Thursday, November 10, 2005 3:08 AM
Dummy Play
PITBULLS:
The rules of Bridge makes the dummy expose
all 13 of its cards . At trick one sometimes there is some dead time
where declarer is trying to plan her line of play . You as defender should use this time to play the
“fill in the blanks game” or as a bad pun “dummy
play”. Start building
patterns with the exposed cards on the dummy and your cards ! The dummy is there for
defenders to use also and is not the sole
possession of the declarer. A Tormentee and I were in 4♥ and the opponents bid 4♠ vul which was doubled . The board was x Jxxxx Qxx Jxxx which is not an awe
inspiring collection. You hold Qx AKxxx xx
AKxx and lead the club Ace & King which declarer ruffs the 3rd
club. Declarer creates some dead time by going into the tank. OK play the fill in the blanks game while you are waiting. There are 5♥’s on the board so plug that in with your hearts 5-5-?-? . The clubs are already
accounted for with 4-4-3-2. The diamonds are not relevant to you so you do not
have to fill in the blanks with suit. Declarer was in a hopeless spot and of
course could not get to the dummy so he ran all 7 of his trump. The tormentee
got caught in a pseudo squeeze
because she had no idea how many hearts were out after all the trump were run. Thinking
in patterns means playing the fill in the blanks game when the dummy is fully exposed. .
Another
opportunity against young Chris who opened 1♦ and subsequently got to 4♠X . The board came down with Qxxx xx Kxx Axxx . I led his suit with a small diamond and he won it
in the hand and started to think about his line of play. There is the dummy just sitting there waiting for you to play
the fill in the blanks game. Part
of this game is to use partners lead
& the dummy as a clue to play this secondary game. Why is
partner leading declarers suit in a doubled contract ? If partner does not have a stiff
diamond he should be shot. You hold Kx Jxxx
xxxx Kxx so you have diamonds accounted for due to the lead 5-4-3-1 . Declarer has shown 4 spades so 4-4-3-2 so you know partner has 3 spades. The hearts are easy
on the bidding . They should be 6-4-2-1 as partner overcalled at the two level
and bid hearts again at the 3 level. Chris sacrificed in 4♠ so he should just have a singleton heart. Clubs who cares at this time. Chris finally
leads a small spade and partner bounces with the spade Ace and underleads his
AK of hearts. Chris blinks as he wins his stiff
Queen of hearts. Oh no !
However we have a 2nd chance as he leads a spade and you win with
the king. You know partner has another trump ( 4-4-3-2) and you know Chris is
out of hearts so you come back a heart which Chris ruffs. Instead of 12
matchpoints for +200 you get a zero and –790. We lost our heart Ace & the diamond
ruff which was the setting trick in a doubled contract.
I
was playing with a Tormentee and “dummy play” would have been the winning
defense against a 2♥ contract.
The auction went 2♦-2♥-P-P and I led the 9 of diamonds. The dummy came down
with a huge hand on the auction KQJx Jxx Kxxx
xx & the tormentee
held xxxx Q AQJ10xx xx . Taking
the diamonds on the board and building a pattern with your diamonds means 6-4-2-1 so you can not duck the diamond as
partner is “end played” at trick one. You overtake the diamond and you see that
if partner has the AQ of clubs you can over ruff the board and then cash your
diamond and maybe get an uppercut with a diamond continuation. You overtake and
lead a club and partner wins the club queen and cashes the Ace and continues
another club. Declarer ruffs and you over ruff with you stiff queen . You cash
your diamond Ace and partner shows out. You continue a diamond and declarer is
forced to ruff with his heart King. Victory for the defense as I have 109x of
hearts and must come to a heart trick for down one and +100. Ducking the
diamond at trick one and they make 4♥ which is what happened at the table !!
You
can not play the game at any more than a novice
level without knowing &
applying patterns. Thinking in
patterns means just that – think in patterns ! Think in patterns
makes you discover defenses & formulate a plan. It is the basis of your reasoning or the building
blocks of your defense. Counting tricks , pseudo squeezes , switches , deception and all basic
defensive techniques originate
from patterns in the first instance. We probably have mentioned patterns before J.