Belladonna coup
Encyclopedia
The Belladonna coup is the play of a low card away from an accompanying high card, giving the opponents the impossible choice between setting up a winner for declarer and abandoning an attack on another suit.
The provenance of the following spectacular hand, which illustrates the Belladonna coup, is uncertain. A similar layout, with the same key play, is discussed by Victor Mollo
. Both sources attribute the coup to Giorgio Belladonna
, for many years a cornerstone of the Italian Blue Team
. (Belladonna later said that he could not recall having made the key play.) It is said that Belladonna played it as described in a European Community championship in Belgium during the 1980s. But it is also said that Paul Lukacs
, the game's pre-eminent composer of single-dummy problems, composed it away from the table.
Against South's 4, West leads a small trump to East's 10 and South's J. South has several ways to play for ten tricks, which include finding the A onside (50% probability of success), or finding the diamonds 3-3 (36%). The best prospect is to ruff a heart in dummy, but the attack on trumps jeopardizes that plan. If South mis-times the play, the defense can manage to lead three rounds of trumps and win the K, before declarer can ruff the third heart.
Instead of relying on the position of the heart ace or a favorable diamond split, South played for the nearly sure thing by taking a safety play
in hearts.
South led to dummy's K and played the 6 away from the K! This gave the E-W an impossible choice:
Notice that South gives up the best chance of making a heart trick (leading toward the K). By giving up the chance for one trick in hearts, South virtually guarantees ten tricks (now only a very unlikely defensive minor suit ruff can defeat the contract).
Notice the presence of the avoidance play
theme in this deal.
The provenance of the following spectacular hand, which illustrates the Belladonna coup, is uncertain. A similar layout, with the same key play, is discussed by Victor Mollo
Victor Mollo
Victor Mollo was a British bridge journalist and writer. He is most famous for his "Bridge in the Menagerie" series of books, depicting vivid characters of bridge players with animal names through a series of exciting and entertaining deals, bridge fables of a sort.-Biography:Mollo was born in St....
. Both sources attribute the coup to Giorgio Belladonna
Giorgio Belladonna
Giorgio Belladonna was an Italian bridge player, one of the most famous in bridge history. He won 16 World championship titles with the Blue Team, playing with Walter Avarelli and Benito Garozzo...
, for many years a cornerstone of the Italian Blue Team
Blue team (bridge)
The Blue Team represented Italy in international contract bridge tournaments, winning sixteen world titles from 1957 through 1975. From 1964 to 1969 and during a 1972 comeback, the team comprised three regular pairs: Walter Avarelli–Giorgio Belladonna, Pietro Forquet–Benito Garozzo, and Massimo...
. (Belladonna later said that he could not recall having made the key play.) It is said that Belladonna played it as described in a European Community championship in Belgium during the 1980s. But it is also said that Paul Lukacs
Paul Lukacs
Paul Lukacs was a top bridge problems composer considered by many "the best bridge player ever away from the table", as defined by Victor Mollo...
, the game's pre-eminent composer of single-dummy problems, composed it away from the table.
Against South's 4, West leads a small trump to East's 10 and South's J. South has several ways to play for ten tricks, which include finding the A onside (50% probability of success), or finding the diamonds 3-3 (36%). The best prospect is to ruff a heart in dummy, but the attack on trumps jeopardizes that plan. If South mis-times the play, the defense can manage to lead three rounds of trumps and win the K, before declarer can ruff the third heart.
Instead of relying on the position of the heart ace or a favorable diamond split, South played for the nearly sure thing by taking a safety play
Safety play
Safety play in contract bridge is a generic name for plays in which declarer maximizes the chances for fulfilling the contract by ignoring a chance for a higher score. Declarer uses safety plays to cope with potentially unfavorable layouts of the opponent's cards...
in hearts.
South led to dummy's K and played the 6 away from the K! This gave the E-W an impossible choice:
|
Notice that South gives up the best chance of making a heart trick (leading toward the K). By giving up the chance for one trick in hearts, South virtually guarantees ten tricks (now only a very unlikely defensive minor suit ruff can defeat the contract).
Notice the presence of the avoidance play
Avoidance play
In contract bridge, avoidance play is a play technique whereby declarer prevents a particular defender from winning the trick, so as to eschew a dangerous lead from that hand. The dangerous hand is usually the one who is able to finesse through declarer's honors, to give a ruff to the partner or to...
theme in this deal.
See also
- Morton's fork coupMorton's fork coupMorton's Fork is a coup in contract bridge that forces an opponent to choose between letting declarer establish one or more extra tricks in the suit led, and losing the opportunity to win any trick in that suit. It takes its name from the expression Morton's Fork.-Example:It appears that South has...
- Biography in French by :fr:Jacques Ovion