Play Hard, Play Well:  Thinking Inside the Box

-Robert S. Todd

 
Playing in a Sectional tournament in Clearwater, FL with one of my favorite new partners I found myself falling for one of my own regular defensive tricks.  Give this problem a try.

Dealer: East                              ♠ AJ10

Vul. vs NV                               ♥ 52

MPs                                         ♦  AQ107

♣ K1063

♠ 863

                                                ♥ A3

♦ 832

♣ AJ985

The auction was short yet painful:  (2♥) X (3♥) 4♣

Playing in four of a minor, vulnerable, at MP, is rarely fun!

 
The play began with the ♥K lead.

1:  ♥K x x A                 (+1)

 
Fortunately, any problem in the trump suit was quickly solved when I played a ♣ toward dummy and LHO played the ♣Q. 

2:  ♣ 9 Q K x               (+2)

 
I proceeded to draw trump and then exit with a ♥.

3:  ♣6 ♣x ♣A ♥x         (+3)

4:  ♣8 ♥x ♣6 ♣x          (+4)

5:  ♥3 ♥Q ♥5 ♥x          (-1)

Unfortunately, LHO was awake and won the ♥Q and shifted to a ♠.

6:  ♠x 10 Q x                (-2)

RHO now decided to give me many options by continuing a third round of hearts, giving me a “ruff-n-sluff.”  This was the dummy at this point. 

                                    ♠ AJ

                                                ♥ --

                                                ♦  AQ107

♣ 10

♠ 86

                                                ♥ --

♦ 832

♣ J5

 
Plan your play.

When declaring a hand, there are many things to think about.  When you are defending a hand, if you can give declarer even more things to think about and even more options to consider - you will often be rewarded with good results.  That is one of my favorite tactics as a defender. 

Declaring this hand, I let the defenders do this to me.  Getting bogged down in all the distributional options and order of play possibilities presented by the ruff-n-sluff - I missed a basic conclusion and a great way to take advantage of it. 

Once you count the HCP and determine that RHO is almost certain to hold the ♦K, you have an eloquent line of play open to you.  You discard a ♠ from hand and ruff on the dummy. 

7: ♥x ♠x ♥x ♣10          (+5)

Now you simply lead the ♦Q from dummy.

If RHO ducks, it will not help him, and if he wins he must either lead a ♦ into A10 or a ♠ into AJ.  Either way you lose only 3 tricks (♥, ♠, ♦.)

The complete hand was

                                                ♠ AJ10

                                                ♥ 52

                                                ♦ AQ107

♣ K1063

♠ 74                                                                             ♠ KQ952

♥ KQ10864                                                                 ♥ J97

♦ 9654                                                                         ♦ KJ

♣ Q                                                                             ♣ 742

♠ 863

                                                ♥ A3

♦ 832

♣ AJ985