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a lead is worth … a thousand words !
par Bernard Marcoux, Montréal
You have :
 7 3
 A 9 8 2
 10 7 2
 A 10 6 5
And you hear the following auction :
LHO Part. RHO You
1
2
3
4
4
all pass
Over 4, you toy with the idea of bidding 5 but you have read
THE Book (LTC) and you pass in tempo. You try nevertheless to
remember what Larry Cohen says about double fits (2
shows hearts and clubs) and the following adjustments to the
LAW. While you Google on your hard disk, your partner leads the
6 of hearts.
Dummy
J x x
Q J 10
A Q x x x
J x
You
x x x
A 9 8 2
10 4 3
A 10 x x
On the heart 10 from dummy, you win the Ace, declarer playing
the 7.
How
do you continue ?
First, you have to think.
Your partner guarantees at least 5
hearts and 5 clubs, so declarer has 5-6 spades, 1 heart, 1-2
clubs and so… 4-5 diamonds.
If declarer has 5 spades, 1 heart
and 2 clubs, he has 5 diamonds and your partner will ruff the
diamond return.
You sit up on your chair, wide awake now, a bit
excited, like before a great event.
Do the math again : if
declarer has 6 spades, 1 heart and 2 clubs, he has only 4
diamonds and partner doesn’t ruff the 1rst diamond.
How can you know ?
Still, you don’t play a card. You could play the Ace of clubs
in order to see what will happen, but that would not
be enough
to sink the contract, even if your partner ruffs diamond. After
the heart lead, the only entry back to your hand is the club
Ace. To defeat this contract, you have to play diamond for a
ruff, asking for a club return and play a second diamond, for
one down.
It’s so tough ! How can you know for sure ? Let’s review from
the start.
LHO Part. RHO You
1
2
3
4
4
all pass
You and your partner lead 3rd from even, low from odd. Your
partner led the 6 of hearts, dummy played the 10 and declarer
the 7.
There, everything is before your eyes… and you don’t see
nothing.
Look again : partner led the 6 of hearts (3rd from
even, low from odd), dummy played the 10 and declarer the 7.
You got it ? No? Are you blind ?
Ask yourself : what are partner’s hearts ?
The King, and then ? You and dummy had AQJ10982 and
declarer
played the 7.
What’s left ?
Under the 10, you never look, you say ? Why do you play bridge
then ? So I will tell you. Partner has K6543. So ? you
ask
again, blind now by choice or by laziness.
Look again : K6543.
With these cards, partner has led the 6, and you normally lead
low from an odd number. She led the 6. Why the 6 ?
She led 2nd,
and not 5th.
Why ?
If partner led 2nd and not 5th, she wanted
to tell you something. The heart 6 is an abnormal lead,
absolutely contrary to your
understanding. This strange play
form partner is not a mistake, she did not choose the 6 at
random. She is trying to tell you something,
she is doing all
she can to transmit a message within the limits of the bridge
language. The heart 6 tells you : Look and look again, think,
WAKE UP !
This heart 6 confirms declarer’s distribution :
5152. The heart 6 says : Come back diamond, I will ruff. Why
diamond ?
Because, apart from the King, the heart 6 is the
highest card possible she could play from this holding to ask
for a diamond return. You
can now almost hear your partner’s
voice, applying all the force of her mind, trying to communicate
with your mind, repeating in her head
: diamond, diamond, play a
diamond, play a diamond.
While all this is going on, you didn’t look at your partner and
she didn’t try to influence you by shifting on her seat or by
sighing. You
are bridge players and you practice active
ethics. The heart 6 uses a legal way to tell you something and
you finally got the message.
Your hand again :
7 3
9 8 2
10 7 2
A 10 6 5
So you decide to
return diamond. Which diamond ?
The 2, obviously, asking for a club return.
Trembling, you put the diamond 2 on the table. Declarer plays
small. Your partner pulls out a card, keeps it hovering
over
the table, without showing it yet.
Is she a sadist ? No, you
know her: upon winning a trick, she always does that.
You now
know that you found the perfect card to play. Did declarer
follow your thoughts? Is he aware of what is going
to happen to
him?
When the small
spade from partner appears on the table, ruffing the diamond,
declarer literally jumps on his seat.
Your partner comes back a
club, you win the Ace and play a second diamond. Declarer will
go down 2, partner having
also the Ace of spades.
Opening the
traveling sheet, poor declarer shakes his head. He is the only
one to go down :
- It’s not my
fault. You saw this defence. I
couldn’t do nothing, it’s not my fault.
That’s bridge. Each and every card has a meaning. You have to
look, think, analyse, decipher, in order to see if partner is
sending you
message.
If there is no message, it is still a
message, partner is saying : Nothing useful to say, nothing
urgent to do, just play normally.
But if the lead is abnormal, really out of your understandings,
partner is trying to tell you something.
It is your job to
look, look and look again, to think, think and think again, to
count, count and count again.
In every situation at bridge, it
is your job to take your time.
And this article makes 1000 words. |