Bols Bridge Tips: Be Bold When You Are Defending by Per-Olov Sundelin (SWE)

” Be bold when you are defending. If you can’t see yourself defeating the contract by winning the trick, DUCK IT even at the cost of a trick. By deceiving the declarer you may still cause his house of cards to collapse.”

A systems analyst by profession, P. O. is a great party man and speaks English so well that he makes clever puns in the language!. The deals he describes below are not inventions; they represent his own experiences in the Monte Carlo Olympiad. He is Sweden’s best known player, has represented his country consistently since 1963, having won two European Championships and been placed third in three Bermuda Bowls. He has won the Sunday Times twice, in 1978 and 1981, both times in partnership with Tjolpe Flodqvist. You are all familiar with the situation where you sit over dummy’s K-Q-10 with A-x-x. When declarer leads up to the king, you play low smoothly. On the next round, declarer may go wrong, and at least you have spread uncertainty. Some of you have even fooled declarer by ducking with the K behind the A-Q-J-x-x. Perhaps the declarer then wasted an entry, or released a guard, to enter his hand for another finesse sits over the closed hand. These are valuable, indeed essential, stratagems. But they are seldom very risky or unexpected. In this field you haven’t really arrived until you are willing actually to sacrifice a winner: You must be prepared deliberately to give away a trick for the possibility of leading declarer astray. This type of play is exclusively for the bold and courageous. In this diagram you are East: Dealer South, E/W vulnerable, Teams

	5  K J 4  A Q 10 7 4 3  7 6 5
Q J 8 7 6 3       A 10 5 3  9 5 2  —		9 4 7 K 8 6 Q J 10 9 8 4 3
	A K 10 2 Q 9 8 6 2 J A K 2

The Auction:

West	North	East	South
			1
1	2	Pass	3
Pass	4	End

Contract: 4 West leads the Q and South’s problem is to take care of his losers in the black suits. The opposition bidding makes ruffing spades look a risky, so South naturally thinks about the diamond finesse. If the J loses toK, it should still be possible to hold the trump losers to two. As East you ought to have a perfect picture of the hands. In view of his 3bid, South is marked with: A K x. He must hold A K and, since West did not pre-empt, one or two low spades as well. The odds, therefore, are that his hearts are headed by the Queen; at any rate, you must assume this.

To resume: South wins the first trick with A and leads the J. West plays the 2, showing an odd number, and dummy the 3. Your count is confirmed. You decide, quickly and without a flicker, that declarer will wrap up ten tricks quite easily if you play the obvious defence of winning with the K and giving your partner a club ruff. So You duck. You don’t know what will happen next, but you do know that with normal defence the declarer would make his contract. South now plays a trump to the J and cashes the A shedding a spade. The position is:

	K 4  Q 10 7 4  7 6 5
J 8 7 6 3  A 10 5   9   —		9 K Q J 10 9 8 4 3
	K 10  Q 9 8 6 A K 2

South now wants to enter his hand for a spade ruff. As the cards lie, he can play a diamond, but he may be afraid the East will discard a spade on this trick. So South is quite likely to try a club – which turns out to ve fatal when West ruffs and continues with A and another trump.

In this fascinating game of bridge true daring can sometimes triumph against apparently hopeless odds. Be willing, therefore, to provide declarer with a rope, even if there is no visible tree from which he can hang himself, My bridge tip si this: ” Be bold when you are defending. If you can’t see yourself defeating the contract by winning the trick, DUCK IT even at the cost of a trick. By deceiving the declarer you may still cause his house of cards to collapse.” n my second deal South plays in 3and again your are East. Dealer East, Neither vulnerable, Teams

	8 5 3  10  K J 5 2  A Q 10 8 3
Q 7       Q 9 2  Q 10 9 7 6  7 5 2		10 6 2 A K 8 4 3 A K 9 6 4
	A K J 9 4 J 7 6 5 8 4 3 J

The Auction:

West	North	East	South
		1	1
2	3	Double	3
Pass	Pass	Pass

Contract: 3 North’s bid of 3 is an “unassuming cue bid”, signifying a sound raise to 3. West leads the 2 to his partner’s K and East returns a trump, won by the A. Deciding that a cross-ruff is unlikely to produce more than eight tricks, South runs the J. If the finesse loses, he will still have chances. As East, have you tried to plan ahead? What is declarer’s hand? You know he has five spades to the A-K-Q or A-K-J, and you place him with four hearts, because your style of defence is to lead third best from an honour combination.

When you see partner’s 2, the count is complete. (If partner had held a singleton club he would have led it; also, with J-x-x South would have played differently.) It is easy to see that if you take the club and return a trump, South will go up with the King, ruff a heart and play clubs, probably ending up with an overtrick. Now see what happens when you duck the club lead. South is sure to go for a cross ruff, because he will think it safe to ruff clubs until the King appears. Four tricks later the position will be:

	K J 5 2  Q 10
Q           Q 10 9 7 6		10 6 A 8 A K
	K J 9     8 4 3

Astonishment spreads over declarer’s face when dummy’s club is covered by your King. Whatever he does he is defeated. If South ruffs, West overruffs and puts you in with the A. Ypu continue hearts and your 10 becomes the setting trick. Once again, boldness pays dividends: If You can’t gain by winning, DUCK! Players are nervous of ducking when they can see that their King, Queen or even Ace, may never make, but the trick almost always comes back. Suppose a side suit divided in this way: A Q 10 6 3 8 5 2 K 9 4 J 7 South finesses the Jack and East, seeing his partner’s 2, is afraid to hold up his King. But even supposing the declarer goes up with the Ace on the next round and then ruffs the King, as a rule nothing will be lost: Declarer will make four winners in the suit either way. Sundelin’s second deal illustrates one of the most important principles in defence: be very reluctant to release a control in an important side suit. Suppose a suit is divided in this way: K Q J 9 6 3 10 5 A 8 4 2 7

When South leads low to the king you may create havoc by ducking. Declarer will follow with the queen, then play a third round and ruff low, expecting the ace to fall from West. Insted, West will overruff and the suit will still not be established. If the worst happens – if the contract is made and you find you could have defeated it by taking your top tricks you can be sure that your partner will appreciate your good intentions!