- 1 -   

INTERMEDIATE BRIDGE COURSE

PLAY OF THE HAND

 

LESSON 1‑B

 

MAKING A PLAN ‑   We previously discussed, although in general terms, that the objective for declarer play in a Suit Contract centered around focusing upon potential losing tricks and their elimination, and around potential winning tricks in a No Trump contract and their possible supplementation.   Before a declarer initiates his/her declarer play, however, it is essential to organize the play of the hand.  Four basic steps are indicated and necessary to accomplish these goals:

 

    Pause To Consider The Objectives ‑ What is the contract, who are my opponents, what card 

                                                                            was led and what is its significance to me and to my 

                                                                            opponents need I play conservatively or aggressively as

                                                                            a result of the lead. What is the number of acceptable 

                                                                            winners or losers in order to fulfill the contract.

            Look At The Projected Winners Or Losers ‑ Dependent upon either a No Trump or suit 

                                                                                             contract respectively.

                   (A)  In a No Trump Contract, playing techniques include:

                                   (1) Promotion of high cards (Developing a sure trick when holding a suited KQ)

          (2) Suit establishment (Developing tricks through length)

                                     (3) Finessing (Attempting to develop a second trick when holding a tenace

                    (B) In a Suit Contract all of the above apply plus:

                                   (1) Trumping Losers

                                   (2) Discarding losers on extra winners

      Analyze The Alternatives ‑ Need you play conservatively or aggressively based upon such

                                                              variables as; the skill of the opponents, the quality of your game 

                                                              so far that event, what you believe the rest of the field is likely to

                                                              have been faced as to their suspected contract and its probability      

                                                              of success.

   Now Put It All Together ‑ Using the above information along with factors such as being

                                                           aware of entries, avoiding the dangerous opponent, using the     

                                                           hold‑up‑play, inferences and probable placement of missing high 

                                                           cards, trump pieces and suit distribution all deduced from  

                                                           previous bidding or lack of same

 

Exercise 1:   Counting Objective of Winners/Losers

 

     3C (4 Losers)       6NT (12 Winners)        4S (3 Losers)       1NT (7 Winners)       2D (5 Losers)

 

 

Exercise 2:   Counting Sure Winners (Sure Tricks = ones capable of being taken without giving up the 

                    lead to the opponents.

 

  N   -     AKQ (3)     AK (2)     JX (5)         KQX (0)     AXXXX (5)     AKQ (3)     AXXX (2)

  S    -     XXX          QX          AKQ10X    JXX            KQXXX          XX             KXX

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                    - 2 -

       

Conclusion: Winners are counted by looking at the combined holding in each suit.  A winner is a card

                   that will take a trick without giving up the lead to the opponents.  The maximum number of

                   winners one can count is the number of cards in the longer hand.  If one have enough cards    

                   in the suit such that the opponents will have none left after your top cards are played, you    

                   do not need all the honors in order to run the suit.

 

 

Exercise 3: Counting Losers ‑ defined as the number of tricks the opponents are likely to take.

 

N (Dummy)    KQ                KQ             QJ10          XXXXX      AK                    XXX            KJ10

  S (Declarer)   AXX (2/0)     XX (2/1)    XX (2/2)     AK (O)       XXXXX (5/3)    AQJ (1/1)     XXX (3/2)

 

 

 

There are two basic typos of losers; quick losers,  and slow losers.   Quick losers are those that the opponents can take immediately if they have the lead.   Slow losers are those which the opponents can never take immediately because they must first give one the lead back first.

 

Exercise 4: Counting both quick and slow losers:

 

DUMMY         KQJX                   J1098                         XXXX                AX                             KXK                      QX

DECLARER      XX (1 Quick)      XXXX (3 Quick)       AX (1 Slow)       XXXX (3 Slow)        XX (2 Quick         XXX (lQ,lS)

 

 

 

If the cards in the dummy and declarer's hand are unevenly divided, the order in which the cards are played; the first trick(s) should be won by the high card(s) from the short side.

 

Exercise 5: Which high card would you win the first trick with in each following combination:

 

DUMMY             AQJ1OX         AX                  AJX                          QX                       KQX

DECLARER        KX (King)      KQX (Ace)      KQXX (Ace/Jack)     AKJX (Queen)     AJX (Any)

                           INTERMEDIATE BRIDGE COURSE                      - 3 -

PLAY OF THE HAND

 

LESSON 2 - B

 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRICKS ‑ There are numerous ways of developing tricks that would otherwise not be there as quick winners.  These methods include but are not limited to the following:

 

A.    THE PROMOTION OF HIGH CARDS ‑ Giving up of one's high card(s), especially when a sequence of high cards is present, is one of the most certain methods of developing additional tricks.  One must consider the losing of such a promotional trick to the opponents as early as is possible in the play of the cards before controls are expended in other outside suits.

 

Exercise 1:   How many times would you have to give up the lead in order to promote otherwise 

                    unavailable tricks, and how many winners would be produced in the following holdings?

 

                                                                       DUMMY:           KQJ10           J1098           Q1OX             KX             JXX

         DECLARER:        XXXX           XXXX          JXX               QX             lO9X

 

                                           1‑3                3‑1              2‑1                1‑1                0

 

      Notice that in the above examples, the more high cards you have in the suit, the more potential the suit has for the development of tricks ‑ even though the opponents have one or two higher cards.   Patience is required and one must not be afraid of losing the lead to the opponents if, in the end, tricks are promoted.

 

 

Exercise 2:    Assuming an outside entry in another suit in dummy, how many tricks would you expect to  

                     develop through promotion, and which card would you play first in the following suit      

                     combinations?

 

       DUMMY:              KJ109X          QJX           KQlOX           J1OX           Q1098X

                                 DECLARERER:         QX                  KX            JX                   QX               KJ

 

                                      4‑Q                 2‑K            3‑J                 1‑Q              4-K

 

       Notice that by starting with the high card from the short side when promoting winners, you lessen the chance you will become stranded wondering how to return to the promoted winners across the table.

 

B. THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRICKS THROUGH LENGTH ‑ One can statistically conclude (in

all but the most unusual circumstance) that the division of missing cards within any suit amongst the opponents is as follows:

 

      (1) If there are an even number of cards outstanding in a suit (2, 4, 6) ‑ then the cards tend to be unevenly divided.   For example, if there are six cards held by the opposition, they would

 probably be divided 4‑2 rather than 3‑3

 

        (2) If there are an odd number of cards outstanding in a suit (3, 5, 7) ‑ then the cards tend

  to be divided as evenly as possible.  For example, if there are five cards held by the

  opposition, they would likely be divided 3 2 rather than 4‑1.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                          - 4 -

 

Exercise 1:   If the opponents hold the number of cards shown below, how would you likely find the 

                     Cards distributed between the two opponent's hands?

 

                            3               4               5               6               7               8               9

 

             2‑1                                                                                                         3‑1               3‑2           4‑2                                                                                                     4‑3            5‑3        5‑4

 

Exercise 2:   When deciding how many tricks you can expect to develop from a long suit holding, it

                     helps to estimate how the opponents holding is likely to be divided. In the following

                     examples, how many tricks would you get if the suit were to be divided as favorably as

                     possible?

 

DUMMY:                AKXX             AXXX             AXXXX           KXXXXX             AKXXX

DECLARER:            XXXX             KQX                KXX                AX                        XXXX

 

                                      3                     3                      4                        5                            4

 

Exercise 3: Giving of a trick to the opponents which you otherwise could have won is called

 

DUCKING. 

                 The ducking of a trick(s) can be very useful when trying to establish a long suit.   Assuming

                  there are no outside high card entries in the dummy other than the ones in the suit shown,

                  how would you play the following holdings?    How would you expect the opponent's cards

                  to be divided, how many tricks would you expect to take, and how many times should you

                  duck in order not to strand the established winners?

 

          DUMMY:            AKXXX          AXXXX          AKXXXX          AXXXX          AXXX

        DECLARER:             XXX                    KXX                    XX                           XXX                     KXX

 

                                           3-2, 4                    3-2, 4                     3-2, 5                      3-2, 3                  4-2, 2

 

                                       Duck Once         Duck Once          Duck Once          Duck Twice            - 0 -

 

 

 

          When you have a limited number of winners in the dummy, it is oft times necessary to take your losses early in a suit so that you have enough cards left in declarer's hand to enable you to get to the winners you worked so hard to establish.

 

 

          In conclusion, developing long suits, in order to promote winning tricks, works in no trump and in trump contracts.  In a No Trump contract, you are attempting to develop extra winners.   In suit contracts, however, you are trying to eliminate extra losers.   Often all that is required is a normal division of the missing cards and the ability of declarer to play the cards in the proper sequence in order to take advantage of the distribution of the missing cards held by the opponents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                       - 5 -

                                                                 INTERMEDIATE BRIDGE COURSE                                                       

PLAY OF THE HAND

 

LESSON 3‑B

 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRICKS:  (Cont.)

 

C.  THE FINESSE : The attempt to gain power for lower ranking cards by taking advantage of a presumed favorable position of higher ranking cards held by the opponents. The process is based upon the idea of leading toward the card(s) you hope will take a trick.  It will be successful 50% of the time.

 

          Exercise 1: To avoid losing a trick to an honor missing from a tenace holding.

 

           DUMMY:                AQX                AKJ                KJX                            AKJXX   (8 Ever - 9 Never)              

           DECLARER:             XXX                XXX               AX                              XXX

 

          Exercise 2: To gain a trick with lower ranking cards.

 

                DUMMY:                   XX                   QXX                    XXX

              DECLARER:               KX                   AXX                    QXX

 

 

          Exercise 3:  To prepare for a second finesse in the same suit.

 

               DUMMY:              AJ10            AK109             AJ9

             DECLARER:           XXX           XXX               XXXX

 

 

          Exercise 4:  Repeated finesses. If successful will yield more tricks than via a simple promotion.

 

               DUMMY:              KQX             AQJ

             DECLARER:          XXX             XXX

 

 

           Exercise 5:  The development of a long suit via a combined promotion of high cards and the            

                              simple finesse.  Combining these ideas, how many tricks might be developed in each     

                              of the following combinations, assuming the location of the missing high card(s)        

                              and the division of the missing cards are as favorable as possible.

                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                   DUMMY:              QXX              KQXX          KXXXX              AQJXX             XXXX     

               DECLARER:           AXXXX         XXXX           XXX                    XXX                AKJXX

 

                                                    4                    3                     3                          5                      4