Defence

DEFENCE! Defence is VERY difficult. Too many things to keep track of and you have NO IDEA what Partner has! But we all have to defend at times. So it is best to get used to it. (Or bid more.)

Here is your hand:
♠983
♥KQT8
♦A854
♣85

The contract is 3NT. Your LHO (Left Hand Opponent) opened the bidding 2NT and your RHO (Right Hand Opponent) bid 3NT. Partner leads the 2♦.

Dummy comes down with:

	Dummy ♠7654 ♥32 ♦T63 ♣AK42
Partner 2♦		You! ♠983 ♥KQT8 ♦A854 ♣85
	Declarer ???

Declarer plays small from Dummy. What card do YOU play?

You SHOULD play third hand HIGH. Play your A♦.

Now what card do you play next?

Show Answer

Return Partner's suit!

Is it really that big a deal if you don't? Your ♦ aren't that great...

True. But PARTNER's are!

Partner will take the next three tricks.

The Opponents will make 3NT but they can also make 4♠. (Did you notice that Dummy should have tried Stayman?)

Holding the Opponents to 3NT gets you 7.5 out of a possible 9 matchpoints.

Switching to any other suit (even your lovely ♥ suit) allows the Opponents to make an overtrick. You will now get 1.5 out of a possible 9.

Lead Problem

Here is your suit:
♥AT52


The contract is 3NT. You were on opening lead and led another suit. You are in AGAIN. So far your side has taken just one trick. The ♥ suit has NOT been played yet so you decide to switch to a ♥. What card do you lead?

	Dummy ♥Q86
You! ♥AT52		Partner ♥?
	Declarer ♥?

Show Answer

You SHOULD play low from an honour. The 2♥.

Is it really that big a deal if you don't?

If you lead the A♥ (which most players did) and continue the suit you get three tricks.

Not bad.

If you play the 2♥ and Partner continues the suit you take FOUR tricks. Even better!

The ♥ holding was this:

	Dummy ♥Q86
You! ♥AT52		Partner ♥KJ3
	Declarer ♥974

See what happens when you lead the 2♥?

Declarer either plays LOW from Dummy OR tries to win the Q♥.

Your Partner will either win the J♥ (if Declarer played low from Dummy) or win their K♥ (if Declarer tried the Q♥). Once Partner wins the trick they will be on lead. They will continue with the ♥ (they probably will think YOU have the A♥ since Declarer didn't win the trick) by playing their HIGHEST ♥. (When leading from two cards always lead the highest card.) So now Partner will win their remaining honour. Then they will continue with a ♥ which you will win with the A♥ and you will be in YOUR hand to play the last ♥. This will be the winning trick because all the ♥ are gone.

If you start with the A♥ you can continue with the ♥ suit. Partner will win their K♥ and J♥. In the end YOUR last ♥ will be a winner BUT Partner will win the third ♥ and does not have a ♥ to return to you.

If you don't see this then take a pack of cards out and deal out the ♥ suit. Play it out to see what happens.

Defending 3NT

DEFENCE! Defence is VERY difficult. Too many things to keep track of and you have NO IDEA what Partner has! But we all have to defend at times. So it is best to get used to it. (Or bid more.)

Here is your hand:
♠73
♥A8
♦A964
♣Q7652

The contract is 3NT. You vaguely remember some sort of Stayman auction after LHO opened the bidding 2NT but Partner is on lead so you didn't pay much attention.

Partner leads the T♣.

Dummy comes down with:

	Dummy ♠QT98 ♥K65 ♦T64 ♣432
Partner T♣		You! ♠73 ♥A8 ♦A964 ♣Q7652
	Declarer ???

Declarer plays small from Dummy. What card do YOU play?

Show Answer

You SHOULD play third hand HIGH. Play your Q♣.

Is it really that big a deal if you don't? Partner is probably leading top of nothing.

True. Partner could be leading top of nothing in which case it doesn't matter if you play low and it doesn't matter if you play the Q♣.

But what card does Partner lead from:
♣AT9

or

♣KT9

That's right. The T♣.

If Partner lead from either of those holdings then you NEED to play your Q♣ or Declarer gets TWO ♣ tricks. Declarer only deserves one ♣ trick.

The ♣ holding was this:

	Dummy ♣432
Partner ♣KT9		You! ♣Q7652
	Declarer ♣AJ4

If you played low Declarer was allowed to win the trick with the J♣ and they still had the A♣ to win a trick with later on.

If you played your Q♣ then Declarer will not be allowed to score a trick with the J♣. Either now or later on.

Defence

DEFENCE! Defence is VERY difficult. Too many things to keep track of and you have NO IDEA what Partner has! But we all have to defend at times. So it is best to get used to it. (Or bid more.)

Here is your hand:
♠JT73
♥QT73
♦Q5
♣J74

The contract is 1NT. Your RHO opened the bidding 1NT and was allowed to play there. It is your lead. So what will you lead?

This hand lead a ♠. Technically if you are to lead a ♠ from this holding against NT, you should lead the 3♠. This hand lead the J♠. Not so bad as it turns out.

Dummy comes down with:

	Dummy ♠K5 ♥642 ♦J982 ♣A653
Us! ♠JT73 ♥QT73 ♦Q5 ♣J74		RHO ???
	Declarer ???

Declarer plays small from Dummy. Partner plays a card and Declarer plays a card. You WON the trick!

At this point you might be thinking that you should maybe have paid attention to what the other people played. You didn't. But they probably all followed suit and you don't give signals to each other anyhow (too complicated!) so it wouldn't matter if you did pay attention. It is now your play. What do you do?

Show Answer

You SHOULD decide that it is a GOOD thing you won that trick and continue with a low ♠. Partner ducked their A♠ which was a good thing or Declarer would get two tricks from the suit rather than just one trick.

If you are allowed to win the Jack on the opening lead, chances are Partner has some higher cards in that suit. If Declarer had the Ace, King and Queen in that suit they might have won your Jack.

Defending 3NT

DEFENCE! Defence is VERY difficult. Too many things to keep track of and you have NO IDEA what Partner has! But we all have to defend at times. So it is best to get used to it. (Or bid more.)

Here is your hand:
♠KQT4
♥Q762
♦A3
♣854

The contract is 3NT. It is your lead. The auction went:

Dealer	YOU!	Responder	Partner
1♥	Pass	2♣	Pass
2♥	Pass	3♦	Pass
3NT	Pass	Pass	Pass

So what will you lead?

This auction SCREAMS for a ♠ lead (♠ is the only suit the opponents have not bid) and you have a nice ♠ holding to lead from.

From a holding of KQT4 you lead the King. Top of a sequence. In a sequence the third card down is allowed to skip by one pip.

So from KQJx you lead the King. A perfect three card sequence.

From KQTx you also lead the King. Here you SHOULD have the Jack but the Ten is different from the Jack by only one pip. (One spot, one card, one rank. However you want to say it.)

But from KQ9x you lead the x. Here the NINE is different from the Jack by TWO pips or two spots or two cards. So you are no longer allowed to lead the King in NT. (Trump is another story!)

So you lead the K♠.

Dummy comes down with:

	Dummy ♠73 ♥T ♦KQ986 ♣AKQ73
RHO ♠KQT4 ♥Q762 ♦A3 ♣854		RHO ???
	Declarer ???

Declarer plays small from Dummy. Partner plays a card and Declarer plays a card. You WON the trick!

At this point you might be thinking that you should maybe have paid attention to what the other people played. But you didn't. But they probably all followed suit. So it is now your play. What do you do?

You decide that it is a GOOD thing you won that trick so you continue with the Q♠. Now Declarer wins the A♠ and plays a low ♦ towards the Dummy.

You decide to play low. Declarer wins the K♦ and then plays the Q♦. You are now FORCED to win the A♦. What do you play now.

I would tell you what Partner played on the ♦ and on the ♠ but it wouldn't matter anyhow. You are not playing any signals whatsoever. So whatever cards Partner played do not help you right now.

So what do you play now???

You are down to this:

	Dummy ♠ ♥T ♦986 ♣AKQ73
RHO ♠T4 ♥Q762 ♦ ♣854		RHO ???
	Declarer ???

Show Answer

Now you need to play the T♠

If you played a ♠ that is good. You originally started with the ♠ suit and there is NO REASON to switch now. It is still your best suit.

At this point you have the ♠T4 left. With TWO cards in the suit play your HIGHEST card first. The T♠ is your highest card in the suit you are playing.

At the table this hand played the 4♠.

What's the difference?

The ♠ suit got blocked. Here is JUST the ♠ holding from the start:

	Dummy ♠73
LHO ♠KQT4		RHO ♠J9652
	Declarer ♠A8

When you started ♠ and continued ♠ the situation was now this:

	Dummy ♠-
LHO ♠T4		RHO ♠J96
	Declarer ♠

You were in with the A♦. At this point all you had to do was cash your three remaining ♠ winners.

If you played the T♠ Partner will not mess this up. They can always OVERTAKE your T♠ with their J♠ and run the rest of the ♠ OR they can play a low ♠ and let you win the T♠. Then you can continue with a low ♠ and Partner's ♠ are good. But when you play the 4♠ what is Partner to think? They can try playing the 9♠ BUT they look silly if Declarer has the T♠. All they had to do was win the J♠ and run the rest of the winners. If you played the 4♠, then Partner (rightly so) won the J♠ and returned a ♠. But the suit was now blocked. Partner had ♠ winners but no entry to get in with to play them.

Defence Problem

Another quiz on defence. The contract is 3NT. Declarer opened the bidding 1♦, Dummy bid 1♠, Declarer bid 1NT and Dummy bid 3NT. Neither you nor your Partner bids. Partner leads the 2♥.

Auction:

Declarer	Dummy
1♦	1♠
1NT	3NT

Contract:3NT Lead:2♥.

	Dummy ♠KQJ4 ♥75 ♦AJ8 ♣KT52
Partner's Lead		Your holding
2♥		♠8753 ♥AT6 ♦762 ♣763

Question A: What card will you play when Declarer plays low from Dummy?

Question B: If you win the A♥, what card will you return? Be specific.

Show Answer

You MUST play the A♥ at trick one. If you do not, Declarer will make their contract.

You also must return Partner's suit. But in order to defeat the contract you must return the T♥. If you return the 6♥ Declarer can make the contract.

Here are the four hands.

	Dummy ♠KQJ4 ♥75 ♦AJ8 ♣KT52
Partner ♠962 ♥KJ92 ♦T43 ♣A94		You! ♠8753 ♥AT6 ♦762 ♣763
	Declarer ♠AT ♥Q843 ♦KQ95 ♣QJ8

Let's look at this from Declarer's point of view. How many winners does Declarer have?
♠ 4 winners
♥ 0 winners
♦ 4 winners
♣ 0 winners

Declarer has 8 winners. They need 9 tricks. They can easily get another trick by letting the Opponents in with the A♣. This will set up 3 more winners for Declarer. BUT the problem is the OPPONENTS (that is YOU and your Partner) can take the first FIVE tricks.

Well they CAN if the ♥ suit is played correctly.

Try this out at home to see what will happen.

If you win the A♥ and return the T♥ what can Declarer do?

If Declarer plays LOW, Partner can play low and you will win your T♥. Then you can just return your 6♥ and Partner will get two tricks no matter what card Declarer plays from their hand.

If, on the other hand, Declarer plays the Q♥ then Partner can win the K♥ and their J♥ and 9♥ are both winners. That is four ♥ tricks plus the A♣.

Now imagine you win the A♥ and return the 6♥. Declarer can just play a low card from their hand. Partner can win the trick with their 9♥ but now you are no longer able to take the first four ♥ tricks. If Partner now returns a ♥ Declarer will win a ♥ trick. Doesn't even matter what ♥ Partner plays. Declarer will win a ♥ trick either then or later on.

So Partner can no longer play ♥. They must play something else.

But then Declarer can win and play a ♣. This sets up enough winners for Declarer to make their contract.

And again Partner is stuck. If they win the A♣ and play a ♥ Declarer will get a ♥ trick. If they don't then Declarer has the rest of the tricks. Either way, Declarer makes their contract.

This illustrates several KEY points to any good Defence.

1) Third hand HIGH

2) Return Partner's suit

3) With two cards in a suit, lead the HIGHEST card

More Unblocking on Defence

This post talks more about unblocking on Defence. Please read this post first:
High Card from the Short Side - Defence

Another quiz on defence. The contract is 3NT. Declarer opened the bidding 1NT and Dummy bid 3NT. Neither you nor your Partner bids. Partner leads the Q♠. Dummy tracks with ♠A76. You hold the K♠ and the 2♠.

	Dummy
	Dummy ♠A76 ♥K82 ♦K96 ♣KJ82
Partner's Lead		Your holding
Q♠		♠K2 ♥T94 ♦T852 ♣9754

QuestionA: What card will you play if Declarer plays low from Dummy?

QuestionB: What card will you play if Declarer plays the Ace from Dummy?

Show Answer

No matter what card Declarer plays from Dummy, you MUST play the King. If you do not, then the suit is BLOCKED.

Try playing out the hand at home. Deal out all the cards and see what happens when you play low verses unblocking the K♠.

Here are the four hands.

	Dummy ♠A76 ♥K82 ♦K96 ♣KJ82
Partner ♠QJT98 ♥653 ♦J73 ♣A3		You ♠K2 ♥T94 ♦T852 ♣9754
	Declarer ♠543 ♥AQJ7 ♦AQ4 ♣QT6

Let's look at this from Declarer's point of view. How many winners does Declarer have?
♠ 1 winner
♥ 4 winners
♦ 3 winner
♣ 0 winners

Declarer has 8 winners. They need 9 tricks. The only way they can get another trick is by letting the Opponents in with the A♣. This will set up 3 more winners for Declarer. BUT this play also lets the Opponents in. When the Opponents get in they can take ALL their ♠ tricks.

Well they CAN if the suit doesn't get BLOCKED.

Scenario 1: Declarer plays low from Dummy.

If you also play low, Declarer will make their contract. What does Partner do? They play another ♠. Declarer plays low and you win the trick with your K♠. But YOU have no more ♠ left to return a ♠. Now it does not matter what you return. Declarer will win the trick and play a low ♣. Partner will win the A♣ but the ♠ suit is not established. Partner plays another ♠, Dummy wins with the A♠ and Declarer can take the rest of the tricks.

If, at trick 1, you play the K♠ this will win the trick. Now you need to RETURN your last ♠. You should now defeat the contract. If Partner is allowed to win the second trick, they will continue with a ♠. Now the ♠ suit is set up. Declarer can only take 8 tricks before they have to let Partner in with their A♣. Once in with the A♣, Partner can now cash all their winning ♠.

Scenario 2: Declarer plays the A♠ from Dummy.

If Declarer plays the A♠ from Dummy you MUST play your K♠ to unblock the suit. If you do this, what can Declarer do? They only have 8 tricks. They must let Partner in with their A♣ to get a ninth trick. But once they do this, Partner can play all their ♠ winners.

Let's say you play a low ♠ when Declarer plays the A♠. (That way you will win your K♠ eventually you tell yourself.)

If you play a low ♠ at trick one, watch what happens. Declarer plays a low ♣. Partner wins their A♣. This sets up all Declarer's ♣ winners. Partner continues on with a ♠. You win your K♠.

But you have NO MORE ♠ to play to Partner.

All Partners ♠ are good -- but you cannot get to Partner hand. You have to return another suit. No matter what suit you return, Declarer has the rest of the tricks.

High Card from the Short Side - Defence

I have talked about Declarer playing the High card from the Short Side in this post:
Declarer Play - High Cards from the Short Side

This is standard declarer play. I think it is the first thing I teach my students about declarer play and it is something that the experts do. The reason why it works so well is that by doing this the suit does NOT get blocked.

Does it matter if you are playing in NT or a suit? No. You play High Cards from the Short Side first.
Does it matter if the suit is black or red? A major or a minor? Pointy or round? No. You play High Cards from the Short Side first.
Does it matter if the suit is trump or not? No. You play High Cards from the Short Side first.

So, in short, it is the IDEAL way to play the suit.

In fact it does not even matter if you are Declarer OR on Defence. The concept remains the same. High Card from the Short Side.

But it is QUITE a bit more difficult on Defence. Let's see this in action:

	Dummy
	763
Partner's Lead		Your holding
K		A2

Declarer calls for a low card from Dummy. What card do you play?

Think about it and answer honestly.

Do you need to know what the contract is? No. You will do the same thing in NT and also trump.

Does it matter what the suit is? No. You will do the same thing if this is a major or a minor, a black suit or a red suit, or a pointy suit or a round suit.

You should OVERTAKE your Partner's winning trick with your Ace and play back the suit.

It seems strange. Partner is winning the trick after all. But what happens if you play low? Partner will continue the suit and you will win this trick. But you have no more of the suit to return to Partner.

Let's say this is the holding:

	Dummy
	763
Partner's Holding		Your holding
KQJT9		A2
	Declarer's holding
	854

Try dealing out these cards at home. Pretend the contract is 3NT. How are you and Partner going to defeat the contract? You have to OVERTAKE Partner's opening lead and play back the suit. If you don't, Partner will win the trick. Then they will play the suit again. You will win the trick. But how do you get back to Partner's winning tricks?

You can't.

Leading unsupported Aces against Suit Contracts

Leading unsupported Aces tends to be a bad thing for a defender to do against a suit contract. This post will hopefully explain why.

FYI: A suit contract is any contract that has a trump suit. So if the opponents are playing in any number of Spades, Hearts, Diamonds or Clubs. These are all suit contracts.

Now just what is an unsupported Ace? What does that mean?

An unsupported Ace is an Ace that does not have the King with it. The King supports the Ace and helps you not to give up a trick. If you have a suit with the Ace and the King this is a very good suit to lead against a suit contract. You lead a high card and you will probably still be on lead to the second trick. But this time you get to make a lead looking at Dummy! This is huge!

Leading an unsupported Ace is not a good thing. What happens here is you can easily give up a trick to the opponents.

Don't believe me? Let's see this in action.

Go grab a deck of cards and play along!

You are on lead with the A652 of the suit. This is what everyone else has.

	Dummy K43
LHO (You) A652		RHO (Partner) JT9
	Declarer Q87

Try leading that Ace. What does Declarer do?

Well obviously Declarer will play small from Dummy and small from their hand. Now you have the following:

	Dummy K4
LHO (You) 652		RHO (Partner) JT
	Declarer Q8

Now Declarer will win all the rest of the tricks in this suit.

Aces are made for taking faces. When you lead the Ace you did not take a face.

So when I tell my students this they all want to play a low card in the suit.

This does not work either. Declarer can play a low card from Dummy and win the Q in their hand. They take out all the trump and we come to this in the suit.

	Dummy K4
LHO (You) A65		RHO (Partner) JT
	Declarer 87

Now Declarer plays the 8 from their hand. What do you do?

Doesn't matter what you do. If you play low Declarer will win the King in Dummy. If you play the Ace Declarer will play a low card from Dummy and win the King when they get in. Either way they have 2 tricks in this suit once you lead it.

If you have a suit with the Ace in it and lead a lower card than the Ace this is called underleading an Ace. Leading a low card away from that Ace. This is a lead you NEVER want to make in a suit contract. (In a No Trump contract it is a perfectly normal lead.) I will explain why later on.

So now my students ask me "You don't want me to lead my Ace, you don't want me to lead low, what can I possibly do?!"

There is no law that says you have to lead that suit. Don't lead that suit. You've got 3 other suits. Lead one of those. It's as simple as that.

"Declarer can always take 2 tricks anyhow" they retort. (They can be a bit feisty when not allowed to lead their Aces.)

Not on this holding. Not if you defend properly.

Don't believe me? Let's play it out.

	Dummy K43
LHO (You) A652		RHO (Partner) JT9
	Declarer Q87

Who shall we have lead the suit? Doesn't even matter. Let's start with Dummy. What does Dummy start with? Again, doesn't even matter. Try playing it at home to see.

	Dummy K43
LHO (You) A652		RHO (Partner) JT9
	Declarer Q87

Say Dummy starts with the 3. Your Partner will play the 9. If Declarer plays low you can play low since Partner will win the trick. You've won that trick and will also win your Ace.

Say Dummy starts with the 3. Your Partner will play the 9. If Declarer plays the Queen you can win your Ace. You've won that trick and Partner will eventually win their Jack.

So if Dummy leads you get 2 tricks. No matter what.

What about Declarer?

Say Declarer starts with the Queen from their hand. You win your Ace and Partner will eventually win their Jack. 2 tricks.

If Declarer plays a low card from their hand you play LOW. This is KEY. Aces are made for taking faces. If you play the Ace now you will not take a face. Play a low card. Sure Dummy will win their King. But now what? What will happen next? Dummy will play a low card and partner plays the T. What does Declarer do? If Declarer plays low you can play low since Partner will win the trick. You've won that trick and will also win your Ace. If Declarer plays their Queen instead you will win your Ace and now Partners Jack is high.

So if Declarer starts with this suit you will get 2 tricks.

What about Partner? What if they play the suit first?

Say Partner leads the Jack. What does Declarer do? If they play their Queen you can win your Ace. Now Dummy wins the King but Partner should get their Ten.

Say Partner leads the Jack and Declarer plays a low card. If Declarer plays a low card from their hand you play LOW. This is again KEY. Aces are made for taking faces. If you play the Ace now you will not take a face. (Well, you will -- Partners!) Play a low card. Sure Dummy will win their King. But now what? Dummy plays low and partner plays the 9. What does Declarer do? If Declarer plays low you can play low since Partner will win the trick. You've won that trick and will also win your Ace. If Declarer plays their Queen instead you will win your Ace and now Partners Ten is high

So on all these plays we see that no matter what, if you lead that suit (doesn't matter which one) you will get 1 trick. If ANYONE else leads that suit you will get 2 tricks. Do you want 1 trick or 2 tricks? Most people want 2 tricks. So don't lead a suit with an unsupported Ace.

Now what happens if Partner overcalled the suit. Does this rule still apply?

No. You should be okay if Partner overcalled the suit. They should have some high cards in the suit and you shouldn't set up any tricks for Declarer. If you do then perhaps Partner should learn to make better overcalls!

If it is bad to LEAD the unsupported Ace then it is much, much worse to underlead that Ace. To underlead the Ace means to lead away from it. So if you have A652 underleading it means leading the 6 or 5 or 2. This is the worst possible lead you can make against a trump contract. Even leading that Ace is better.

Why is that?

What happens if Declarer only has a singleton and also the King of the suit? So something like this:

	Dummy K43
LHO (You) A652		RHO (Partner) QJT98
	Declarer 7

You lead a low card and they will try the King. It wins. Now Declarer has no more of that suit in their hand and can now trump the suit when you play it. You did not get a single trick from this suit. At least if you lead the Ace you would get 1 trick. (Leading unsupported Aces is still not a good lead. It's just better than underleading Aces!)