The DMZ Hand
8 Ever, 9 Never
Unblocking
You have too many points to open 1 No Trump,
but not enough points to open 2 No Trump. You are in the middle of the
No Trumps; in no man's land; or in the DMZ (the De Militarized Zone). How
is a DMZ hand bid? Like any other hand in Bridge - with care, consideration
for your partner, and with a dash of panache.
After you open 1 of a suit and your partner hopefully responds (with a
minimum of 6 points), you will show your DMZ hand. Not actually showing
your hand to your partner, which might disturb the opponents, but by making
the appropriate bid. Once this is done your side has to be at least in
game. Your partner who knows what you have within a 2 point range is the
captain of the hand. He will decide whether to go to game or slam.
Frequently, you have the A K J of a suit and are missing the Queen. There
is an old Bridge maxim which applies to this situation:
8 EVER, 9 NEVER.
Which translated into English is: if you have 8 cards in that suit,
then ever or always finesse for the Queen; but if you have 9 cards
in the suit, then never or do not finesse for the Queen. In EXAMPLE
1. below, you have 8 cards in the Spade suit, so 8 EVER-
take the finesse for the Q 
.
|
|
DUMMY
A 7 5
DECLARER
|
Play the A
(in case the Q is
singleton), then play the 5
to the J . If East
has the Q and West
follows suit, you will make 5 tricks in Spades.
In EXAMPLE 2. below you have 9 cards in the Heart suit, so 9
NEVER - do not finesse for the
Q 
.
|
|
DUMMY
K J 6 4 3
DECLARER
|
Play the A
and then the K (the
order does not really matter) and hope that the Q
drops. That is, falls under the A
or the K .
Like most Bridge maxims there are exceptions, like cover an honor with
an honor which is an exception to second hand low. But the exception
to cover an honor with an honor is the exception to the exception,
which brings us back to the rule second hand hand low. But let's
forget about all these exceptions to the exception to the exception to
the exception and consider today's hand which will demonstrate an exception
to
8 EVER 9 NEVER.
Bridge is a game of communication: by bidding or by play of the cards;
by Defender or by Declarer. How to keep the lines of communication open
between you and your partner (if you are on Defense); or between your hand
and the table (if you are the Declarer) is often the pivotal aspect of
the hand.
Also an important tactic is to try to sever the opponent's lines of communication.
This involves plays such as the Hold Up, the Bath Coup, and the Merrimac
Coup.
Sometimes what prevents good communication is the players' own high cards.
Everybody loves high cards (as well as Saturday night), but sometimes our
own high cards can get in our way and prevent us from communicating with
our partner or with Dummy.
This
can call for dramatic plays like throwing your honors away. Putting them
in your shirt pocket or tossing them on the floor is not cricket; and giving
them to your opponents will be frowned upon in most Bridge circles. In
EXAMPLE 3. you are in 3 No Trump and West just led the
Q 
.
You win with K
in Dummy. How can you get to play all those good Spades? Note: if
you play a Spade to the A ,
you will never get back to Dummy. The A
prevents you from running the Spades; it blocks the suit. What to do?
|
|
DUMMY
K Q J 10 9 8
4 3 2
A K
5 4
DECLARER
|
Solution: throw away the A !
That is, unblock the suit. But how? Easy! On a high Diamond. After winning
the opening lead with the K ,
play the
A .
On the A you can
afford to be extravagant; throw away that terrible A .
Now take 6 Spade tricks, 2 Diamonds and a Club for 9 tricks, making
3 No Trump. By jettisoning the A
(unblocking by throwing a card away on a winner) you will enable the suit
to run.
In this month's hand we will see an unblocking play that defies the Bridge
maxim
8 EVER, 9 NEVER..
,
hoping that partner can respond. If partner does respond then a game contract
has to be bid. For even if partner has the minimum response with 6 points,
they are in the game zone: 6 + 19 = 25.