Control Freak

Sometimes in bridge it is OK to become a control freak.  Points can be won and lost by controlling the defense.

A recent club duplicate presented two hands for taking control of the defense by limiting partner’s options and a third hand for not ceding control of a key suit to declarer.

We extracted the maximum from some overzealous opponents on this hand.

Dealer: N Vul: N-S	North ♠ KJ64 ♥ AK ♦ A2 ♣ KQT43
		East ♠ 9872 ♥ 64 ♦ KQ76 ♣ A65

West	North	East	South
—	1♣ (a)	P	1♠
3♥ (b)	4♥ (c)	5♥ (d)	P
P	Dbl	All pass

(a) I wanted to be able to show both my suits and so risked being passed in 1♣.  I had planned on making a game forcing jump shift rebid of 2♠ had partner responded 1of a red suit.

(b) weak jump overcall

(c) after hearing my partner’s 1♠ response, I was concerned that my anticipated rebid of 4♠ would actually understate my values, but the overcall bought me another round by enabling me to cue bid.

(d) perhaps confusing “favorably not vulnerable” with “invulnerable”?

On lead against 5♥X, I cashed two high trumps and then switched to ♣K.  The ace was won in dummy, partner and declarer following with the 7 and 8, respectively.  A small diamond was played to ♦J of declarer and my ♦A.  (Ducking one round might have been better defense.)  Wanting partner to win the next trick and return a club, I tried to control the defense by leading my ♠J.  Partner would probably have found the right defense anyway, but this play made it easier for him to win the ♠A and return a club.  Two club tricks gave us six tricks overall for a four trick set and a top board of +800, beating spade games our direction.

The whole hand was:

Dealer: N Vul: N-S	North ♠ KJ64 ♥ AK ♦ A2 ♣ KQT43
West ♠ Q ♥ QT98753 ♦ J5 ♣ J98		East ♠ 9872 ♥ 64 ♦ KQ76 ♣ A65
	South ♠ AT53 ♥ J2 ♦ T9843 ♣ 72

A similar situation arose on another board, but with a much less satisfying matchpoint result.

Dealer: S Vul: Both	North ♠ Q62 ♥ KQJ852 ♦ T74 ♣ K
West ♠ KJT984 ♥ T ♦ KQ953 ♣ T		East ♠ 3 ♥ 76 ♦ AJ2 ♣ QJ97643
	South ♠ A75 ♥ A943 ♦ 86 ♣ A852

West	North	East	South
—	—	—	1NT (12-14)
2♠ (spades + minor)	4♥	P	P
4♠	Dbl	4NT (tell me your minor)	P
5♦	Dbl	All pass

After the spirited auction I led the ♣K, holding the lead.  Not being sure how many rounded cards declarer holds, I decided to pass the buck to partner by leading the ♥J at Trick 2.  He would win the ♥A, I thought, and might be in a better position to control the defense by deciding whether to force declarer or give me a club ruff.  Well, partner knew the rounded suit distribution exactly:  he had heard me show at least six hearts and so “knew” declarer had only the one heart just played.  And he had a view of all thirteen clubs.  Between that information and the auction, he could pretty well guess the total distribution.  Partner decided that our best chance was to negotiate a club ruff while he retained control of that suit with the ace.  Accordingly, he chose to lead back a small club.  Declarer considered this trick for several moments and then decided to ruff with the ♦9.  I overruffed for our third trick.  (That might be a mistake, since allowing declarer to “draw trumps ending in dummy”, when dummy has a good suit, is not often a good strategy for defense.)  With trumps now splitting 2-2, declarer could draw trumps, set up dummy’s clubs, lose a spade and then reach dummy with a spade ruff to run the club suit.  A two trick set for +500 result (perhaps other defenses would lead to the same result) was a poor matchpoint result when compared to pairs going +620 with our hand.

The third hand, companion board to the one above, represented a different form of defensive control, the failing to relinquish control of declarer’s long side suit.

Dealer: W Vul: None	North ♠ A8752 ♥ K94 ♦ KJ52 ♣ J
West ♠ KQJT6 ♥ AQT83 ♦ Q ♣ K7		East ♠ 9 ♥ 76 ♦ AT973 ♣ A8654
	South ♠ 43 ♥ J52 ♦ 864 ♣ QT932

West	North	East	South
1♠	P	1NT	P
3♥	P	3NT	P
4♥	All pass

I tried a forcing defense – too many diamond ruffs in declarer’s hand might cause her to lose control of trumps, I had hoped – by leading a small diamond.  Fortunately for my partnership, declarer decided to win the lead in dummy rather than let the lead run around to her stiff ♦Q.  She next led the ♠9 from dummy, overtaking with a higher honor in hand.  With declarer marked with at least five spades on the auction, I knew the ♠A was going to win a trick eventually.  Thinking that retaining control of the side suit would complicate play for declarer, I ducked.  The duck must have been smooth because declarer played as if she were trying to ruff out partner’s ♠A.  Declarer next led ♠6 from hand.  I covered with the ♠7, allowing her to ruff in dummy as partner followed with his last spade.  Now declarer ruffed a diamond to hand.  She played a spade and I ducked again.  Declarer ruffed in dummy with dummy’s last trump but partner overruffed with the ♥J.  Partner might have continued the force with a diamond here but he chose to return a club which declarer won in hand.  Declarer now led the ♥Q from hand and I won the ♥K (our second trick).  I continued the force with the ♦K, ruffed by declarer in hand, reaching this position:

Dealer: W Vul: None	North ♠ A8 ♥ 94 ♦ J ♣
West ♠ QJ ♥ AT ♦ — ♣ 7		East ♠ — ♥ — ♦ T9 ♣ A86
	South ♠ — ♥ 5 ♦ ♣ QT93

Declarer forced out my ♠A for our third trick and I returned ♦J which declarer ruffed with the ♥T.  Declarer could cash the other high spade, but my long heart was going to take one of the last two tricks for a one-trick set.  The analysis is pretty complex (at least too complex for me!) but I think that declarer’s success revolves not around the spade suit — the defense has an answer to her spade plays — but around the diamond suit.  If declarer can avoid being tapped twice in diamonds, she can, I think, make her contract.  Basically, that would require declarer to have bravely/dangerously ducked the diamond opening lead to her stiff ♦Q; even if I had led the ♦K to pin the ♦Q, we could only tap her once because the ♦T in dummy would be master of the third round of the suit.  At any rate, keeping control of the spade suit by not playing the ♠A prematurely made declarer’s play difficult.  Pleasantly, the one trick set was also a top board for my partnership.

So … being a control freak in bridge can pay off!