Goren on Bridge

Many card-play techniques, or fancy plays, have been given exotic names over the years. This is true for both declarer plays and defensive plays. Consider this deal from the 1993 Bermuda Bowl.

At one table, the opening lead was a low club. Declarer rose with dummy’s ace and led a low diamond toward his queen. East stepped up with his king and shifted to the king of spades. This play, where a defender sacrifices an honor to knock out a key entry for declarer, is known as the Merrimac Coup. It was a fine play, but declarer’s spades were just too good. South captured the king with dummy’s ace and continued the suit, developing enough spade tricks to make his contract.

At another table, against the same contract, West led the jack of hearts. South played low from dummy and won with the ace in his hand. He then led the seven of diamonds and passed it to East’s 10. South was willing to lose two diamond tricks as long as he lost them to East and kept the queen of hearts protected. East at this table was one of the all-time greats, Eric Rodwell. Rodwell shifted to the king of spades! Was this the Merrimac Coup again? No it wasn’t. This defensive play, where you sacrifice an honor to create an entry to partner’s hand, is known as the Deschapelles Coup. This declarer also won with dummy’s ace of spades and continued the suit. When West won his queen of spades, he reverted to hearts and the contract was defeated. Nice play, whatever you call it! Bob Jones welcomes readers’ responses sent in care of this newspaper or to Tribune Content Agency, LLC., 16650 Westgrove Dr., Suite 175, Addison, TX 75001. Email responses may be sent to tcaeditors@tribune.com. © 2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.