apr2020

49 2020 אפריל 200 גיליון Roni Tor is a very talented player, who remains unknown to the bridge playing public, as he has never represented Israel in international competition. In the following hand from a barometer tournament, he found the killing defense. Roni was sitting West, holding the following cards: Dealer South. Vul E/W 763 985 AQT7 J96 The auction: West North East South 1NT Pass 3♣ Pass 3 ♥ Pass 3NT All Pass Three clubs was Puppet Stayman, and three hearts showed five cards. What would you lead from West's hand? Roni concluded from the bidding that North had no four-card majors. He should have been holding three spades and two hearts. West's diamond holding is not an attractive one to lead from. Therefore, Roni picked the spade six! Here is the full deal: QJ8 J7 K3 QT7542 763 AKT4 985 Q62 AQT7 86542 J96 3 952 AKT43 J9 AK8 Please note that declarer can make eleven tricks in clubs and hearts when he gains the lead. He tried the spade queen from dummy. East won the trick with the king and correctly returned a diamond. Roni took his diamond ace and continued with the spade seven. The defense took four spade tricks and one diamond, setting the contract. This was worth 125 IMPs across the field (instead of losing 45 by allowing 3NT to make). The spade lead would also have worked if East had the spade ace plus Jxx in diamonds, and South had Kxx in diamonds. In this case, winning the spade ace and switching to the diamond jack ensures five defensive tricks. Why was it correct to switch to a diamond? Because if West has the heart ace or the club ace, it would be impossible for declarer to cash nine immediate tricks, while without the diamond ace he is still able to make a lot of tricks with his five-card heart suit. A Killing Defense // Joseph Engel ENGLISH