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Ducking (continued)

We were in the middle of looking at various examples of 'ducking'.

Sometimes we must hold-up even though the exact distribution of the unseen cards is uncertain.

  Dummy  
  A 4 2
West # East
K Q J 3 10 9 8 6
  Declarer  
  7 5  

When West leads the king against a no-trump contract, we are unsure if this is from a four or five-card suit. Consequently we must hold our ace to the third round even though from the actual lie of the cards, this hold-up is ineffective since both East and West can attack the suit and you have three inevitable losers.

Note that if this were a trump contract, this reason for the hold-up does not apply since we can ruff the third and subsequent rounds of this suit.

Change the cards only slightly.

  Dummy  
A 4 2
West # East
K Q 7 3 J 10 9 5
  Declarer  
8 6

Here West leads the three against a no-trump contract. If declarer is sure that West is leading 'fourth highest', then the suit is breaking 4:4 so that a hold-up play is not necessary.

Sometimes the advantage of the hold-up is not quite so obvious.

  Dummy  
8 2
West # East
Q 10 7 5 4 K 6 3
  Declarer  
A J 9

The five is led against a 3NT contract. The play of the ace on East's king seems a safe move due to the jack in declarer's hand. However, if East subsequently gains the lead, the Q 10 of this suit sitting over the J 9 is fatal. Hold up the ace to trick three, and declarer is safe from attack by East.

Sometimes a hold-up is essential, not to withstand attack by defenders, but to create an entry to dummy's long suit.

Dummy # Declarer
A K 4 3 2 6 5

If dummy has no other entries here, the only way we can make more than two tricks in this suit is by ducking the first round and praying for a 3:3 break. Try it !

Some ducking plays have gone down in history. This one stems from whist and is called the 'Bath Coup', since it was first practised by the Marquis of Bath in the 19th century.

  Declarer  
A J 3
West # East
10 9 2 K Q 8 7
  Dummy  
6 5 4

East leads the king and declarer smoothly plays the three. If East continues the suit, not knowing where the ace is, or thinking that partner has it, declarer will take a second trick with the jack. An experienced defender in the West position will tell his partner that he hasn't got the ace or jack by playing the two. If he had one of these high cards, he would signal by following suit with a high card. See the page on 'attitude' in the context of ' communications'.

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The origins of bridge (2)
 
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In 1904, the auction principle was introduced, whereby all four players could bid for the contract, and auction bridge grew steadily in popularity until the late 1920's. Bonuses for games were given, even though the contract may not have been bid. This method of scoring must have  resulted in large sums being won or lost, and it is likely that only affluent people would be playing the game.
 
During this period, the French were playing 'plafond' where the side had to bid to its 'plafond' or ceiling, and only tricks bid and made counted towards game. It is likely that similar games were played in the USA at this time.
 
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