|
In part one of this series (click deceptive plays at bridge -1) we met with the wheeler-dealer (W-D). This is the type of opponent that regularly makes a monkey out of us since he knows all the tricks — meaning deceptive plays — in the book and knows how to use them as well. These difficult opponents unnerve us since, having learned the hard way, we do not trust a single card they play. We always suspect a snag. As a consequence we sometimes end up down in a contract anyone can make. For instance because we fail to believe that the queen dropping under the ace really was bare ('surely that's another false card'). Or we assume that king to be wrong despite the fact that a small one to the queen won the trick ('probably he has retained the king').
This way such a W-D develops into our nemesis: even when playing perfectly normal cards, he somehow makes us throw away points, as we assume he is taking us for a ride.
What we can do against this? No idea, often we are powerless: a good deceptive play creates an illusion, a distribution of the cards that is not the reality but might very well have been. If the distribution that we infer from the W-D's play is not the real one, we lose points if we take it to be the real one. But if, on the other hand, the W-D has played perfectly normally and the distribution is what it seems, we lose points if we suspect him of deception. In short, we have to guess.
Not always of course, sometimes we can deduce that there is a W-D in operation and expose him.
The thing we have to do first and foremost is become a W-D ourselves! We have to learn from him how to create points out of nothing.
Take for instance the following two examples, from IMP-play, so making the contract (or defeating it) is our priority; overtricks or extra undertricks are relatively unimportant: | W/NS | ♠ | J 6 5 2
| | | | ♥ | A K 5 3 | | ♦ | A 9 4
| | ♣ | 10 7 | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | ♠ | A 8 7 3
| | | ♥ | 7 6 | | ♦ | 8 5 3
| | ♣ | A K J 3
|
| West | North | East | South |
|---|
| 1♠1 | pass
| pass | 1NT2 | | pass | 3NT3 | pass | pass | pass
| | | |
1 EW open lowest four-card suit, in the continental style
2 12-14, spade guard not necessary
3 Since almost all the opponents' points are concentrated in one hand, 3NT often makes on relatively few points West leads the ♠K, East following suit with the ♠4.
Declarer counts six top tricks and can set up an extra trick in spades (the ♠J) and clubs (by way of the finesse, whether it succeeds or not). That makes eight tricks.
But the ninth one? A major suit squeeze against West perhaps, if he has the long heart suit? Or a red suit squeeze against East, if he has 4-5 in hearts and diamonds? If so, declarer must lose four tricks first, in order to rectify the count, so... Stop! That small club should have hit the table by now. West cannot have the long heart suit, neither can he have only two diamonds. In view of his 1♠ opening and East following to the first trick, West has only four spades and therefore a 4-3-3-3.
This means South can make his contract only, if he wins four club tricks. That is impossible if East has the ♣Q (he has four clubs and will cover the ♣10). So South wins the opening lead and, hoping that West has the ♣Q (rather likely, in view of the bidding), plays a small club from hand. | W/NS | ♠ | J 6 5 2
| | | | ♥ | A K 5 3 | | ♦ | A 9 4
| | ♣ | 10 7 | | ♠ | K Q 10 9 | | ♠ | 4
| | ♥ | Q 8 2
| ♥ | J 10 9 4
| | ♦ | K J 7
| ♦ | Q 10 6 2
| | ♣ | Q 9 2
| ♣ | 8 6 5 4 | | | ♠ | A 8 7 3
| | | ♥ | 7 6 | | ♦ | 8 5 3
| | ♣ | A K J 3
|
West may very well duck, dummy's ♣10 wins and declarer plays the ♣AK from top, dropping West's ♣Q: nine tricks (after playing a spade to the ♠J).
Why would West duck? Well, to him this is also a very plausible lie of the cards:
| W/NS | ♠ | J 6 5 2
| | | | ♥ | A K 5 3 | | ♦ | A 9 4
| | ♣ | 10 7 | | ♠ | K Q 10 9 | | ♠ | 4
| | ♥ | Q 8 2
| ♥ | 10 7 4
| | ♦ | K J 7
| ♦ | 10 8 6 5 2
| | ♣ | Q 9 2
| ♣ | K 8 6 5 | | | ♠ | A 8 7 3
| | | ♥ | J 9 6 | | ♦ | Q 3 | | ♣ | A J 4 3
|
If he would win the second trick with the ♣Q, he would give declarer the contract. Just watch: he continues for example with a spade (best defence). Declarer wins with the ♠J, finesses for East's ♣K, cashes the ♣A and ♥AK and exits in hearts. West cannot but win and is endplayed. He cashes the last spade(s) and has now made two spades, the ♥Q and the ♣Q. He has to play a diamond, thus giving declarer his ninth trick (two spades, three hearts, two diamonds and two clubs).
On this layout West should therefore duck South's club to the second trick: East wins with the ♣K and kills the contract by way of a diamond switch.
To sum it up: like a real W-D South plays a small club at the second trick. West has to guess the actual layout and those who (have to) guess, often guess wrong.
The second deal: | W/NS | ♠ | 7 5 2
| | | | ♥ | A 8 3
| | ♦ | K 10 5 2
| | ♣ | 7 5 4
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | ♠ | A Q J
| | | ♥ | K Q
| | ♦ | J 9 8 7 | | ♣ | A K 6 2
|
| West | North | East | South |
|---|
| 2♥1 | pass
| pass | 3NT | | pass | pass | pass | |
1 Majors, 4-4 or better, 4-10 HCP (only that weak at this vulnerability...) West leads the ♥2 (third-fifth best).
Declarer ducks in dummy and wins East's ♥9 with the ♥K. He can see six top tricks and will have to exploit the diamond suit. So he runs the ♦9. East wins with the ♦A and returns the ♥6, South winning with the ♥Q. How to continue?
Fortunately West has the ♦Q, so ten tricks are in sight. Many declarers would therefore continue with a diamond to the ♦10, planning to finesse for the ♠K on the way back. After all, though West is more likely to have that card, East can have it, in view of West's possibly very weak opening. In that case South may even make eleven tricks (ten, if the ♠K is wrong, more likely of course).
But then this may happen: | W/NS | ♠ | 7 5 2
| | | | ♥ | A 8 3
| | ♦ | K 10 5 2
| | ♣ | 7 5 4
| | ♠ | K 10 9 3
| | ♠ | 8 6 4 | | ♥ | J 10 7 4 2
| ♥ | 9 6 5
| | ♦ | 6 3
| ♦ | A Q 4
| | ♣ | Q 10 | ♣ | J 9 8 3 | | | ♠ | A Q J
| | | ♥ | K Q
| | ♦ | J 9 8 7 | | ♣ | A K 6 2
|
East wins with the ♦Q and plays a heart back! Suddenly declarer sees only eight tricks. If he finesses for the ♠K, West wins with the ♠K and takes two hearts: five tricks for the defence (East has already won the ♦AQ).
Yes, East was a W-D, but in this case South has himself to thank for his misery. After East had won the second trick with the ♦A and South had gained the lead with the ♥Q, he should have played the ♠Q from hand. Thus he makes sure of his contract. Whoever wins this trick, will play another heart (if not, declarer has no more problems) to dummy's ♥A. Declarer has no heart guard left, but that doesn't bother him, since East is out of hearts as well (West's lead showed an odd number, a five-card suit, therefore; besides, if the heart suit had been 4-4 after all, EW can take only four tricks). The reason to play that ♠Q was, as so often, to remove the entry from the hand with the long suit, at a stage that this suit hasn't been established yet.
Declarer now crosses to the ♣A and finesses for the ♦Q. If that card really had been with West, declarer thus would make ten tricks. Here he has to settle for nine: East wins with the ♦Q, but, as mentioned, is out of hearts.
Nicely done by W-D East, winning the first diamond trick with the ♦A. Suppose he would have done the normal thing by winning with the ♦Q. Declarer would have realised that setting up two diamond tricks wouldn't have done (that would add up to only eight tricks). He would have seen that he couldn't make the contract if West had both the ♦A and the ♠K. However, he could succeed if West had only one of the two. In that case he was more likely to have the ♠K than the ♦A (as he had the long spade suit). Very probably declarer would have found the correct play then: the spade finesse (all the more since at that point dummy was on lead).
That is why East tried to bamboozle declarer. But as mentioned: if declarer counts his tricks, he will not be fooled. For the third (and last) part of this series click deceptive plays at bridge — 3 |