Defending when seeing 28 cards
Holly Lisle, a novelist who also gives classes for budding authors, wrote, “If you don’t accept responsibility for your own actions, then you are forever chained to a position of defense.”
When a bridge player is on defense, he usually takes responsibility for his actions — although sometimes he needs to be guided by his partner.
Today’s deal occurred during the bronze-medal playoff in the Polish League Final Four. Thiswas the first live bridge event in Poland since the coronavirus lockdown. Itwas played inWarsawover the lastweekend of June.
Sitting East andWest were Wlodzimierz Starkowski and Michal Kwiecien. They defeated four spades. Looking at all 52 cards, can you see how they did it afterWest led the diamond ace?
East’s three-diamond responsewas preemptive. With game-invitational values or more, hewould have responded two no-trump. This pushedNorth-South into the thin game.
Upside-down signals have been the norm in Poland forever. They even lead lowfromdoubletons and the middle card froma tripleton. (The first time I used those methods, Iwas amazed howwell theyworked.) UnderWest’s diamond ace, East signaled with the 10, the high card showing an odd number and the very high card being a suit-preference signal for hearts. So, at trick two, West shifted to a heart.
Declarer played a trump off the board, but East hopped up with the king and returned his second heart. Then, when West got in with his spade ace, he gave his partner a heart ruff.
Brilliant!