‘A murder has taken place’, said Sherlock Holmes. ‘We’ll rush to the scene of the crime’ suggested Watson. ‘No, it is right here at the bridge table’ said the great detective and went on to explain the deal below from Rubber Bridge. Before you read on, decide how you will play the hand.
Contract: 3NT by south. West leads the D2, fourth-best. Plan the play.
Analysis: You have six tricks on top and the remaining have to come from spades.
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How the play went: Declarer won and played a spade to the king. When it won, he entered hand by a club and played a spade to dummy’s queen and east’s ace. East played back a second diamond. Declarer ducked and won the third diamond, dummy discarding a club. Crossing to the HA in dummy, declarer cashed the SJ to find to his dismay that the suit divide 4-2 with east having A-T-8-6. As a result, declarer finished with only eight tricks.
‘I’m surprised to hear you say a murder has taken place when I find east has defended very well to duck the first spade.’ said Watson. ‘I agree with you that east’s defence was superb....but’ said Sherlock Holmes.
Watson interrupted ‘Do you mean declarer blundered in the play’? ‘Yes, he did. Botched an easy hand’ said the detective and went on to explain how declarer should have played it.
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Correct Play: Win the opening lead and play a small spade from both the hands! Let us say the defence plays a second diamond. Win and play a spade to dummy’s king. If they duck, play the queen to drive out the ace. The HA would serve as entry to dummy for the established spade! The complete hands are:
‘There are so many coups in bridge. What do they call this?’ asked Watson.
‘As they could not come up with a good name for this type of play, they call it ‘The coup without the name’, said the detective.
Discussion: As the idea behind this unusual play is to keep communication, may be, we can call it the ‘Communication coup’. This play can be used in defence too!
North opens 1C. East overcalls 1H. South jumps to 3NT to end the auction.
West leads the H8. If east puts up the HQ, the defence ends there. Declarer will duck and win the continuation with the jack. He will go after diamonds and end up with ten tricks.
Let us say east ducks the eight, forcing declarer to win the trick with the jack. When south attacks diamonds, west can go with the king and play the second heart. East will put up the queen now, to drive out the ace. In with the DA, he can cash out three more hearts to defeat the contract.
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