"Impossible switch"

Defenders frequently face a difficult switch in the middle of the game. As in the diagram below, after South pass, West open the bidding with just 2♠ (week-2), North double for take out, East pass, and South jump to 4♥. After think quite a while, North pass with 19 HCP. West start with ♠A and continue spade after you make a discard. How would you defend this hand.

	♠ Q 10 4 3
	♥ A 9 4
	♦ A Q 4 3
	♣ A K
		East
		♠ void
		♥ Q 10 8 7 2
		♦ 6 5
		♣ 10 x x x x

Firstly, what will you discard? Most defenders will discard diamond on the first trick. Say, you ruff the second trick and see declarer play his ♠K. What will you return to beat the contract? If declarer has the ♦K and 5 cards hearts, nothing you can do. If declarer has ♠Kxx and 5 cards heart, declarer has 10 tricks. So, your hope is declarer has only 2 card spades and no ♦K. With this analysis, have you found the best return? The best return is diamond, and when you get another lead, lead your second diamond. This will break up the squeezed. So, don't ever discard your diamond. If you return other than diamond, West will be squeezed in diamond and spade. After a club return, won in dummy, declarer will cash the ♥A, shocked for a while and then give lead to you by ducking a heart. Win another club in dummy and finesse heart and another heart will squeeze west. Poor west is unable to guard both spade and diamond. The complete distribution as below:

	♠ Q 10 4 3
	♥ A 9 4
	♦ A Q 4 3
	♣ A K
West		East
♠A J x x x x x		♠ void
♥ void		♥ Q 10 8 7 2
♦ K 10 9		♦ 6 5
♣ x x x		♣ 10 x x x x
	Selatan
	♠ K x
	♥ K J x x x
	♦ J x x x
	♣ Q J

Can you see another way to defeat the contract? The easiest way is: don't ruff the second spade. Just discard and you will find declarer will have no way to land the contract. Defensive play is hardest part of the game in bridge.

Fail to Land in the Slam

Competing in match point tournament, you should play consistently good to finish in the big threes. I found this hand in the last round of the session and fail to find the key cards.

	♠ Q 6
	♥ Q 5 4
	♦ A K 10 6
	♣ K 9 3 2
West		East
♠ 5 4		♠ 3 2
♥ A 9 x x		♥ K 10 x x x x
♦ Q x xx		♦ 7 6 5
♣ J 4 3		♣ A x
	Declarer
	♠ A K J 9 7 6 5
	♥ void
	♦ J 5
	♣ Q 10 7 3

We reached a very optimistic contract of 6♠, without opposition bidding. I start with 1S, north respond with 2NT (natural), 3C from south, 3D from north, 3S, 4S,5H, 6C and corrected to 6S.

West started with ♦x, I found my self in early decision whether to finesse diamond or find out the Jack of club. After some thought, I play the ♦ A from dummy and throw the Jack from the hand.

Running 4 round of trump, I play a club to the King, East win with the Ace and return the heart. I have to find the ♣ J to land the contract. As you may see, the ♣ J was offside and I fail to land it.

Actually, as the cards located, I can save the slam. Just run all my trumps including the ♣ Q, West will be squeezed in club and diamond. Then finesse the diamond to land the contract.

Why I didn't see this line? Unfortunately, I have threw the diamond when running my trump. Oh dear, I have said goodbye to my slam with my discard. But, didn't you see, if I didn't throw any diamond when drawing trump the contract always fail if East could find the correct return? Yes, East will return a diamond, giving one trick but that's not enough for contract. So, the correct line is finessing the ♣ J.

Percentage Play (3)

In a recent tournament, I found an interesting board as displayed below. The bidding is simple, 1NT from South and North raises it to 3NT.

		Dummy
		♠ 10 8
		♥ A K
		♦ 9 8 5 4
		♣ A 8 7 6 5
		You
		♠ K Q 5 4
		♥ Q 10
		♦ K J 4 3
		♣ K J 3

Contract 3NT. West started with small heart. What is your plan?

First of all, let's list some requirements to fulfill the contact. Club shall be divided evenly with the queen is on your right. What's else?

If you can count for 5 tricks in club, you have 7 sure tricks. In what suit(s) will you take the other two? One trick easily develop from spade, but it will be only the 8th, how about the ninth?

Let's analyze our chance. Will we bring home the contract if East has the ♠ A? Assume that after winning the 1st trick in dummy, you play spade. Best defense for East is to play, and you win with the ♠ K. Next you play club to ♣ A, and finesse club. Success!!! But you don't have entry to take the ♠ Q.

Another possibility is to immediately finesse the ♠ J by running the ♠ 10. But, alert defender will cover the it. Event if you have the ♠ 9, this line is only a 50% chance of success. (Remember, you don't have the nine).

How about playing the diamond? You need to steal a diamond trick first. Assume at trick 2, you play a diamond, East plays low, you have to rise with the King. When it wins, you can directly establish your 9th trick in spade. If East is an alert defender, he may rise with ♦ A, then switch to heart. You still have chance when East also has the ♦ Q, so you can finesse for the ninth. It's a difficult hand, although your combined strength is 26 HCP with a 5 running tricks, you still have difficulties to bring home the contract. In my opinion, playing the diamond is the best percentage play to land the contract.

Throw Your Winner!!!

In a recent tournament, I found an interesting board as displayed below. The bidding is using precision system, South open 1D, North 1H, South rebid 1NT (12-14) and North jump to 3NT. West lead spade, Declarer hold up for 2 round and win the 3rd round while discarding heart from dummy.

		Dummy
		♠ 7 6
		♥ 10 6 5 4
		♦ A K Q 10 9 5
		♣ 6
	You
	♠ J954
	♥ K92
	♦ 43
	♣ A J 43

Contract 3NT. Declarer then run 6 diamond tricks, what's defensive plan?.

A novice defender will give an encourage signal for heart by discarding the ♥9 and then leave the ♣ A alone. Declarer then exit with club to west, who cash the spade and has to play a heart to the fork. Even if declarer can read the position correctly, west actually could beat the contract.

Here are the logic.

West is the victim of the end-play. If declarer hold the ♣K outside of ♥AQ, nothing can be done. Contract can't be beaten. However if declarer just has the ♣Q instead of ♣K, then can throw his winner and retain the ♣Ax. He will win with ♣A and play club to east ♣K who will play the heart through declarer. So, sometimes the winner shall be threw. Here are the complete distribution

	♠ 7 6
	♥ 10 6 5 4
	♦ A K Q 10 9 5
	♣ 6
West		East
♠ J 9 5 4		♠ K Q 3 2
♥ K 9 2		♥ 873
♦ 4 3		♦ 76
♣ A J 4 3		♣ K x x x
	Declarer
	♠ A 10 8
	♥ A Q 6
	♦ J 5 2
	♣ Q 10 7 2

Losing Squeeze Card

Playing with robot will make you stress. I found an interesting hand during my play in Bridge Base Online (BBO) with a robot there.

Partner robot, open a strong NT (15-17) and i have the following hand,

♠ K Q 3 ♥ Q J 9 ♦ A K 3 ♣ K 9 5 4

I directly bid 6NT. Here are the hands.

	Dummy
	♠ K Q 3
	♥ Q J 9
	♦ A K 3
	♣ K 9 5 4
	Declarer
	♠ A 9 8 2
	♥ A K 8 6
	♦ J 4 2
	♣ A 7

Robot won with the King di dummy?!. Then run 4 times hearts. West follow 3 times, discard one of its clubs. Robot now continue with 3 round of spade, unfortunately the suit didn't break evenly, when East still hold the last spade. Meanwhile robot has been destroy the club establishment as it has been threw on the 4th heart although West now only 2 club left before cashing ♣ A.

Robot try to drop the diamond, but the queen still in their seat and robot fail to land the contract.

Actually, there are many ways to land the contract. After cashing the ♣ A, actually contract is still in controlled situation. Knowing that West hold 5 clubs, robot can play its losing squeeze card, spade, squeezing West if he hold the ♦ Q or endplaying East if he hold that card.

The simple way is to let west win the first trick. He will be squeeze when robot runs its winner. Here are the complete distribution.

	Dummy

	♠ K Q 3
	♥ Q J 9
	♦ A K 3
	♣ K 9 5 4
West		East
♠ 5 4		♠ J1076
♥ 10 3 2		♥ 754
♦ Q 7 6		♦ 10985
♣ QJ1063		♣ 82
	Declarer
	♠ A 9 8 2
	♥ A K 8 6
	♦ J 4 2
	♣ A 7

Play According to Contract

Indonesian Bridge League, a new way to select the team to represent Indonesia has just been started last week. In qualification round, we found out the distribution below. Most contracts were 6♦, and one pair reached 7♦.

	Dummy
	♠ A J 7 6
	♥ A 6
	♦ A J 5
	♣ A K J 6
	Declarer
	♠ K 5
	♥ 9 2
	♦ K Q 10 9 3 2
	♣ 7 4 3

Contract 6♦. On the bidding, North started with strong (1♣ precision, or 2NT ), East overcall with 2♥. The slam was played either in South or in North.

I was a declarer in the South and received a ♥7 as opening lead. I play the Ace and keep the ♥9 in my hand. Draw 2 rounds of trump, which divided evenly. I continue to play a small heart from dummy, lucky me as East play the ♥J, and won the trick and at the same time was threw-in. So, I claimed immediately.

In case East played small and West won with ♥10, I would be on test. How do you execute in case West play a small club? There are 2 reasonable ways to fulfill the contract. First play 2 rounds of club, if the queen does not fall, you have to finesse the spade. Other choice is to try to ruff the spade, when the queen falls, you are home. If the queen is still there, then play all of your remaining trumps and decide how cards are distributed outside.

Franky Karwur, one of Indonesian top bridge play were facing a grandslam in diamond for the distribution above. How will you bring home the contract when heart as opening lead?

After winning the heart lead, Franky played the ♣A, when ♣10 drops, he countinued with the King. Wow... the ♣Q fell down. Franky then played 3 rounds of spade and ruff it. When West has a Queen guarded, he claimed for a simple squeeze. A logic play from one of Indonesian top bridge player. Congratulation Franky.

Here are the complete distribution

	Dummy
	♠ A J 7 6
	♥ A 6
	♦ A J 5
	♣ A K J 6
West		East
♠ Qxxx		♠ 7 6 3
♥ 1075		♥ KQJxxx
♦ 86		♦ xx
♣ 9xxx		♣ Q10
	Declarer
	♠ K 5 ♥ 9 2 ♦ K Q 10 9 3 2 ♣ 7 4 3

Avoidance Play and Suit Handling

Every time you bring the contract, you have to handle it carefully. I found out a passive lead on the contract below, but need a careful execution to bring home the contract. North started with 1D (Precision) and as South I responded 1H (may be 3 cards), when North supported 2H, I close the auction with 3NT. West, chose to start with middle spade and now your time to save the contract.

	Dummy
	♠ A J 7 6
	♥ A J 9 7
	♦ K 5
	♣ 8 6 5
	Declarer
	♠ K Q 5
	♥ 10 4 2
	♦ 9 2
	♣ A K 9 4 3

Contract 3NT.

Thanks to the lead as diamond lead will destroy the chance. However, you still have to play it carefully. Have you made a reasonable plan?

There are 2 suits where you may get additional tricks, namely heart and club. However, you have to avoid west get the lead.

What is your hope on this lay out? First, west should not have both honor in heart. In case west doesn't have any heart honor, then you shall pray that east hold the ♣ Q two or three times. Then, how do you execute it?

After winning spade opening lead in South, you should start with a small heart to the 9. Assume this fail, and east return club. Winning it, play another low heart (!!!). When west follows with heart honor, you save the contract by 4 tricks in spade, 3 in hearts and 2 in clubs. The heart handling is the highest percentage play to get 3 tricks with that combination. If you play the ♥ 10 on the first or second time then you you need another luck in club.

If the second heart finesse fail, a small club return from east shall be won and play the 3rd round in the hope that east hold the last club. If east play the ♣ Q on the second club, you may leave him winning that trick. The idea is to prevent west from getting the lead.

However, there was no reward to my careful play because west hold the ♥ K 8, so the player who started with ♥ 10 also won the contract. However the careful play will win the game in the long run.