Ode to Rodwell

My post mortem of this hand (Board 20, club game of today) suggested an opportunity missed to apply some of the more interesting defensive play suggestions embodied in Rodwell Files, a wonderful book that happens to be published by our blog host, Master Point Press.

As you will note from the auction choices (and perhaps from the subsequent heart play), our club game opponents are not a particularly formidable pair, but that does not take away from the interest of the defensive problem partner and I faced.

I decided to go passive against this auction, choosing to lead the ♠2. 

Dealer: S Vul: All	North ♠   K7643 ♥   KT65 ♦   93 ♣   86
West ♠  J92  ♥  A98  ♦   AJ54 ♣  J42

Declarer won the spade lead in hand and then ran four more spades, declarer showing with ♠AQT and partner with two small.  Partner discarded two small diamonds and declarer and I matched discards of a diamond and a heart.  Now declarer played a club from dummy, partner played small and declarer’s ♣T lost to my ♣J.  I found a return of a small heart from my ♥A9 and, when declarer chose to duck from dummy (not the best play, I think, because declarer should foresee the danger of partner leading a diamond through his king and so should rise with the ♥K), we could have emerged with the ♥Q, an intermediate diamond through the king and taken one club, three diamonds, and two hearts for a highly satisfactory plus score on the board.  Alas, partner did something that matched my too-frequent play during the session – that is, he found a losing play of the ♥4 and we were soon not +100 but -180.

Here was the whole hand. 

Dealer: #20 – W Vul: All	North ♠   K7643 ♥   KT65 ♦   93 ♣   86
West ♠   J92 ♥   A98 ♦   AJ54 ♣   J42		East ♠   85 ♥   Q42 ♦   QT76 ♣   Q975
	South ♠   AQT ♥   J73 ♦   K82 ♣   AKT3

When I was conducting a post mortem with benefit of the hand record, I noticed a potential application of Rodwell’s teaching for second hand danger hand high.  What if partner, wanting to be on lead to push a diamond through declarer, had flown with the ♣Q at Trick 6? … And what if I, recognizing how much the partnership needed for partner to be on lead had cooperated by discarding on the run of spades one club and one diamond instead of one heart and one diamond?

My bet is that declarer would read partner for ♣QJ and proceed to top the ♣Q and then lead a heart toward dummy’s ♥K.  Even if declarer guesses – as he should – to rise with the ♥K, winning the trick, is it not likely that he will next finesse the ♣T and lose to my then-stiff jack?

With a club trick in tow, I could then play ♥A and a third heart to partner’s queen.  Now an intermediate diamond return by partner through declarer’s king would net us the three tricks already alluded to plus three diamonds.  That is, we might set 2NT even after declarer guesses the heart suit correctly.  Take that, Eric Rodwell!