Dubious Logic

Crashing the Eight

Summer is here again! I usually have to rely on irony to carry those words but as I write, it really seems to be true. The Summer Inter-Club League is also with us again and last Monday Ipswich and Kesgrave Club made the easiest of away journeys to Woodbridge.

The home team had much the better of the first half and were by 17 IMPs ahead as the visitors over-stretched several times. The first deal of the second half saw that margin reduced to a single IMP:

It is hard to criticise west's redouble but it did allow south insert a spade bid resulting in a useful start for the defence. That spade lead went to the knave and queen and south switched to a club. Declarer hastily played three rounds, pitching one of dummy's spades. He then tried a heart to the nine and knave, south took the spade ace, felling east's king and decide to weaken declarer's trumps by playing another spade, forcing the heart ten from dummy. Declarer next led the heart queen and south who was known to have the king, had to decide whether to cover or not.

You can see north's sure diamond trick but south couldn't: he was worried that east, who after all had bid strongly, had either

If the first of those then south must cover as the fall of partner's eight makes his seven the master trump and the setting trick. If the second then he must not – declarer cannot leave dummy without losing a trick (either a ruff or partner's king). What to guide him? A very reasonable question is what did partner play on the first trump? If the six then surely he had eight-six, if a lower card then he is increasingly less likely to hold the eight. But who watches those spots?

Reader I was that south and I had no idea; I didn't think it was the six so I didn't cover and the partner's eight fell. As we know, it mattered only an undertrick as declarer had to lose a diamond (or a ruff). Ipswich & Kesgrave made game twice and Woodbridge were twice defeated. That put the match almost level and the visitors enjoyed more good fortune to win by 34 IMPs.

Coda (not in the newspaper)

As ever, the deal is slightly more complicated; I realised at the time that had declarer held the second of the two hands, with the ♦Q and the ♥8, then they might well be able to make the contract earlier. With no disrespect to the Woodbridge declarer, I thought that far from obvious and subsequently I see it really isn't obvious at all:

After a spade won cheaply by south, you win the club switch, take two more rounds and now pass the ♦Q – we're here:

It's not sufficient to play trumps now; south effects the same defence as at the table. He wins the heart, and plays spades. You must ruff but south will duck the next heart and you have to give him a ruff.

How should you play from here?

Well you have to produce a dentist's coup by ruffing spades yourself. It isn't that you need the extra trick, but you must extract [obligatory term in descriptions of this play] south's dangerous spade exit. You can delay the diamond play but you must play exactly one round otherwise, even if you lead hearts from dummy, south can exit with a diamond on taking his winner and north can force you to win in dummy.

So about evens between those two hands in the main article I reckon.

Published Saturday 6.Jun.2009