BETTER DEFENDING
Entries and
Communication
Part II
Disrupting Declarer’s Entries
Andrew Kambites
THE skill of disrupting declarer's entries is diamonds, then you can cut declarer off You hold the ace of hearts, and with
greatly neglected. In the first deal you lead from dummy by taking your ace now. your ace of spades sitting after dummy’s
your six of spades against declarer’s 3NT. Declarer has just two diamonds. king you have legitimate ambitions to cut
East’s nine is taken by declarer’s ten and In scenario (ii), there are two missing declarer off from dummy’s hearts. Declarer
declarer leads the three of diamonds to diamonds, the two and the eight. With a has only one entry to the hearts: the ace of
trick two. You play low and allow dummy’s diamond holding of t8-6-2 East would diamonds. You must attack this at trick
king of diamonds to win. Declarer then not have played the six, so the six is either two. Switch to a diamond. When declarer
returns to his hand with the queen of a singleton or from t6-2 doubleton. You plays hearts, watch your partner’s count
clubs and now plays the four of diamonds. must withhold your ace for a second round, signals carefully to see for how many
How do you defend: hoping that partner has a second diamond rounds to withhold your ace.
(i) If East’s first diamond was the two? and declarer has three.
(ii) If East’s first diamond was the six? HHHHH
HHHHH
In many deals the success or otherwise of
N/S Game. Dealer South. In the second deal your partner leads the the defence lies in keeping declarer out of
´ 82 two of clubs against declarer’s 1NT. Your his hand or dummy.
™ 852 king wins the trick. What should you In the third deal you lead the eight of
t K Q J 10 9 return at trick two? hearts against 6NT. Declarer starts by
® 764 cashing dummy’s six red suit winners. He
´ AJ765 then plays the ace of spades followed by
™ 743 N Game All. Dealer South. the seven of spades. Your partner follows
t A75 W ´ K654 with the ten and jack. Declarer plays the
® 82 ™ K Q J 10 8 four and six. What is the point of this
t A deal?
® 873
West North East South ´ A J 10
2NT N
™ A74 N/S Game.Dealer North.
Pass 3NT All Pass E t J 10 3 2 ´ AQ987
® K94 ™ AKQ
Whatever your agreed signalling methods, t AKQ
partner is expected to show you whether ® A5
he started with an odd or even number of West North East South ´ K532
cards in a suit if declarer is playing that Pass ™ 987 N
suit to set up winners in an otherwise Pass 1™ Pass 1NT t 63 W
entryless dummy. Normal methods are All Pass ® K632
that high-low shows an even number of
cards in the suit, while low-high shows an You have an understandable urge to
odd number. return your partner’s suit and hopefully West North East South
In scenario (i) East’s two shows an odd set up the thirteenth club in his hand. 2® Pass 2t
number: either one or three. If the two is a However, there is other business to attend Pass 2´ Pass 2NT
singleton you cannot prevent dummy’s to first. Declarer has: Pass 3NT Pass 4NT
diamonds running. If East has three ´ Q 7 3 ™ 9 2 t K 9 6 5 4 ® Q J 5 Pass 6NT All Pass
22 English Bridge October 2011 www.ebu.co.uk