THE ACES ON BRIDGE

“Fear tastes like a rusty knife and do not let her into your house. Courage tastes of blood.” -- John Cheever .....................

The Rule of 11 is a subject we all know about in theory but sometimes fail to apply in practice. Let’s examine a hand where the players at the table failed to make the most of their opportunities.

When this board came up at the Dyspeptics Club, West led the heart six against three no-trump, and declarer had no choice but to win with the ace, as East followed low. He crossed to hand in diamonds and ran the club queen. East won with his king and played the jack of hearts, then looked around for inspiration, but found none. Declarer claimed his nine tricks a moment later, and East went on the attack, asking West why he had not overtaken the heart jack. Declarer showed him his heart 10 and commented that he would have taken 10 tricks had the defense gone that way.

Then, to twist the knife, he commented sympathetically that it had been a hard defense to get right. Just as he hoped, East asked him sharply what he meant, and South told him that he needed to unblock the heart jack under the ace. The Rule of 11 tells East that there are five cards higher than the six in the three hands other than the leader, and East can see three of them. If declarer has the queen or the 10-9, East’s defense doesn’t matter; if West has the Q-10, all defenses work. But if, as happened today, West has the Q-9, the unblock is essential to allow East to lead through declarer’s remaining 10-8 on the third round.