Dummy lock, unlocked
I faced an uncomfortable position defending a contract against a pair not known to me at a pairs event at the recent Gopher Regional in Minnesota.
The auction engaged by the opponents was1♦-1♥-1♠-2♥-3♦-3NT.
Partner led the ♣6 and I viewed dummy.
 |
East ♠ AJT5 ♥ T ♦ AKQT96 ♣ J5 |
| South ♠ 873 ♥ QJ95 ♦ J2 ♣ AKT9 |
| West | North | East | South |
| — | — | 1♦ | P |
| 1♥ | P | 1♠ | P |
| 2♥ | P | 3♦ | P |
| 3NT | All pass |
What is your defensive plan?
I am pretty confident that declarer owns the ♣Q. I think the general plan is to sever communications between the two hands, to eventually lock the declaring side in dummy with the hope that our side can win some late spade tricks.
So thinking, I won the ♣K and played the ♥Q. The ♥Q held the trick, both declarer and partner following suit small.
I don’t think declarer would duck with the ♥AK, so I think partner now has a stiff honor. After severing communications in clubs by cashing the ♣A, I must decide whether partner remains with the ♥A or the ♥K.
- If partner has the ♥A, a heart return is the move to make. Lead a heart to his ace and, expecting partner to buy into the dummy lock defense, await a diamond return. Partner will take some number of spade tricks in the end.
- If partner has the ♥K, a heart return is the move to avoid. A heart return would allow declarer to cash both the ♥A and the ♣Q before leading a diamond to dummy.
I guessed the latter, thinking that declarer might have covered the ♥Q if she held only the ♥K and not the ♥A.
But making the guess that partner holds the bare ♥K creates a problem with respect to what to next lead. If partner holds the ♦8(!), exiting with the ♦J is the route to lock dummy. But if declarer holds the ♦8, then the ♦8 (if not singleton) will be an entry to declarer’s hand to cash the now-good ♣Q. If that is the case I should now lead a spade, playing partner for KQxxx of spades. Declarer can win the ♠A in dummy and run the diamonds, but partner must win at least one more spade trick in the end, as declarer’s good ♥A and ♣Q are stranded.
That’s the defensive play I went for: ♥Q winning, ♣A winning, spade … but …
| Dealer: E, #6, 5/21 Vul: EW |
North ♠ K9642 ♥ A7 ♦ 754 ♣ 632 |
|
| West ♠ Q ♥ K86432 ♦ 83 ♣ Q874 |
|
East ♠ AJT5 ♥ T ♦ AKQT96 ♣ J5 |
| South ♠ 873 ♥ QJ95 ♦ J2 ♣ AKT9 |
Not a success!
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Bridge-related
If you lead another Heart without cashing the Club A, you can cater to either Heart holding, since the Club Q isn’t established yet.
Does that help, Ted?
On the actual layout, partner can, upon winning the HA, either lead a diamond or a second club. If he leads a diamond, declarer will run the diamonds and then play the CJ. That puts me on lead and I must either give declarer the lead or lead a spade, neither of which is good for the defense. And if partner instead leads a club, I am on lead and must break a pointed suit, which is dangerous for us, too. On the actual layout, I am better off cashing the CA and then leading a heart.
In retrospect, I think I should have won CK, HQ, CA (as at the table) and then led a second heart, playing partner for the HA rather than the HK. Not because the actual heart holdings seem more likely than the alternative of reversing the two high heart honors, but because playing partner for the HA leads to an easy set, while playing partner for the HK creates additional complexities with my hand not being sure what to then lead at Trick 4.
Deep Finesse suggests that the last plan is the one and only correct one. Partner has to return a diamond then to prevent access to the KH and QC
Jeff,
I agree that cashing the AC then playing partner for AH is best, since it avoids the need for guessing the pointy suit exit. My comment was addressed to your concern on how the H honors split. If you don’t cash the AC first it doesn’t matter how they split, if you intend to exit in a pointy suit.
Hi, Ted,
I think I see what you are saying.
A hand that I was playing partner for is KQ9xx, Kx, xxx, xxx.
If he has that hand, my cashing the CA at Trick 3 and then leading a spade at Trick 4 effects a dummy lock. Declarer can six diamonds and two spades, but partner can volley spades with dummy such that dummy will never win a third spade trick, while declarer’s good HA and CQ go to bed.
However, if partner has that hand, then my failure to have cashed the CA at Trick 3 would not be fatal. Let’s say that I instead lead a spade at Trick 3. Dummy will capture partner’s SQ with the SA to win that trick and then six diamonds, bringing everyone down to four cards: dummy’s being SJT5 and CJ, mine being CAT9 and S7, and partner’s being SQ9x and Cx. Dummy exits with a club and I win my ace and exit with S7. Partner can play small on the S7 and dummy can win with SJ, but then must give up the last two tricks to partner’s SQ9: that’s down one. Or else dummy exits with SJ and partner ducks to endplay dummy; that’s also down one.
I felt unlucky that declarer happen to hold the SQ and so my plan to endplay dummy to give partner two spade tricks failed. But I had an easier winning play and should perhaps have taken it.
— Jeff