| W/All | ♠ | A 6 5 | | | | ♥ | K J 7 5 | | ♦ | K J 8 3 | | ♣ | A 2 | | ♠ | K 9 |  | | | | ♥ | A Q | | | | ♦ | A 10 9 | | | | ♣ | 9 8 6 5 4 3 | | |
| West | North | East | South |
|---|
| 1♣ | double | 1♦ | 1♠ | | pass | pass | double1 | 3♠ | pass
| 4♠ | pass | pass | | pass | | | |
1 Take-out
This was the bidding at one of many tables at the 2004 European Championships for teams in Malmö, Sweden. A strange auction, but not an impossible one: East is unwilling to sell out in 1♠ and South suddenly comes up with a jump: it's clear he has six spades but had too few points to jump in spades at the first round of the bidding.
Anyway, at most tables South declares 4♠, although after different auctions.
Almost any West leads a club. Our West elects the ♣4 (third or fifth best). Declarer wins with dummy's ♣A (East the ♣7, South the ♣10) and returns, somewhat surprisingly, the ♣2. East wins with the ♣Q, South the ♣J.
Which club should West play to this track to save East from embarrassment (after all, East could have passed 1♠, so if NS make 4♠, East will have egg in his face)?
Solution
Clearly South is unable to enter his hand. He had the bare ♣J10 (East still has the ♣K). He clearly doesn't have the ♦Q, since, with two diamonds at most — remember East's 1♦ bid — he would have played a diamond towards that ♦Q. Either it would have won or he would have ruffed the third diamond later. He doesn't have a singleton or void in diamonds either, since he would have played diamonds as well then. So it is very likely that he has a small doubleton in diamonds.
EW have made one trick and West will certainly make his two aces. He can see that he will make, with certainty, the setting trick if East now plays a heart back.
So West throws the ♣9, clearly a suit preference (Lavinthal) signal. The message for East: 'I'm playing my highest club, so I request you to return the highest suit, hearts.'
East duly returns a heart. West wins with the ♥A and locks declarer in dummy by continuing with the ♥Q.
If declarer plays a diamond from dummy, he loses two diamond tricks: down one.
If he plays a heart, West ruffs and cashes the ♦A: down one.
If he plays the ♠A, West scores the ♠K and the ♦A: down one. W/All | ♠ | A 6 5
| | | | ♥ | K J 7 5
| | ♦ | K J 8 3
| | ♣ | A 2
| | ♠ | K 9
| | ♠ | 8 3
| | ♥ | A Q
| ♥ | 10 9 8 3
| | ♦ | A 10 9
| ♦ | Q 6 5 4
| | ♣ | 9 8 6 5 4 3
| ♣ | K Q 7
| | | ♠ | Q J 10 7 4 2
| | | ♥ | 6 4 2
| | ♦ | 7 2
| | ♣ | J 10
|
Bridge authors usually have to work hard to construct a puzzle like this one. But this deal, with a fully deducible and successful line of defence, comes from practical play.
It is all the more staggering therefore, that all West players routinely showed their club distribution (our West threw the ♣3 to show an even number). So all East players shifted to a diamond, allowing declarer to make his contract by ruffing the third diamond and finessing for the ♠K... |