KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL especially when defending low level contracts -don't turn good boards into poor ones!! :-
On the following hand my partner found a very good lead of the ©4 and to keep control of the suit I stupidly decided to duck. All the good work of the lead was dissipated in one fell swoop by me taking my eye off the ball and losing concentration.
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QT95 |
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© |
KJ4 |
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¨ |
A2 |
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§ |
A963 |
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7432 |
N |
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A86 |
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© |
QT872 |
W E |
© |
95 |
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3 |
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KQJ76 |
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JT5 |
S |
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Q74 |
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KJ |
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© |
A63 |
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T9854 |
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K82 |
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East South West North
Pass
Pass 1§ 1¨ Pass
Pass Dbl Pass Pass
1©
Pass Pass Dbl
Pass Pass Pass
Once you are defending a low level contract you must keep your concentration levels right up. Firstly, build up a picture of both declarer's and partner's hand. On this hand if you take the effort you will soon realise that declarer has nothing and you should be able to take the contract 3 off. For partner to double it's reasonable to assume he has opening bid values 13 points or more. Since you can see 12 High card Points in dummy and 11 in your own hand this leaves declarer with at most 4 points. With all this in mind it doesn't take much to work out at trick one that you can take the contract 3 off with a little care.
If you win the first trick you should immediately build up your Spade winners. By setting up this suit you will be able to get a club discard on the third club and ultimately the defence will be able to create a top scoring Imps board rather than a poor minus 8. After winning the Spade, declarer will try a Diamond from dummy to no avail. Partner will be able to win the diamond, cash two more spades. Now you can get one of your clubs away and if partner is now totally in tune with you she will underlead the from her club Ace to your king. You will now be able to play a second club and get a club ruff. Partner will still have 2 more Hearts. By the time the dust has cleared the defence will realise 2 Spades, 3 Hearts , 1 Diamond 2 Clubs and a Club ruffed (before your own expert has given declarer a chance to set up his Diamonds for 2 discards!!). When I played the hand to the dismay of my partner we only took it one off.