Contract Bridge – Close Call

—
North dealer.
North-South vulnerable.
NORTH
[S] 9 7 3
[H] 6 4
[D] J 6
[C] A K 8 7 5 2
WEST
[S] 2
[H] A 9 7 3
[D] Q 10 7 2
[C] Q J 10 4
EAST
[S] A Q J 8 6 4
[H] 10
[D] A 9 8 5
[C] 9 3
SOUTH
[S] K 10 5
[H] K Q J 8 5 2
[D] K 4 3
[C] 6
The bidding:
North East South West
Pass 1 [S] 2 [H] Dble
Opening lead — two of spades.

Good defensive play is usually the result of a concerted partnership effort. Unlike declarer, who is essentially on his own during the play, the defenders must depend on partnership cooperation to achieve the best result possible. As a case in point, consider this deal from a team event many years ago.

Both Wests made a very close penalty double of two hearts in the auction shown. Defeating the contract then became a matter of precision defense.

The play at both tables began the same way. East won the opening spade lead with the ace and returned the queen. West ruffed South’s king and led a diamond to East’s ace. East then cashed the jack of spades for the defenders’ fourth trick as West discarded a diamond.

East now had two choices. A diamond return is best if West has the king. Alternatively, a spade return puts West in a potentially desirable overruffing position, but allows dummy’s remaining diamond to be discarded if the overruff occurs.

At the first table, East decided to return a diamond. South won with the king and cashed the A-K of clubs, discarding his remaining diamond. He then led a heart to the king and, after West took the ace, claimed the remainder, making two hearts doubled for a score of 670 points.

At the second table, East returned a spade at the critical point and so defeated the contract. Here, East reasoned that if West had the king of diamonds, he should have played it at trick three before leading the deuce in order to avoid giving East a problem. In other words, East decided to trust that his partner had not made a mistake.

East’s spade return was ruffed by declarer with the jack, but West simply discarded and later scored the ace and nine of hearts to register a 200-point set.

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