Countermeasures

By Ron Klinger

Test your defence on this deal:

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

South opens a strong club and ends in 6♦. You lead the ♠3, king, ace, ruffed. Declarer crosses to the ♦K and returns the ♦6 to the jack. Then comes the ♦A, dropping East's ♦Q. Declarer continues with the ♥A, ♥K, ♥Q, East playing the ♥6, ♥4, ♥10 (reverse count) and you discard a club.

South now plays the ♣2. How would you defend? The complete deal, reported previously in Daily Bulletin #8, looked like this (hands rotated for convenience):

Round 11: Board 4 Dealer South. Both Vul.
	♠ K Q 10 9 ♥ 8 7 3 2 ♦ K 6 ♣ 8 4 3
♠ J 6 3 ♥ J 5 ♦ 9 3 2 ♣ K 10 9 7 6		♠ A 8 7 5 4 2 ♥ 10 6 4 ♦ Q 10 7 ♣ J
	♠ – ♥ A K Q 9 ♦ A J 8 5 4 ♣ A Q 5 2

Via a sequence that need not be preserved for posterity, Bob Hamman had opened a strong club as South and finished in 6♦. West started with the ♠3 and Bob played dummy's king. He ruffed East's ace, drew trumps thanks to the favourable layout and cashed the hearts. This was the position:

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

Bob exited with the ♣2. Had West been a good counter, he would have known that declarer had started with no spades, four hearts and five diamonds. Therefore South had to have four clubs and hence East had a singleton. It was therefore vital to rise with the ♣K (a 'crocodile') and return the ♣10, leaving South with another club loser.

To rise with the ♣K was safe whether East had the ♣J or ♣Q. South would not have started with the ♣A-Q-J-x, as he would have discarded the low club on the ♠Q when in dummy with the ♦K. In practice West played an automatic second-hand-low on the ♣2, East won but had only spades left and away went South's two club losers.

"It is very close whether to play the ♠9 at trick one," said Bob later, "but I was concerned that East might have the ♠A and the ♠J. It was lucky that I did not play a low spade. If I had, I would ruff East's ace, play ♦A, diamond to the king and discard two clubs on the ♠K, ♠Q. That would rely on the club finesse and diamonds behaving, but then the slam would have been one down."