Avoidance plays Larry Hammick larryhammick@telus.net 2006.01.01 (slightly revised from 2002.01.31) Contents ;Introduction ;Needing tricks from two suits ;Needing a trick or a ruff from one suit ;Needing a fast discard ;Morton's Fork ;Speeding up an elimination ;Counteracting an enemy ruff or trump promotion ;Second-round avoidance play ;Introduction The term "avoidance play" has been used vaguely for various plays designed to develop tricks without letting a specific opponent into the lead. We use the term only for a certain distinctive type. The reader knows that by leading through an adverse high card, he can gain a trick or a tempo. AQ AQx xxx Jxx At left, if the finesse is on, it scores a trick with an unsupported high card that is not master. At right, declarer always has two tricks, but if the finesse succeeds, it develops the second trick without losing the lead (i.e. it saves a tempo). Even if it is off, it develops it without losing the lead to West. Rather similarly, an "avoidance play" is a lead through an adverse _control_ which gains a trick in the suit if the opponent goes in with his control, and gains a _tempo_ if he doesn't. QJxx Kx If East is likely to hold the ace, or if declarer would rather lose the lead to West than East, he starts with a small one toward his king. If East goes up, declarer has an extra trick. If not, declarer has scored one trick without losing the lead, or has established two without losing the lead to East. An avoidance play can be useful in a wide variety of situations. The rest of this article will illustrate a few of them. ;Needing tricks from two suits AKx QJxx AKx Txx Qxxx Kx JT9xx AJ Against 3NT West leads SJ. If declarer loses a diamond trick, he will need one from hearts. That means he might lose the lead twice, and meanwhile East might lead a club through the AJ. The solution is to win the first trick in dummy and lead a low heart through East. Nine tricks are now certain. If East goes up with the ace, there are 9 on top. If the K holds, declarer switches to diamonds, since he has time to lose a diamond and still make 3+1+4+1 tricks. And if the K loses to the A, West cannot clear the clubs in one lead (as could East). The defence may equally well need tricks from two suits. xx Jxx AQJx KJ9x JT9x Q8xx Kxxx Qxx xxx Txx Ax Qxx AKx ATx Kxx T8xx Against 3NT West leads SJ, East signals, and South wins. Declarer runs C8 to East's Q. Depending on the bidding, East may be able to tell that there are only two spade tricks coming. Those plus two clubs are not enough, so East shifts to a heart. Declarer must hold up the ace, else the defence gets 3H+2C. West wins with HK and shifts back to spades. Declarer can now develop ten tricks, but the defence gets five first. East's lead of a low heart is an avoidance play, although such a play by the defence doesn't usually get that name. Kxx Qxxx With a suit like this declarer may try to lead through the ace on either side. Which way to go may be determined by which opponent is dangerous. In particular, when he needs tricks from two suits at notrump, declarer may make an avoidance play in such a direction that it loses, it knocks out an entry to the enemy's length. Kxx AQJT Jxx Axx Qxxx xxxx AT KQx Against 3NT West leads a low diamond, which runs to declarer's ten. If the heart finesse is off declarer will need a spade trick. He should cross to CA and lead a spade toward his hand; this is better than leading a spade through West, since if the Q loses to the ace West may be out of entries for his diamonds. ;Needing a trick or a ruff from one suit When declarer fears a trump lead from one side but not the other, an avoidance play in the short suit may solve his problem. AQx Jx AKxx Axxx JTxxx Qxx xxx KQ Against 4S West leads DQ. Declarer wins in dummy, crosses to a club, and leads a heart toward the J. West might go up and lead a trump, but then declarer will not need a heart ruff. J9 K5 T643 AQJT7 AQT86532 J73 A 5 In the 1965 European Championships, Italy's Giorgio Belladonna opened 4S and all passed. DK was led. If there was a trump loser, declarer would need a second club trick, a heart trick, or a heart ruff. Belladonna crossed to CA and led a low heart toward his jack. If East went up, declarer would have a heart trick. If West won with the Q and could safely lead a trump (from Kxx), then whoever won the next heart would be unable to remove dummy's ruffer. ;Needing a fast discard An avoidance play may speed up a discard from a suit which only one defender can attack. In this example East is the danger hand. KQTx AJxx xxx xx Axxxx Qx AJx Axx Against 4S, a diamond is led to East's Q and South's A. When all follow to the K of trumps, the contract is certain. Declarer gets the kids off the street with SAQ, then leads a low heart toward his queen. If East goes in with the K, declarer has ten tricks after the defence takes at most three. If the Q holds, he will lose at most two diamonds and a club. And if the Q loses to the K, West can do no damage in diamonds, and declarer will be able to sluff a diamond on dummy's hearts. ;Morton's Fork The "Morton's Fork Coup" is an advoidance play with this distinctive characteristic: if the defender ducks his control, declarer will later discard from that same suit. Morton's fork appears only in trump contracts, and is usually described in terms of a threat to pitch losers, but those pitches do not gain ruffing tricks. In the commoner form of the coup, declarer threatens to dispose of the remainder of the key suit, thus nullifying the adverse control. Qxxxx QJxx Axx Axx Qx Kxx AKx Axx AKJxx AKxxxxx Kxxxx Kxxx Kxx Qx - - South opens 1S, West bids 2C, and the eventual contract is 6S. South ruffs the club lead, retaining dummy's club winner(s) for either of two possible uses, and pulls trumps with AK. He then leads a diamond through West's presumed ace. If West wins, declarer has 12 tricks. If West ducks, declarer's diamonds disappear and declarer then has time to concede a heart (or, at left, just to ruff a diamond for his twelfth trick). Morton's fork may be playable against either defender: In the above hands, if East were likely to hold DA, declarer could win the second trump in dummy and lead a diamond through East, with the same result. QJxx Axx Axxx Ax AKxxxx Kxxx QJx -- East opened 1C but South is in 6S, and a club is led. Declarer ruffs, pulls trumps ending in dummy, and leads a diamond. If East goes in with the king, declarer has twelve tricks. If declarer's Q holds, he has time to concede a heart and ruff a heart. In that deal, if declarer had DAJxx in dummy and Qxx in hand, he could afford to win the first trick with CA and discard a diamond. As it was, he could not afford to commit himself to a discard at trick one. This brings up the following phenomenon. QJxxx QJxx Axx Axx Qx Axxx KQJ KQ xx x xx x xx QJT JTxx Qx T9xx AJxx xx KT98 9xxxx AJxxx 9xxxx AJTxxx AKxxx AKxxxx Kxxxx Kxxx Kxx QJx - - I don't say it's easy at the table, but if a club is led against 6S, East must hold up the ace. (Oddly, there is no defence on any other lead.) When declarer cannot reliably place the missing control in the key suit, the Morton mechanism (and avoidance plays generally) may provide the best chance, or provide an extra chance, as here: QJxx Ax AKx KJxx AKxxxx QJxx x Qx A diamond is lead against 6S. Declarer wins in dummy, pulls trumps with the K and Q, and calls for a small club. If East has CA and plays it, declarer has 12 tricks. If he ducks, declarer's Q wins, and now comes HA and DK, pitching a club. Declarer can now concede a heart. If West has CA declarer will need the heart finesse. There is a second form of Morton's fork, in which declarer cannot discard the whole suit if the defender ducks, but the play speeds up an elimination. KJxx A xxxxx Kxx AQTxxx Kxx AQ Qx West leads a heart against 6S. Both follow on a trump to the Q, and declarer leads a club. The contract is now almost certain if West has CA, as well as if East has DK. If CK wins, declarer pulls the last trump with his A, cashes HK throwing a club, ruffs the last heart, and exits to West with CQ. If his trumps were fewer, or if they did not break, declarer could use Morton's fork for a _partial_ elimination before resorting to the diamond finesse. ;Speeding up an elimination We just saw how an avoidance play may accelerate declarer's process of going void in both hands. Similarly, it may speed up the development of a _ruffing tenace_ which will be used in an endplay. Suppose this is a side suit: KT9x Qx The bidding marks West with the A, but not necessarily the J. Declarer leads low from South, West must duck, and the K wins. Now declarer concedes the Q to West's A and has a ruffing finesse against the J, while if West has the J he is unable to exit with it. Here is an illustration of such an avoidance play, from a European Championship. AKJ S W N E Q63 3S Dbl 4S P KJ84 P Dbl End K32 8 72 AKJ975 842 A62 Q753 A54 JT86 QT96543 T T9 Q97 West cashed a heart and shifted to a trump. De Falco, for Italy, won with the ace and crossed to the trump Q. He now led a diamond to the K and a low diamond back to his T. West won and found himself endplayed in three suits. Note that the endplay still works if West has the DQ. Nor would it help (as the cards lie) for East to go up with the Q. The ruffing tenace may be under, instead of over, the thrown-in defender. Kx QT9x The bidding marks West with the ace, and declarer aims for an elimination with West to lead. He starts with a low one from South, West must duck, and the K wins. When the elimination is ready, declarer exits to West by finessing the T. West may win with the J, but then can't use the A. Nor can West lead the suit if East has the J. One more thing about ruffing tenaces: KTxx Qx West is marked with the A. For a better chance than a direct finesse against the J, declarer plays for an elimination, eventually leading low to the K and back to the Q. If West had the J after all, he cannot now use it. If East has the J the play has cost nothing, while it saves the day if the J is offside doubleton or if West's ace is doubleton. ;Counteracting an enemy ruff or trump promotion To score a ruff or an overruff, the defence normally needs an entry to the hand opposite the ruffer. If he can lead through this entry, declarer may compel the defence to take their ruff at the cost of a trick, or to lose a tempo, allowing declarer to pull trumps. K9xx Kxx xxx Jxx AQTx Qxx Txx AKT West leads DK against 2S. East overtakes with the A and returns the suit, West taking the J and Q while East throws a club. A low club now comes up to declarer and he takes East's Q with the K. South cashes SA and SK, East dropping the J on the first round and throwing another club on the second. Had trumps broken, declarer could pull the last one and esablish a heart. But now he needs a heart trick before giving up control of diamonds. The only appreciable hazard is a club ruff. So he leads a low heart toward his Q. If West has HA, there will be no ruff. If East has it and ducks, declarer can pull the remaining trumps and cash out. And if East plays the ace, declarer has a second heart trick to compensate for a possible ruff. ;Second-round avoidance play This unusual phenomenon is illustrated by the following remarkable hand from rubber bridge, reported by Reese & Bird. 742 Neither vulnerable QJT8 S W N E KJ65 1C P 1H 1S QT 1NT P 3NT End 82 AQT95 A962 K74 AT98 42 754 863 KJ6 53 Q73 AKJ92 S8 was led to the Q and K. Declarer led a diamond, West following deceptively with the 9, and dummy's J won. A diamond was returned to the Q and ace. West now led not a spade, but DT to the K. When declarer led a spade toward his J, East went up with the ace and the defence took two hearts and a diamond for one down. South should lead the _queen_ of diamonds at trick 2: He is always safe if the defence takes DA on the first round; therefore he should arrange for the _second_ diamond lead to go through the ace. (DQ at trick two would be wrong if East held AT9x or similar and ducked once, but West was more likely than East to hold the length in diamonds, and Ax of diamonds with East would probably not embarrass declarer.)