Give Up?

It is an age-old problem for defenders. It is so often a good idea to withhold your high honour, especially the ace and especially in no-trumps, to cut a declarer’s communication from one hand, usually from dummy. There are times when it is so right to do so but is that always so? You sometimes have to make your decision in a split-second….or maybe a couple more seconds if you choose to do so.

Three more tricks

At least! You are looking at two and as you are playing Teams style, you and your partner would really like at least three more…

 

 

 

 

1NT was 15-17 and 2 a range-finder with 3 showing any maximum. West’s bidding looks a little pushy. Make ‘em pay!

You lead 3 the trick being won with dummy’s J, your partner contributing 10. Next comes 2 from dummy to 6 from your partner, K from declarer… and you? Your style is to give reverse count (high..low an odd number of cards) if you feel it necessary.

There are a number of factors at play here. The first is that West has overbid with a 7-count including a reasonable 5-card suit opposite a 15-17 1NT. On some days, their “crime will pay”! Not, you hope, against you!

Then there is the question of the split of diamonds around the table. You can see 7 between dummy and your own hand. Assuming your partner is trying to give you count in order to gauge when to win your supposed ace, the 6 is not clear-cut. It could be the middle or top of three small cards (remember:  make your count signal as clear as you can for your partner. If North held 963, it costs nothing to play 9.)

If it is showing three, then holding up does no good since you will be forced to win the second round and declarer will have a certain entry to dummy. Could the 6 be the bottom of a doubleton? It could, giving East four diamonds. In that case, there is even less reason to hold up.

What 6 could not be is the lowest of four diamonds, giving declarer just two. Count is so useful in confirming such situations. If 6 was the lowest of four, then East must hold 3 and 5..and they have already played K!

So, we have proven that holding up just cannot gain this time. We should win our ace..and then what?

Who has the A? Our money would be on the declarer. Our partner should win the ace and fire a heart back if they had held that card. So, the choice is black and the answer is not obvious, although just perhaps our partner had tried to give us a clue. Did you notice which card our partner played to trick 1…10? They may have had to play that card…or they may not! Was it a signal for a higher unplayed suit?

Alas, at the table, South did not give themselves a chance by ducking the K. East did not playing a second round of diamonds until they had scooped up 9 tricks:

 

 

We can see that North had shown how many diamonds they held as best they could. After East won the K, they got lucky in the club suit taking 5 tricks there which along with three heart tricks and K added up to +600.

It is not always easy to produce a suit preference signal into the play when you are following suit. Here, the 10 was a plea to switch to spades if their partner ever gained the lead.

North might equally have held A and QJ though keen counters would observe that that would have left East with a 15 count…and yet they owned up to a maximum 16/17. North’s clubs could not be good enough for the defence to take quick tricks in that suit. It had to be spades and the KQ for the defence to be successful.

              any

 

Will do!

Were you there with A and a low…or really any spade?

Good hand..for what?

 

 

 

Well, you have a good hand but where are you going now? 2 was a standard Multi unfolded as a Weak 2 in hearts. You showed a good hand by doubling..and partner jumped. What now?

Richard Solomon

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