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” . The bidding is the blueprint for the art of defending a hand. 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 2^nd 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. The bidding provides the clues to defend a hand. 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 ?