Reversing the Rabbi’s Rule

Is anyone out there who does not know about the Rabbi’s Rule? Here is an unusual example from the Silodor Pairs where it was a defender who took advantage of the situation:

Dealer:  North Vul: None		North
		♠	9 5 4
		♥	A Q 7 6 3
		♦	J 10 5 2
		♣	K
West				East
♠	A K Q 8			♠	7 2
♥	K J			♥	10 9 8 4 2
♦	7			♦	L Q 9 4
♣	A 9 8 6 5 3			♣	10 2
		South
		♠	J 10 6 3
		♥	5
		♦	A 6 4 3
		♣	Q J 7 4

The Rabbi led the five of hearts and declarer put up dummy’s king which lost to the ace. To the human eye it looks obvious to switch to a diamond (although my finessing friend tells me that a spade is the best defence). I have a sneaking suspicion that a low diamond is the best shot but just in case I tried the jack of diamonds, covered by the king and ace.

The Rabbi returned the three of diamonds and with some foreboding I contributed the ten which declarer won with the queen. He continued with a heart to the jack and I won with the queen.

Rather than play a diamond I decided to reverse the Rabbi’s Rule and tried the effect of playing the king of clubs.

When declarer ducked I exited with a spade. Seeing no danger declarer now played a low club and the Rabbi was able to win with the jack and exit with a spade, locking declarer in dummy and ensuring one more trick for the defence.

Not a spectacular number of matchpoints for N/S, but the sort of average plus board you need to keep your score ticking along.