FALSE CARDING IN DEFENSE

FALSE CARDING IN DEFENSE

Wjahat’s Question : Pl explain mandatory false carding. Wont your partner be misled by this unusual play.

Pl give examples.

Sridhar’s views :

The objective of false carding is of course to mislead the declarer ; but defenders who false card also mislead partner , that is the price one pays for false carding in defense.

In certain situations the false card becomes mandatory – for eg . where partner’s defense will not be affected by your false card OR it is crucial to mislead the declarer that you hope partner will appreciate your position . I was once on lead with 15 HCP vs 3N ; playing 4^th best I led Spade 2 from a 5 card suit – declarer trusted the lead and decided to knock out the 2 aces and safely claim his contract expecting to lose only 2 spades and 2 aces – how ever when I produced the unexpected 5^th spade he was one down – at the other table the declarer knocked out one ace and resorted to a finesse in the 4^th suit and made 9 tricks . Here I knew my partner will not be affected by my false card on lead since I held all the HCP and partner was likely to have little role in defense.

“Playing the card you are known to hold” is a form of mandatory false card; for eg you hold Q10X , declarer on your right , leads a small card and finesses dummy’s Jack –dummy has KJX ; now when dummy’s king is played you must drop the QUEEN creating an impression that you were dealt with QX , so that declarer holding A9XX may opt to finesse his 9 on the 3^rd round; he won’t if you routinely follow with the 10.

Let us discuss another example – Defending a contract of 6H, your partner leads club 2 ; dummy has KJ10XXX in clubs ; you hold AQXXX in clubs sitting over dummy. Declarer calls for the jack …. If you win with QUEEN and try a low club declarer will become aware of the possibility of over-ruff on his left and ruff appropriately ; however if you win ACE and lead back a small one declarer may imagine you have played your partner for a singleton while it is the declarer who has it and discard……!

The final word on false-carding will surely be dictated by the partnership rules and agreements; I only wish to caution that defenders should be wary of recklessly frequent false carding to the extent partnership trust is lost.