The Capital

Defending when seeing 28 cards

- Win at Bridge Phillip Alder

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!

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