Sacrificial Defence
By Mark Horton In 46th World Bridge Teams Championships On 1st September 2023
I liked this deal from the exciting first session of the Bermuda Bowl final partly because it contained an unusual defensive possibility but also because it involved a deal that might be useful for the second edition of The Mysterious Multi.
There is nothing wrong with having a five-card suit for a Multi, but perhaps South’s response is overdoing things as the hand looks defensive in nature.
East led the 
K and switched to the 
7, declarer winning in hand and playing the J. East won and played the 6 to dummy’s ace. Declarer ruffed a diamond, cashed the KQ and exited with a heart, but he was out of ammunition, the defenders taking the rest for four down, -800.
East led the 6 and declarer won with the eight and played the J, East taking the queen and continuing with the 7 to dummy’s ace. East won the next diamond with the king and switched to the 
J, three rounds of the suit seeing East ruff after which two rounds of hearts allowed West to play another club, promoting East’s J for three down, -500 but a 7 IMP loss.
Suppose East were to start with the J (unlikely, but it results in something nice!). After three rounds of the suit East, having ruffed, exits with a spade. Declarer wins in hand and plays a diamond and East wins and plays a second spade to dummy’s ace, apparently surrendering a trump trick. However, West takes the diamond continuation with the ace and plays a winning club reactivating East’s J. Declarer will take only four tricks which would mean a flat board – unless EW found the same defence in the other room which would net -1100.
