2007-12-15 01:26
Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( Divorce )
PITBULLS:
There is a strong relationship between bidding & defense. When you are defending you cannot divorce yourself
from the bidding that went on to arrive at this
contract. Along with patterns
, this bidding - defense relationship
is how you “think” . A simple act
of covering an honour with an honour
came up the other day. You have ♦Qxxx & the board has ♦10x . Declarer leads the ♦10 so do you cover ? Not enough information to answer the question. How about
if I told you declarer made a 2/1 in diamonds & the contract is 6NT. Now it
is silly to cover an honour with an honour. Covering an honour with
an honour is pattern dependent. The bidding has given you
two ♦
patterns
in which to work. 6-4-2-1 & 5-4-2-2. in either of these case it is futile to cover. Give declarer ♦AJ9876 & covering would
collide with partners stiff ♦K !! In the 2nd
case of 5-4-2-2
partner wins the ♦K but declarer still
cannot pick up your ♦Q. There is no
logical reason to ever cover with
this combination.
The
next hand , a normally good defender divorced the bidding
from the defense & a contract made that should go one or two down vul. She opened an off colour 1NT
with ♠Ax ♥xx ♦AKQJ10 ♣xx & partner bid Stayman which go doubled. Her 2♦ bid was passed to
partner who bid 2♥. This was passed around to LHO who bid 2♠ which ended the
contract. Partner leads the ♥K & the board
came down with
♠xxx ♥xxx ♦xx ♣AK10xx . Declarer ducked the
heart & won the next trick . He lead a small
diamond which you win so now what ? Lets not divorce the
bidding from the defense. Partner bid Stayman followed
by showing a 5 card suit & sold out
for 2♠. Partner should have 4-5 in the majors to sell out with this auction
. So the opponents are on a Moysean probably
based on a club fit. Since the clubs are
favourable for them , you
can not relinquish control of the trump suit , so you lead a small trump.
Partner should not have a high spade honour along
with the ♥KQJ or they would be playing this doubled. Declarer wins & leads another diamond.
You win , cash your spade ace & pump the dummy
with a diamond. Declarer now has no hope . If he leads
a heart , he loses control & goes for –200 . If he
leads a club , the queen falls & he loses a club
ruff & a heart for +100.
Another
line of defense is to simply win your diamond & switch to a club while you
control the trump suit. Declarer wins the club & leads another diamond. You
win , and give partner a club ruff. Partner cashes a
heart & leads a diamond for a dummy lock & another club ruff for +200.
This line of play is apparent because you know partner is 5-4 in the majors & has shown 3
diamonds when declarer led a small diamond towards the board. 5-4-3-1 equates
to a stiff club.
The bidding gave you the blueprint in which to defend .
Defending is mostly using the bidding
with its inherent patterns to form
a defensive plan . Unless ,
of course you chose to ignore the
bidding & defend randomly. Divorce lawyer anybody ?