A Plug for Defence

From 20/2/19. Continuing the defensive saga from our previous issues

Board 3 from 20/02/2019
Dealer S EW Vul

QJ642
7542
93
A4
A5
QT6
AJT74
K75
T973
9
Q62
Q9632
K8
AKJ83
K85
JT8

Let me now say what I have said many times earlier: declarer play is a skill that can be developed and implemented by any INDIVIDUAL if they choose to and have the ability; but defence is a PARTNERSHIP thing. You need to have a partner who is willing to cooperate and learn and improve. When you pick up the inevitable poor hand, don’t give up, just learn to defend well. That is one of the things you will learn from this article.

West, on lead against ANY heart contract by South, comes to the conclusion that the only sensible opening lead is the five of clubs. We have been through that reasoning earlier. Now let us follow the rest of the play. If declarer plays low from dummy, perhaps in the vain hope that West has underled both the king and queen (and there are some defenders ignorant enough to do that), East will play the queen of course. When the queen holds, East can now switch to partner’s diamond suit, and it does not matter whether East leads the two (I would) or the queen, West will make two diamond tricks (that is why West did not open up the diamond suit on the opening lead!). West will later win the inevitable ace of spades and a trump.

Now let’s say declarer puts up the ace of clubs at trick one. This is where defence becomes a partnership game: East must SIGNAL to tell West that East has the QUEEN. Whatever signals you use, be it standard or ‘reverse attitude’, East can tell partner that the lead (which East can INFER to be from the king) has struck gold. After winning the ace of clubs, declarer might start with two top trumps and when the queen does not appear, start on the spade suit. West wins the ace of spades and must still refuse to open up the diamond suit. East has played her part in the defence by telling West about the queen of clubs, but West also has another important piece of information: when declarer went up with the ace of clubs at trick one, did that not suggest that declarer did NOT have the queen? Declarer would surely have allowed the club lead to run to his queen if he had that card.

Armed with all the relevant information, when West wins the ace of spades, West confidently leads his SEVEN of clubs (cashing the king will prove fatal if you work through the rest of the play). East wins the queen and can now lead a diamond through to West’s AJ through declarer’s king.

Now let me return to the opening lead. If West chooses the second best option for the opening lead, the ace of spades, West can still recover, by immediately switching to a club. Then, West will still be able to get the lead to East before dummy’s spades allow declarer two diamond discards. But why not get off to the best opening lead in the first place? Much less stressful, isn’t it? Did you also notice that by NOT leading the ace, West can wait until the king is played, whereas the LEAD of the ace immediately sets up the king and the rest of the honour cards. Check out BSOL by clicking here

Too many players I know always complain about not having good cards. But all cards are good in the game of bridge. Think about this: would you rather have been SOUTH and declarer, or WEST as a defender? If you chose to defend, and know how to defend, you would be guaranteed at least 90% on the board no matter what opponents bid to. But no amount of declarer skills can help if opponents defend perfectly, and your result on the board will depend entirely on how they defend. That is why, in an ‘equal opportunity’ environment, I would always choose to defend.