Finals of Blue Ribbon Pairs, Orlando
The Kibitzer is Shirley Wright
November 25, 2004
Finals of Blue Ribbon Pairs, Orlando
Shirley:
Even the best of the best make errors. This hand was from the 5th session of the Blue Ribbon Pairs, the premiere pairs event in US bridge. At this stage, players had to have made it through two qualifications. See if you can spot any errors. It is not easy!
Board 24: Neither vul, West deals..
North
S-A7
H-A10
D-QJ106
C-KQ864
West East
S-2 S-QJ96
H-K98753 H-J642
D-A85 D-973
C-J95 C-72
South
S-K108543
H-Q
D-K42
C-A103
The bidding:
West North East South
2H(1) 2NT(2) 3H 4S
P P P
P
(1) Weak 5-10 HCP.
(2) 15-18 balanced
The play proceeded as follows. West led a Heart to dummy’s Ace. Declarer ruffed the Heart 10, led a Spade to the SA, and returned a Spade, East splitting her honors, South winning the SK, and West pitching a Heart. The DK came next, and West took the DA, (East playing the 9) and returned a Heart, ruffed by South. Declarer now played the CAK seeing the 5 then the 9 from West and the 2 then the 7 from East. Next, the DQ was led, East playing the 3 and West the 5.
Here was the situation with the lead in dummy:
North
S-
H-
D-J10
C-Q8
West East
S-2 S-Q9
H-98 H-J
D-8 D-7
C-J C-
South
S-108
H-
D-4
C-10
Declarer now led the CQ, East ruffing, holding declarer to 10 tricks. Eleven tricks was worth about 80% of the NS matchpoints, whereas ten tricks was worth about 35%.
Bidding Analysis:
The bidding was fine. North’s 2NT bid is natural, not unusual. East’s 3H bid may seem risky, but it is appropriate.
Play analysis:
Declarer planned for a trump coup well in advance by correctly winning the HA and ruffing a Heart. This is to shorten your trump length to the same as East’s. East did well to split her trump honors as surely declarer would put in the S10 had East played low.
Error #1. After West won the DA, it was wrong to play another Heart, forcing declarer. Even if you do not understand trump coups, it is gamesmanship to not cooperate with declarer’s plan. If a Blue Ribbon finalist voluntarily ruffed a Heart at trick 2, he must want to do so again. After winning the DA, West should exit with a minor, and after that, proper defense holds the hand to 10 tricks. West gives East count on the Club suit, so East knows it will be safe to ruff a Club with the S9.
Error #2 (a real tough one). Although we commend East for the Diamond falsecard on the first round (the 9 from 972 to falsely show an even number), and the Club falsecard (the 2 from 72), declarer should not have been fooled.
In the diagram above, where declarer played a Club instead of a Diamond, here is how declarer should have known that West, not East had the all important CJ. Both players played up the line in Clubs (East again false carding). At the point in the diagram, the minors had to be either
West: D-xx East C-J (Playing Clubs first wins)
or West D-x C-J East: D-x.(Playing Diamonds first wins)
The key is that West needs to give East an honest count so East will ruff when the time is right. East has no reason to play it straight. Given West’s 5 then 8, declarer should play West for the J, and therefore play two Diamonds and make 5. Both sides can carefully monitor defensive count signals.
Lessons: (1) If a good declarer starts ruffing in the closed hand, s/he is trying
to shorten his or her trump for some reason. It is best not to cooperate with this plan when you gain the lead. (2)In most hands, it is not a good idea to ruff losers with a long trump suit, where you are not setting up the suit in question. However, to execute a trump coup as above, you do have to reduce your trump holding to the same length as the hand that has to play in front of the long trump suit (in this case your right hand opponent). (3) It is extremely important to monitor the small cards played by defenders, whether as defender or declarer.