Bridge | 20 July 2024

When is a duck not a duck? Answer: when it’s a hold-up. I do love bridge terminology. Though the two manoeuvres are mechanically identical (you deliberately refrain from winning a trick by playing low), strictly speaking a duck is in your own suit, while a hold-up is in a suit played by your opponents. Either way, a duck/hold-up is one of the most formidable weapons in bridge. It can be used to sever communication between opponents, cut declarer off from dummy, establish a long suit and much more.

The trouble is, because it’s so often the right thing to do, players sometimes duck without proper thought. And that can be very dangerous – especially when your opponent is as sharp and imaginative as England’s Fiona Brown.

This hand comes from the recent European women’s teams championship in Denmark. England was playing against Norway, the eventual winners.

*relay to spades. Fiona (East) led the ♦️Q. Her partner, Helen Erichsen, encouraged with the ♦2 (reverse attitude), and the Norwegian declarer played low. Mistake. She should take the trick, knock out the ♣️A, ensuring a discard for one heart, and hope the ♥A is with East. But she held up – and was duly punished. Where some defenders might have woodenly continued diamonds, Fiona made a brilliant switch to the ♥Q! Declarer won with dummy’s ♥K, drew trumps, and played the ♣️J from dummy. Helen hopped up with the ♣️A and returned the ♥10. Declarer ducked, but it was no good: Helen had a third heart to play, and the contract went one down.