Ruff-and-Discard

Today is the last day of three days -- a special bridge tournament at the PYC Gymkhana, Pune, in memory of Ashok Kapur, ever smiling and in ardent bridge player. “ We'll miss you Ashok”.       

It is sensible to play the double of a Preemptive bid for takeout.  The partner can pass with strength in their suit or at a  high level with any balanced hand.

West leads the §A, East playing the §6. West continues with the §K, which is ruffed by the South. South ruffs a spade in dummy and draw trumps, which are 1-1. South then ruffs two more club in hand (East discards a spade on the fourth club) and two more spades in dummy (West turns up with ªK8 and discards a dfmond on the third spade).  How should South continue?

           

As West showed out on the third spade, East began with eight spades. East has also turned up with one heart and three clubs. That accounts for 12 cards and so East will have only one diamond.  South should continue with a low diamond from both hands and hope that East started with an honor. Any honor will do, even the ¨10. If East wins, the forced spade return gives south a ruff-and-discard, discarding a damond from hand.  West cannot gain by overtaking East’s diamond since West either gives you to diamond tricks or a ruff-and-discard.  By counting out East’s hand, south was able to discover that any play other than ducking the first round diamond was doomed to fail.

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Act of Patience

In today’s deal, East won the first heart and shifted to the ♦J. That defense wasn’t good enough. South took the Ace, cashed the A-K of trumps and ♣K-A and ruffed a club. He  led a heart to dummy, ruffed a club, ruffed his last heart in dummy and led the good club to pitch a diamond loser. He lost one diamond, a heart and a trump.  An act of patience will beat the contract. East should see no pressing need to win the first heart, if he ducks, South is in dilemma, if South leads a second heart, East can win and lead a third heart, forcing dummy to ruff, or lead a diamond, killing an entry South needs to set up and cash the clubs. If South attacks the clubs immediately, West  can over-ruff him on the third round and South will go down. Nor can South succeed  by taking the top trumps before starting the  clubs. The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.    

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Clear and obvious

It is that time of the year; to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, happiness and prosperity, but it’s not the same for animals.  If you have a pet, especially dogs, they suffer anxiety during Diwali. They tremble, whine and their bark becomes worse than their bite. I have three and know exactly what they are going through.

Yielding to temptation is the only way to lose the game. 

South ducked the opening lead in dummy and got a free finesse winning with his ♥10.A low spade was led towards dummy, but West alertly hopped up with his Ace and played the ♥A and another heart to establish his suit. South now could take 3spades and 3 clubs on the run for a total of eight tricks. If he tries to steal a diamond West is ready to pounce and collect the rest of his five winners for one down. 

The game is unbeatable if South credits West for all three aces for the opening bid. He wins dummy’s ♥K at trick one and knocks out ♦A. If West plays the ♥A and another heart South will collect three winners. And If west leads anything else, it's even easier. Regardless of what West leads South has time to knock out the ♦A to score a comfortable over trick.

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Clear and obvious

It was amazing to hear Australian soprano, operatic singer, Greta Bradman, the granddaughter of the greatest cricketer, Sir Donald Bradman at the performance with Maestro Zubin Mehta. Her voice was totally controlled like a willow trees beautiful branches bending and flexing yet remaining in tact even in the strongest breeze.      

This interesting deal came up in the 12th World Team Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey; When Italy VS Mauritius was in action, in their 14th round.      

Italian, Duboin was West and Bocchi East. While from Mauritius Hurpaul-South and Tang-North. A 12-point hand is often described as an optional opening bid.

Sitting North, Tang opened 1♦.As the auction progressed, South showing, South bid 3 NT.

Duboin led the ♣9. This is a cruel dose of reality. East, Bocchi could have tried to establish his club suit by ducking and hoping West has another club to return, should West gain the lead. But ultimately, how can East then regain the lead to enjoy the established winners?

Bocchi realised that South must have the ♠A for the notrump rebid so there no quick entry in spades. And it was obvious that there was no hope in clubs, diamonds or spades. Given that scenario, Bocchi grabbed the ♣A at trick one and returned a heart. It didn’t take long for the defenders to establish two hearts, two diamonds and one club. Down one.

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An unusual play

After many moons, to my surprise I received above interesting deal from our friend Deepak Parekh, HDFC. He was one of the bridge players who would play with my late husband, Murli on Saturdays.

‘Those were the days my friend, I thought they would never end.’  

In the above hand, declarer made a    somewhat unusual play that enabled him to make five clubs. West led ♠3, on which declarer, holding a singleton ♠J opposite the ♠A, played low from dummy, losing to East’s ♠Q.       

Of course, South could have avoided the loss of a spade trick by playing the ♠A. He merely swapped a nonexistent spade loser for a certain diamond loser. As a result of this play, South was able to make the contract. When East returned the spade at trick two, declarer discarded a diamond and ruffed two diamonds establishing dummy's fifth diamond. One heart loser was later discarded on the ♦9 and South finished with eleven tricks.

Man appears for a little while to laugh and weep, to work and play, and then to go to make room for those who shall follow him in the never-ending cycle.         

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