Misdefend this Hand with Me – October 2025
Based on his bestselling trilogy of books, Misplay These Hands with Me, Misdefend These Hands with Me and Misbid These Hands with Me, Mark Horton shows you how to avoid misplaying, misdefending and misbidding hands.
Deflection
Ducking is much more difficult to do when defending, but it can sometimes have a devastating effect. During a long knockout match at one of the ACBL’s Nationals, I pick up this modest hand as South:
Dealer East. All Vul.
♠ 10
♥ 10632
♦ K742
♣ A1097
East opens 1♣ and when West responds 1♠, rebids 2NT to indicate a balanced 17-18. West continues with 4♦ indicating a shortage and when East shows a control in Hearts, asks for keycards before jumping to 6♠, giving us this sequence:
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