The natural falsecards Larry Hammick larry@hammick.com 2002.02.28 Contents ;Introduction ;Optional falsecard from equals ;Dropping the known card ;;Generalities on known cards ;Giving declarer an option ;;Giving declarer a finesse in a solid suit ;;Giving declarer a play for the drop ;;Giving declarer an alternative finesse ;;Giving declarer a pin ;False high card under a tenace ;Introduction This article describes those falsecards which have a natural place in the theory of defence, and are just part of the routine in any good game. Most deceptive plays within a single suit are available only to the defenders. The reason is that a defender can see two "consecutive" hands rather than two opposite hands, and can therefore diagnose the enemy finesses and breaks. In such cases the defence seeks to give declarer an alternative to the winning line within the suit. There are many variations of the obligatory falsecards, so we have tried to group them according to their nature. Still, some groups overlap and some positions are borderline between two groups. ;Optional falsecard from equals In playing from equals in an enemy suit is well known that you should vary your plays. AT9x 8xx QJ Kxxx When declarer cashes the K, if East consistently drops (say) the Q, declarer will have a marked finesse on the other occasions when East was dealt a singleton J. When a defender knows that his two cards are equal at double-dummy, but declarer doesn't, he has what we call effective equals and may give up either one, sometimes with deceptive effect. QT84 2 KJ53 A976 West leads the 2, which East can read for a singleton. East plays the K on dummy's 4. Declarer may miscount his tricks and take a safety play that he can't afford. You can see why players who regard bridge as a game of oneupmanship are so keen on deceptive play. Qxxx KJT xx Axxx These are trumps and declarer starts with the A, on which West drops the K. In playing from effective equals it is mathematically sound to vary your plays unless one of them is a known card, which brings us to the next section. ;Dropping the known card If you can play either of two equal cards, only one of which is marked in your hand, play the marked card. This group and the next (giving declarer an option) make up the "obligatory falsecards". KJx QTx xxx A9xx Declarer finesses the J, and continues with the K. Here West _must_ play one of two equals, and in such cases the marked one, in this case the Q, is obligatory. AJ9xx QTxxx Txx KQ J9x AK xxx xxx At left, declarer finesses the 9, drawing the Q or K. When he leads low from hand again, West must cough up the 10. The position at right is similar. KQT8 Jxx A9x xxx Declarer finesses the 10 and East holds up. On a second lead by South, West plays the known J, dummy the K, and East the A. Declarer does not know that the 9 is unprotected and he may attempt a throwin. Similarly: AQT7 J9x Kxx 8xx Declarer finesses the 10 to East's K. On the next round West plays the J, and declarer must still worry about the 9. When a defender has a collection which are equals by reason of _declarer_ having shown out, he may as well hand over the known card: Q64 K1053 AJ972 8 West leads the 3 and East's J wins. East returns the 7 and declarer ruffs. The natural, neutral card for West to drop now is the 10, with which he is marked. If the suit is led a third time, the defenders may contribute both the A and K, since both are (almost) marked. KJT9x xxx AQxx x East opened the bidding and can be placed with the A, though not necessarily the Q. Declarer finesses the 9 and East wins, therefore, with the A. Declarer may now eschew the ruffing finesse and play West for Qxx. When ruffing is involved, it is not so simple. AQxx xx KJxx T9xx KT9x Jx x AQxxx At left, declarer finesses the Q successfully, then cashes the A. Expecting a crossruff, West drops the K. Now it is not so safe for declarer to ruff the third round low. At right, declarer has bid this suit and can be expected to try to develop it. When he finesses the Q, West may hold up! On the A, the J appears from East. If declarer now ruffs low, East may overruff, and the suit is still not established. The point is that if West is capable of the holdup, East is not obligated to drop the K from KJx on the second round. x Txx KJx AQxxxx This is the trump suit. Declarer finesses the Q and cashes the A, East dropping the K. Declarer may fear to lose a tempo by trying to split the trumps 3-3; if he abandons trumps, the 10 and J will score separately. If East drops the J on declarer's A, West should place declarer with seven trumps to the AKQ. ;;Generalities on known cards When declarer is working on one of _his_ suits, dropping the known card _of equals_ should be a habit; it is not necessary to foresee how it might gain. But in other cases, dropping known cards is not obligatory nor even advisable. This is the case, for example, in discarding: A9x KQJTx xxx xx West has bid this suit and leads the K to dummy's A. If West's first discard from this suit is the Q, it advertises the JT, which may well be harmful to the defence. A card can be regarded as "known" on the strength of the auction. If, on the bidding, declarer will expect you to have most of the missing points, you should incline to give him the Q from QJ, for example. Declarer should not drop a known honour from hand if it cannot be honest. To do so gives away rather than conceals information, as here: Axx QJx West leads the 9, you play low from dummy, and East plays the K. If on the bidding you cannot be singleton, follow low; to drop the Q would announce the J and (usually) less than 4-card length. On the second round it will be normal to play the Q. Declarer in a trump contract sometimes has a winner for which dummy has no useful discard. If the bidding or play has marked him with the high one but not with an accompanying small one, he may "waste" the high one to conceal his distribution. The usual setting is a bluff elimination in which declarer wants the defence to open up a suit where he is 4-4. ;Giving declarer an option This important kind of obligatory falsecard gives declarer an alternative way to develop a suit, when he would otherwise be bound to take a successful line. Some plays in this group are known as trump-suit falsecarding because declarer has most of the suit. ;;Giving declarer a finesse in a solid suit AKQ9xx AKQJ8 xx JTx xxx T9x xx xx East drops a high card on the A. Note that declarer is doubleton and must finesse now or never. ;;Giving declarer a play for the drop This is a sort of converse to the previous kind. AKJ9x AKJ9xx Qxx Txx Qxx Tx xx xx East drops his 10 on the A. AQxx KTx Jx xxxx East drops his J on the A, feigning KJ doubleton. ;;Giving declarer an alternative finesse KQTx QJ9x QJ9x J9xx x AT8x x T8xx A A8xx K7xx K7xx These three are much alike. Declarer starts with a high one from dummy (or low toward dummy), and West plays the 9 or 8, giving declarer a two-way finesse. AQxx AQxx x KT8x Kx T8x J9xx J9xx When declarer leads low to the Q, East must play the 8. Declarer now has the option of a pinning finesse against T8 doubleton. Similarly, East plays the 9 or 10 from T9x, or the 8 when declarer cashes the A in: AKxx AKxx x QT8x Qx T8x J9xx J9xx This class of positions gets wider when declarer cannot budget for a specific number of losers, such as in a pairs game. E.g. J8xx QT9x x AK7x Declarer cashes the A and West drops the 9 or 10. Declarer can be sure of three tricks by leading to the J now, but he may run the J instead. Consider this one again: KQTx J9xx x A8xx North cashes the K and West drops the 9. Restricted Choice says that declarer should, in fact, continue with a low one to the A: he should place East with a singleton rather than assume that East chose one of three negligible cards from Jxxx. So the falsecard is unproductive -- until some other occasion when West is dealt the singleton 9. Other things being equal, it is advantageous for declarer to lead _toward the closed hand_. Thus in the above diagram, if North is declarer and a small one goes through West, it is dangerous for him to go up with the 9, since his partner could have a singleton 10. ;;Giving declarer a pin This variety comes up when declarer is short in one hand. x KJ87x JTx Ax T9xx AQx KQ9xxxx x At left, declarer leads from dummy to his K. If West follows low, declarer will continue with a low card, since it would not benefit him to pop the 10 or J. West should play the 10 or J. At right, declarer finesses the J to East's Q. When he ruffs the second round, West must drop the 9 or 10. KJ QT9x x A8xxxx Declarer leads low and West plays the 9 or 10. Declarer may now go up with the K and lead the J, which would gain if West had T9 doubleton. ;False high card under a tenace When declarer is sure to finesse, second hand should sometimes go up rather than follow with some other significant card. This can gain when declarer, being short in one hand, must take an early view on how to deal with that other card. KTx AJ9 xxx Q8xx Declarer leads low from hand. West should insert the J, to conceal the 9. If the 9 is played dummy's 10 will hold and declarer will not be tempted to finesse the 8 on the way back. The J is very often the right card from AJ9, KJ9, or J9 bare. AQxx AQxxx AKxxx KJ 98xx KT xxx QT xxx Txx J9x J9x Declarer leads low from hand or, at right, cashes the A. West should play his high one and hope to score the 10 or J. This manoeuvre would not work against a 4-4 suit. There is another side to this mechanism. ATxx ATxx KJxx xx KJx xxx Q9x Q98 Declarer might start by finessing his 9, but West wins with the K. These positions have variations in which West has QT. Another motive for second-hand-high against a finesse is to suggest that the suit is not breaking. As a rule, this kind of falsecard is optional, because the high card and the low one are (normally) effective equals. Axxx T9x Qx KJxx These are trumps, and declarer begins with a low one from dummy. It can scarcely cost for East to go in with the Q, and may cause declarer to miscount his losers and abandon trumps. A843 972 Q6 KJT5 These are trumps, and East ruffs something with the Q, or overruffs the 3 with the Q. Declarer might now diagnosis a 4-1 trump break and resort to a crossruff, allowing East to score an overruff with the 6. AQ KT xxx J9xxxx These are trumps and declarer leads low for a finesse. If West puts in the K, declarer may steer for a trump reduction against Txxx with East, and West may then score an overruff with the 10. If the defender knows that declarer cannot afford a trump loser, this falsecard is obligatory. AQJ9xx AQJTxx Kx Txx Kxx xx xx xx Dummy has no side entries. On a low card, West plays the K, which might only stop an overtrick, since declarer can duck if five tricks are enough.