It’s fun to mislead declarer to defeat

Albert Einstein said, “I think and think for months, for years. Ninetynine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.”

At the bridge table, it is most enjoyable to give an opponent a false picture of how the cards are distributed, persuading him to go down in a contract that he seemed destined to make.

Here is an example, for which Pablo Ravenna won the Gidwani Family Trust Defence of the Year award last year. The journalist prize went to Ana Roth and Fernando Lema. They all live in Argentina.

Marcos Thoma (East) opened one club, which was either natural or any balanced hand with 12-14 or 18-19 points. West’s double was negative, promising hearts.

Ravenna (West) led the club ace, then shifted to the spade two to cut down declarer’s heart ruffs. South took East’s queen with his ace and played his remaining club. When West smoothly discarded a heart, declarer was convinced that West had begun with a singleton trump.

To make the contract at this point, South had to lead a heart to his ace, ruff a heart and play a club, discarding his last heart. Instead, South continued with a club, ruffed in hand. West kept up his brilliant defense by discarding another heart. Now declarer cashed the heart ace, ruffed a heart and played a club, pitching his third heart. However, West also threw his last heart, so when East played the heart king, and South ruffed, West overruffed, scoring his spade jack after all. Then a diamond to the queen defeated the contract.