THERE IS A LOT TO DO WHEN YOU are defending. You must count points and distribution, keep track of the played cards – and, most importantly, visualise declarer's hand so that you can form a plan to defeat his contract.
After this natural auction, partner leads the queen of clubs. You rise with the ace, and declarer drops the king. What now?
Declarer is s
urely marked with all the outstanding high cards: ace of spades, king of hearts, KQJ of diamonds, and the singleton king of clubs that he has already played.
You will make your two aces, but where can you find a third trick? Consider declarer's distribution. He would have bid spades if he had four, and might have supported hearts on the third round if he had three. Yet he has only one club. It seems likely that he is 3-2-7-1. He can discard his losing spade on a heart in dummy – unless you attack his communications right now. Switch to a heart. When you win the ace of diamonds you can play a second heart. If he wins in dummy and plays the queen of spades you will not cover – that would give him a delayed entry to dummy. And if he next tries to discard a spade on a heart you can ruff.
This sparkling defence was found by the great American comedian, George Burns, at a friendly game in Ira Corn's house during the era of the Dallas Aces. It is written up in Bobby Wolff's autobiography: The Lone Wolff. Unusually, Wolff, a many-times World Champion, does not dwell on his own great plays, nor on those of his partners and team-mates. He prefers to discuss matters concerning laws and ethics and how the game is run. His long experience in bridge administration gives added weight to his strong views about the game.
The full article contains 314 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
