ACES ON BRIDGE

This month, I’ll be running a selection of deals from The Language of Bridge by Kit Woolsey. This is a book I can recommend to all my readers because it covers territory that most bridge books do not focus on. It discusses how a partnership should work together rather than giving the reader a problem that he needs to solve on his own.

The book is both about bidding and play, and over the next eight weeks I will examine a series of defensive problems that address how defensive signaling works, and when one defender can take charge as opposed to consulting his partner.

For example, take the East cards, defending against four spades on the lead of the heart king. You can immediately identify what the winning defense should be. Get West to play a diamond at trick two, then win your spade ace, put partner in with the second round of hearts, and obtain a diamond ruff.

How do you persuade your partner to find the right play? Answer: You don’t!

There is no way (short of an extensive course in semaphore) that you can describe your hand to your partner. Since he won’t be able to figure it out for himself, it is up to you to do the heavy lifting. Do the hard work yourself by overtaking his heart king and shifting to a diamond. When you take the first trump and lead a second heart, you hope your partner will manage to work out the winning defense.

ANSWER: The range for a balancing call of one no-trump is approximately 11-14, so this sequence shows a slightly better hand. Your partner has suggested approximately a strong no-trump. Since your side doesn’t have much of a fit and the opponents’ high cards are located over the strong hand, you should pass now.

No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible. — Stanislaw Lee