| ♠ Q J 10 7 3 ♥ A Q 9 2 ♦ 6 3 ♣ 5 2 |
RHO opens one club in first seat. I bid one spade. LHO bids two diamonds, and partner bids three spades (pre-emptive). RHO bids three notrump, which ends the auction, and I lead the queen of spades.
| NORTH ♠ K 2 ♥ K 8 7 ♦ J 10 5 4 ♣ K Q 10 9 | ||
| WEST ♠ Q J 10 7 3 ♥ A Q 9 2 ♦ 6 3 ♣ 5 2 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 1 ♣ | |||
| 1 ♠ | 2 ♦ | 3 ♠ | 3 NT |
| (All pass) |
North's two-diamond bid is strange. Two notrump seems more to the point. Declarer wins in his hand with the ace as partner plays the five. Declarer plays the four of clubs--five--nine--three, then leads the club ten. Partner pitches the three of hearts, and declarer plays low. Declarer has six club tricks and two spades. If he has the diamond ace, he has nine tricks, so I must assume partner has it. Partner would not have pre-empted with an ace-king, so that gives declarer the diamond king. Declarer can lead up to either one of his kings to develop a ninth trick. Our only chance is to convince him that both aces are offside and offer him an alternative line.
After declarer runs clubs, I will be down to six cards. If I can convince him I have kept
| ♠ J 10 x ♥ Q 9 ♦ A ♣ --, |
then perhaps he will play a low diamond from his hand. If, instead, I have kept
| ♠ J 10 x ♥ A Q 9 ♦ -- ♣ --, |
then he will be sorely disappointed.
Unfortunately, partner's low heart pitch has gotten us off to a bad start at convincing declarer he has the ace. But it's our only shot, so I have to try. I must imagine I'm looking at
| ♠ Q J 10 7 3 ♥ Q 9 2 ♦ A 6 3 ♣ 5 2 |
If I had that hand, how would I discard? Actually that question could lead to an infinite regression. What I should ask is what is the routine way to discard from that hand? Perhaps a spade first, suggesting to partner that I have something in both red suits, then high-low in diamonds. Declarer cashes the queen of clubs, partner pitches the deuce of diamonds, and I play the three of spades. Declarer overtakes the king of clubs with the ace. Partner pitches the six of spades, and I play the six of diamonds. On the next club, I play the three of diamonds, dummy plays the heart seven, and partner plays the four of hearts.
Declarer plays his last club. I'm supposed to be down to
| ♠ J 10 7 ♥ Q 9 2 ♦ A ♣ -- |
If that's the hand I had, would I really pitch a heart after partner has pitched two of them? I don't think declarer will buy that. Perhaps a spade pitch is more believable. Can we beat it after a spade pitch? Perhaps we can. If declarer began with
| ♠ A x ♥ J x x ♦ K x ♣ A J x x x x |
and leads a low diamond, trying to drop my ace, partner will win with the queen and play a spade to dummy. Declarer will play another diamond to partner's ace. Now, when partner cashes his spade, dummy is squeezed. For this to work, I have to ensure that partner, not I, is winning the third round of spades. So I unblock the ten of spades. I've clung to all four of my hearts and pitched all my diamonds away. This is such an unnatural sequence of plays, maybe declarer will actually fall for this. On the last club, dummy plays a diamond, and partner discards the eight of spades. Oops. Not good. That was the squeeze card.
It appears I never had much chance of convincing declarer I have the diamond ace, because he has it himself. He cashes it, and I pitch the deuce of hearts. Declarer plays a spade to dummy, then leads the king of hearts. Partner no longer has a spade with which I can reach him, so I take two hearts and a spade and have to give declarer his jack of hearts at trick thirteen. Making four.
| NORTH ♠ K 2 ♥ K 8 7 ♦ J 10 5 4 ♣ K Q 10 9 | ||
| WEST ♠ Q J 10 7 3 ♥ A Q 9 2 ♦ 6 3 ♣ 5 2 | EAST ♠ 9 8 6 5 ♥ 10 4 3 ♦ K Q 9 8 2 ♣ 3 | |
| SOUTH ♠ A 4 ♥ J 6 5 ♦ A 7 ♣ A J 8 7 6 4 |
I was curious if my deception would have worked, so I edited the deal, giving partner the diamond ace and declarer the diamond king. I also forced partner to pitch a diamond, not a spade on the last club. This was the end position we reached:
| NORTH ♠ K ♥ K 8 ♦ J 10 5 ♣ -- | ||
| WEST ♠ J 7 ♥ A Q 9 2 ♦ -- ♣ -- | EAST ♠ 9 8 ♥ 10 ♦ A Q 9 ♣ -- | |
| SOUTH ♠ 4 ♥ J 6 5 ♦ K 7 ♣ -- |
I'm hoping declarer thinks the red-suit aces are reversed and will lead a low diamond from his hand. Instead, he finds a better line, one that works both on the actual layout and on the layout I'm trying to convince him exists. He plays a spade to dummy's king (as I unblock the jack), then leads the jack of diamonds. This line also works if I have a singleton queen of diamonds remaining. The defense would be able to take two diamonds and a spade, but would have to break hearts for him. In fact, it even works I'm left with
| ♠ J 7 ♥ Q 2 ♦ A Q ♣ -- |
In short, it's a pretty good line. I suppose my illusion was never destined to work against best play. But it was still the right defense, since it was our only chance. Declarer can never go wrong unless you give him a losing option.
At the other table, the auction is the same. West chooses to pitch, in order, deuce of hearts, three of diamonds, three of spades, six of diamonds. Declarer makes four by playing a heart to the king.
Me: -630
Jack: -630
Score on Board 50: 0 IMPs
Total: +122 IMPs
That was a thoughtful, imaginative defense. My partners never have that ace either.
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