Pressure
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Focus on the author
Yoram Aviram, also called Aviram1, is an experienced bridge player and a former member of the Israeli Juniors and Open teams with some achievements on the national and international scenes.
After a long break from the game during which he substituted the mind sport of bridge with the physical sport of competitive road cycling, he is now returning to his old passion and adopted Funbridge as the platform to refresh his skills. He is happy to share deals of particular interest with the Funbridge community on the blog.
Pressure!
An interesting position occurred in a 4-deal IMP tournament that I have recently played on Funbridge.
In our system I am not strong enough for a 2♥ initial response, so I respond 1NT. Partner rebids 2♦ (3+). I rebid 2♥. Partner now bids a non-forcing 3♦. I could now pass this or correct to 3♠, but vulnerable, at IMPs, with some helpful spot cards, I convince myself to bid 3NT.
The lead is the ♦2 (presumably 4th best). That is the position with dummy revealed:
It seems that it is going to be a difficult hand to play but also to defend. I play low, East takes the Ace and returns a helpful ♥J. I play the Queen, West wins the Ace and plays the ♣6. Communications are going to be an issue, I know, and I consider playing the Ace and another club, but since I am not sure who has got the King, I play small from dummy. East takes his King (their 3rd trick) and plays back a diamond (strong play). After that helpful start, I can now count 8 tricks (2 diamonds, 3 clubs and 3 hearts) and one more can be developed in Spades. That diamond return, however, takes away an important entry. I can no longer unblock the ♣A and return to my hand to cash the Queen-Jack of Clubs.
There is nothing better to do now than win the ♦Q and try top hearts. Both opponents follow to the King (a spade thrown from dummy). Dummy’s heart was the 9, so my 8 is high, but the Jack returned by East, probably from a doubleton, means that West still has the ♥7 guarded. But wait! West probably also has the ♦J guarded (implied by his small diamond lead). So, he might be put under pressure.
Anyway, I can safely cash my ♥10 and I would better discard that blocking ♣A on it (better 2 tricks at hand than 3 on paper). East, as expected, discards a club. I cash the ♣Q. West discards a spade. That is now the position:
I have taken 4 tricks so far. With the Jack of Clubs, 5. And the 8 of Hearts, 6. I am going to develop a spade (7th trick) and enter dummy for the ♦K, which brings me to 8, still a trick short. Who has the ♠A? If East holds it, there is no benefit for me. He is not the one to be pressured. So, it is better to assume that it is with West. We now arrive at the interesting position, so let’s see the exposed hands:
When I play the ♣J, West suffers (Can robots suffer?). If he discards a heart, my hearts will be high and dummy’s two kings will take the needed tricks. If he discards a diamond, that will make all of dummy’s diamonds high. With no need to take the high ♥8, a spade towards dummy will see me home. And if West discards a spade (which he does), it will both help develop a second spade trick and expose West to a two-way throw-in. So, West discards the ♠J and dummy discards a diamond. I play a spade, West wins and has to play either a diamond from his J-6 to dummy’s K-9, or a heart from his 7-5 to declarer’s 8-6.
That was the end position with all hands exposed:
After a spade to West’s bare Ace, he is endplayed in the two red suits.
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I could once in a while also write something about my adventures and fun. I am not a top player but considering your audience that is maybe for the better 🙂
Fun hand. Thank you for sharing.
This article was very useful
informative
Thanks i really enjoyed reading your article