Defence is the most difficult part of the game. Try the following defensive problem which was faced in the Metropolitan Cup today. When the opponent did not solve it, Dave Cleal made his contract, helping himself and his partner Paul Felton to the top spot on the Cross Imps with a fine average over 49 boards of +0.89. The Woodberry Bridge Club represented London B in the event, and were second behind Surrey B.
You are South and the auction is shown. Partner leads the three of spades and declarer plays low from dummy and your king wins. How do you proceed? The full hand shows that you need to lead a low club, which is a remarkable defence.
Real Bridge, which hosted the event, produces a colourful and informative record of the play. After South won the spade and not unreasonably returned a diamond to the queen and ace, Dave drew a second round of trumps. I think this is wrong as South surely does not have a second spade or he would have played one. Only now did Dave lead a club from dummy and South had a second bite at the cherry. If he had ducked this, declarer would have no way home, but when he won and cashed the king of diamonds, declarer was able to cash his winners and cross ruff for ten tricks.
The phrase "second bite at the cherry" predates "second bite at the apple" which both originated in the mid 19th Century but a search of the Internet for the exact earliest use proved fruitless ...
Interesting - it all passed me by at the time! I agree, I probably shouldn't have drawn that second spade. In actual fact, though, as the cards lie, South doesn't get a second bite, I think? If my KC wins, I can duck a diamond, which only South can win, and with no spade to play, has to do something else, and now I'm home on the cross ruff I think.
ReplyDeleteI agree that South does not have a second trump to play but he can play a third diamond, the only defence! Now declarer is a trick short as he does not have the entries to ruff two hearts in West.
ReplyDeleteAh yes. Wrong again :-(
ReplyDelete