Dealer
: North
Vuln : Both |
KANTAR'S
KORNER #5
|
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Everybody
at the table knew, or should have known, that South started
with six diamonds and five spades. Furthermore, the best
defense against two suiters is to try to force the long
hand to trump. If declarer can be forced several times,
he may lose control of the hand. This is particularly true
when one defender has four trump.
And
what counter does the declarer have? If the side suit is
not solid, declarer should start playing it at once, perhaps
sooner. Nobody will ever be able to calculate the number
of contracts thrown out the window because the side suit
wasn't attacked soon enough. Nobody.
First,
the play as it happened, then the play as it should have
happened. Declarer won the opening lead in dummy, entered
the closed hand with a trump, and led a diamond to the
king and ace. East returned a club which was ruffed. At
this point both East and South have three trump.
Declarer
crossed to the queen of diamonds, returned to his hand
with a trump and ruffed a diamond in dummy. East with Jx
of trump, overtrumped dummy and forced declarer with another
club. But declarer was in charge. He ruffed, drew East's
last trump with his own last trump, ran the diamonds and
conceded a heart to make his game.
Had
East NOT overtrumped the third diamond, South would have
no way back to his hand without opening himself up to yet
another
force, the second force. With this force, South loses control
of the hand because now East has more trump than South. The
defensive point is to be wary of over-ruffing dummy when
holding the same trump length as declarer - if declarer
cannot get
back to his hand without subjecting himself to a force. The
trump trick will come back with dividends - declarer won't
be able to use his established side suit.
And
what about declarer? Did he do anything wrong? Yes. He erred
at trick two when he led a trump to his hand rather than a
diamond from dummy. START THE LONG SUIT BEFORE DRAWING TRUMP!
Because he didn't, he would have been in serious trouble if
East had not overtrumped the third diamond. If, however, South
plays diamonds before spades, he will prevail whether East
overtrumps or not. Lay it out. |
6
4 3
K
10
9
7
6
2
K
Q
A
3
East 