By Val Rhead
The bidding is finished and the trump suit has been established by the opposition. You re-examine your hand. To your delight, you have at least four of declarer’s trump suit. Perhaps your immediate reaction is to lead a singleton or doubleton and use your trumps to ruff. This can be effective, but sometimes there is a better way, a more Active Defense.
With the right configuration, the strategy is to use a Power Play, also known as the Forcing Defense. This means that you are going to force the declarer to use up the trumps in his hand to ruff the cards in your best suit or the best suit in your partner’s hand. If the declarer has just five trumps, and you force him to ruff once, you and the bad guy will now have an equal number of trumps. If you can force him to ruff more than once, you will have more trumps than he does, and with careful play, you will have control of the hand.
The best lead for you to make when you see that you hold at least four trumps, is to lead a card in your best suit. Alternatively if your partner has bid, and you lack a promising suit, lead a card in his suit. When the dummy comes down, you can better evaluate the situation. If the dummy has cards in the suit you have led, it suggests that declarer may be short and will have to ruff—all the better to continue with your plan. If the dummy is short in your suit with trumps available to ruff your suit, then lead another suit when you have the opportunity. After all, you do not want declarer to ruff in dummy gaining extra trump tricks.
The following sample hand has been borrowed from Page 188 of Barbara Seagram and David Bird’s book “25 Ways to be a Better Defender.” I strongly recommend books in this series for Bridge players who want to improve their game.
In this example, you are sitting West on opening lead against a Four Spade contract by declarer South. You hold four trumps. You lead the King of Hearts, top of a sequence in your best suit. East signals you with his nine of Hearts showing support. You lead a small Heart to his Ace. He returns another Heart. South ruffs with a small trump. South now has only four trumps—the same number you have. South leads a trump. You win with your Ace. You play your last Heart and South has to ruff again. You now have three trumps and declarer has only two. Of course, he could refuse to ruff letting you win the fourth Heart trick. Either way, you have the upper hand and defeat the contract using the Power Play.
If you wish to promote an activity in your bridge group or ask a bridge question, send the information to [email protected] and I will include it in this column.
HUNTSVILLE DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB
Games for the Huntsville Club are Tuesday evening 7:00, Trinity United Church 33 Main Street. Please arrive at least 15 minutes early. Contact Jan Roberts 705-635-2522 or [email protected] for information and partnerships.
The following winners are for Tuesday, Jun 12 with 18 pairs playing a Mitchell movement. North-South 1/2. Betty Fagin and Brian Brocklehurst; 1/2. Sharon King and Peter O’Connor; 3. Liz Barnes and Bev Howard; 4/5. Mary Simonett and Kel Andresen; 4/5. Val Rhead and Gail Lederer; East-West 1. Susan Marshall and Jan Roberts; 2. Art Insley and Don Evans; 3. Mary Whitehead and Helen Pearson; 4. Ann Cassie and Bruce Cassie; 5. Vern Foell and Rod Dixon
MUSKOKA DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB (Bracebridge)
Games for the Bracebridge Club are Mondays 7pm, Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Taylor Road. Please arrive 15 minutes before game time. For information or partnerships, call Brian at 705-645-5340 [email protected].
The following winners are from Monday, Jun 11 with 20 pairs playing a Mitchell movement. North-South 1. Betty Fagin and Brian Brocklehurst; 2. Lyn Walisser and Bev Howard; 3. Carol Anne Robinson and Nancy Barber; 4. Kel Andresen and Jim Smith; 5. Mary Hogarth and Albert Eatock; East-West 1. Liz Barnes and David Bryce; 2. Sharon King and Vern Foell; 3. Fay MacDonald and Mary Whitehead; 4. Mary Mitchell and Susan Maddocks; 5. Gerry Flaherty and Ralph Hair
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