The Spokesman-Review – May 3, 2007
As declarer, you sometimes might want to deceive the defense about your holding, to do so, you might have to sacrifice a potential trick to set up a smokescreen.
Consider today’s deal. When his team lost a game swing here, South admitted that the loss on the board was really his fault. He had played in three no trump and received a low spade lead.
Rather than relying on diamonds to be 3-3, he played low from dummy. East hopped up with the spade king and decided there could be no future in that suit. So he shifted optimistically to heart and the defense rushed their four winners in that suit in double-quick time. His teammate sitting East at the other table was quick to reassure him that the declarer there also had followed the percentage.
He too had declared three no-trump on a spade lead and had taken the spade finesse as well. South was now confident that the debacle was not really his fault at all.
However South’s teammate explained that his declarer had foreseen the danger of a heart shift if the spade finesse lost. Accordingly, he had put in the spade queen from dummy at trick one. Admittedly, this would blow an overtrick if the lead was away from the king, but he thought it was a worthwhile investment.
And so it proved. East took the first trick but had no reason not to continue spades, and declarer ran for home with his 10 winners.