BRIDGE DAVE WILLIS

Dealer South None vulnerable

Book Review

Defensive Play by Barbara Seagram and David Bird published by Master Point Press

The defenders play three rounds of spades as declarer ruffs the third. The ace and king of hearts are followed by the diamond queen. How should East react?

An important rule as a defender is not to cover the first of touching honors. If you play the king, declarer wins and finesses the nine on the way back to avoid a diamond loser. If you duck and he continues with the jack you would put up the king hoping that partner holds the ten.

The guideline in these situations is to cover the last of touching honors.

However declarer will overcome the problem by switching gears when the diamond queen holds the trick. He will eliminate the club suit and throw East on play with the master trump. East must return a diamond or offer a ruff and a discard presenting declarer with the contract.

The basic techniques of defence against suit and NT contracts are covered including signaling and discarding. The authors comment that the problems presented can easily be solved by thinking clearly and applying basic techniques such as second hand low but third hand high.

This worthy effort contains 64 problems with the solutions overleaf and may be purchased for $15.95 from Vince Oddy’s Books & Supplies Tel : 1-800-463-9815