CONTRACT BRIDGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22145, 26 June 1935, Page 15

CONTRACT BRIDGE

UNORTHODOX LEADS TRAPS FOR THE DECLARER BT FINESSE Unorthodox, or deceptive, leads made for the purpose of confusing an opponent are rarely used by the ordinary steady player. He prefers to remain on what is, to him, safe ground, and looks askance at a lead that is not according to the book. Yet there are many occasions where a solid game (more often than a slain) contract can onl\ be defeated by such an unconventional lead. I suggest to my readers thai in future they keep a look-out for such opportunities, which can be confirmed or otherwise after the hand has been played out. I do not suggest, of course, that an unorthodox lead should be made as a matter of practice, but there are times when the leader's hand suggests, to him that the defenders' cau M» is hopeless, unless something desperite is done, and then he simply plays the card which will be most likely to lead the declarer astray. Old-time Habits In the old days of whist there was a <om plica ted code of leading conventions, which no one ever dreamed of violating; if anyone had dared to do so, there would probably have been some remarks about poor ethics. But since those days people have been " inventing" things, and to-day the haples.! declarer can never be sure of what to believe. That supposedly tell-tale deuce which is'opened against some contract or other is probably a fourth highest, but, on the other hand, it mii.y be a fifth or sixth highest, or a lead from three to an honour, or thii lowest of a holding, such as 9 5 2, or even a singleton. Not, of course, that such methods of leading can gain in the long run, and it is almost always wise to give correct information to your partner rather than make a stab at fooling the declarer. Among the standard deceptive leads which have long been employed in an effort to avoid losing a trick by leadinn into a tenace, or to gain a doubtful trick, is the lead of the jack of trumps from a doubleton queen-jack. This lead is based upon the notion, preconceived from the bidding, that the declarer holds the ace-king-ten in trumps, and would normally play for a drop, particularly after seeing an honour fall on the first trick. Ihe lead of the jack has as its purpose giving the declarer the impression that the lender, had he held a sequence would have led the highest, and therefore ciinnot have the queen. An astute player will not be fooled by it .but hi isolated cases it is still known to work, simplv because some declarers are not wide'awake enough to check up on themselves, and play by plan, rather than by experience and subconscious impressions. Deceptive Ace Lead More valuable, and much more likely fii work is the opening lead of an are when the suit also holds the king. Here is an instance: — Declarer*a Partner (Dummy)

From the bidding the leader assumes •I,hat the diamond queen is most likely ■bo be held by the North hand. So he lavs down the ace of diamonds rather than the king. Now he leads a small diamond, and declarer, being convinced that the leader does not hold the king, because he led the ace, does not put up the queen. Of course, it is assumed that East holds the jack, and when dummy s ten is finessed East wins the trick with and returns a diamond, bo that We.st can gather in a third trick with the tlf course, it is a very fine play, and may be it will work. On the other hand, may be the declarer has the jack,' and may be it is even a doubleton jack, so a trick flies out of the window. And may be declares has a small doubloton and plays dummy's queen because he doesn't need a discard, and that is his only hope of avoiding the loss of a trick in that suit. The lead is not a bad one, however; it is recommended if the leader follows it up with sound reasoning, and doesn't forget to credit his opponent with a share of intelligence. And there are other cases, many of them, where the ace should definitely be led from aceking with no danger of resultant loss. These are eases where it is improbable that the'leader's partner will hold a doubleton with which he would signal if he knew the lead came from aceking, but from which he would probably play low on the lead of an ace, and when the bidding indicates either that dummy holds the queen, possibly the queen-jack, and declarer has a singleton, or that declarer holds both queen and jack, and dummy has a singleton. If the last condition exists, and if the king is led, declarer, knowing who holds the ace, can lead the queen through the ace and ruff it out, establishing a trick, but this play will often be prevented by the lead of the ace. Local Tournaments The first inter-club duplicate teams-of-four match was played recently between the Northern Contract Bridge Club and the Auckland Bridge Club at the first-named club's rooms. Each club put in four teams, as follows: Northern Contract Bridge Club: No. 1 team, C- Bruce-Smith, C. L. Eastgate, J. Yock and A. N. Lamb; No. 2 team, Dr. Bruce Mackenzie, Dr. J. H. Wood, N. E. Watson and C. N. Tucker; No. J team, C. 0. West, 11. E. Stratton, S. Mann and W. Grattan; No. 4 team, M iss N. MacCormick, Mrs. It. K. Wvlie, A. H. Churton and H. K. Brainsby. The Auckland Bridge Club: No. 1 team, J. It. McNamara, «). D. Warren, V. P. Scaletti and N. (). Morgan; No. 2 team, J. White, L. McKillop, C. V. Cavendish and W. Hosking; No. 3 team, J. A. Cahill, Carstens, Howell and Salvin; No. 4 team, Mrs. McNamara, Miss McKeage, Mrs. P. Sheldon and Captain Barnes. The results were as follows: — At No.'s 1 snd 2 the Northern Contract Bridge Club won by 2880 and 3790 points respectively; at No.'s 3 and 4 the Auckland Bridge Club were the victors by 1330 and 980. The Northern Contract Bridge Club won the match by 4360 points, with a total of 6670 against 2310. A return match will be played later on in the season.

■ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS "Interested" writes wanting to know why the hand in the Culbeirtson-Sims match, published in this column on June 12, should be considered as rather tragic for the Culbertson team. The reply is that the bidding was allowed to drop short of game when a small slam was actually made by Culbertson. Mrs. Culbertson passed a bid of four diamonds by her partner, after his immediate overcall in the opponents' suit (clubs), which demanded that the bidding proceed until some game contract was reached. A forcing to game bid is supposed to be unconditional.