FRANK STEWART BRIDGE

CY’S BRILLIANT DEFENSE

“There is no ‘i’ in ‘team,’ but there are five in ‘individual brilliancy.’” — Cy the Cynic.

Cy is a chameleon. On one deal, he will hand declarer a contract on a platter. On the next, he will find a sterling defense. Cy was today’s East, and against five clubs, West led a heart in deference to Cy’s overcall: nine, queen, three. South had shown long clubs and a spade suit. How should Cy defend?

The Cynic correctly placed South with a singleton heart. Cy had a sure trump trick, and if West had a diamond trick, Cy had no worries. Otherwise, his best chance was to stop South from ruffing spades in dummy.

Claim

But if Cy led a low trump, South could win with dummy’s queen, lead the king of hearts to ruff out the Cynic’s ace, cash the ace of trumps, concede a trump and claim.

At Trick Two, Cy produced a brilliancy: He led the king of trumps! He lost his trump trick but got two tricks back. Since South lacked the entries to use dummy’s hearts, he lost two spades. Well done, Cy.

Daily Question

You hold: ♠ Q J 10 3 ♥ AQ752 ♦ 10 ♣ K 4 2. Your partner opens one diamond, you respond one heart and he rebids two diamonds. What do you say? Answer: This case is close. If you judge to drive to game, bid two spades. You may hear partner show belated support for hearts, and you can bid four hearts next. If you are content to invite game — a reasonable view since you have only 12 high-card points and no help for the diamonds — bid 2NT.

North dealer

Both sides vulnerable