Ron Defends

by David Stevenson

Some people have been asking me whether I can play this game as well as direct. Well, judge for yourselves! Last time I played at the Young Chelsea, London's most prestigious duplicate club, I scored 23% with a British junior international! Anyway, playing with my great friend Ron Higgins, this was our defence:

KQJ762 QJ5 KT J3
	A54 762 A763 764

North opened 1, 2 from South, raised to 3, 4NT, 5 from RHO, 6, partner led 5, J, 4, 9. Dummy leads the K and you intelligently deduce the void from the two aces. You duck, and declarer and partner follow small, partner showing three cards. Whoops!

Declarer now leads a small spade from dummy, small, ruff, small, then he leads the J, 9 (= even number), K, your turn. What do you do to avoid making a total prat of yourself?

Did you win and attempt to cash partners Q? So do most people! However, have you asked yourself why they are in this slam? South has followed in every plain suit, so he has no void. He has at most two aces, so why has he bid slam? Easy! 5 shows 0 or 3 out of 5 (RKCB) and South thought it was three. This makes the defence easy - just cash partner's A!

Board 24 Dealer West Nil Vul	KQJ762 QJ5 KT J3
T93 8 9854 AT852		A54 762 A763 764
	8 AKT943 QJ2 KQ9

Naturally, Ron returned a diamond, and we had combined to let through a slam with three cashing aces! Surely, things can only get better, and I am playing with the British junior international again at the start of March. Wish me luck!

Click here to return to the question

Editor's note:

• This article first appeared in a bulletin at the Gold Coast in Australia in 2000.
• If you want to comment on this article, why not write direct to David Stevenson?
• I shall be pleased to hear from you!

Last article	Bridge menu	List of Contents	Solution switch	Main index	Top of article	Local menu	Next article