Counting Losers in Action -- 4 Spades

This post talks about counting losers in a trump contract. If you want some practice on doing that please read this post first:
Counting Losers

To avoid some losers you might have to try a finesse. If you are not sure what a finesse is try these posts:
The Finesse
More Finessing
Eight Ever, Nine Never

The reason why bridge players count losers in a trump contract is to determine whether or not Declarer has enough losers that they will not be able to make their contract. If Declarer has too many losers to make their contract they have to figure out a way to get rid of some of their losers! If Declarer has losers but will still make their contract they try to figure out if they can avoid some of their losers without jeopardizing their contract. Bridge players are a bit greedy in that sense. They always want more.

So let's start. The final contract is 4♠. The opening lead is the J♥.

Dummy:
♠KQ72
♥Q9
♦KQJ3
♣J92

Declarer (me):
♠AJT3
♥K2
♦T62
♣AQT4

Count losers -- Remember I must either look at either Dummy or Declarer's hand to count losers:

Since I can use either hand to count losers, bridge players tend to count losers from the hand that has the longest trump. This time both Declarer's hand and Dummy have 4 trump. I can use either. Let's do both for the practice.

Losers in Dummy:
♠ 0 losers -- I should not have to lose any trump tricks (assuming one opponent doesn't have all five of them!)
♥ 1 loser -- I will probably lose the A♥.
♦ 1 loser -- I will lose the A♦.
♣ 1 loser -- I might have to lose to the K♣.

Let's try counting losers in Declarer's hand:

Losers in Declarer's Hand:
♠ 0 losers -- I should not have to lose any trump tricks (assuming one opponent doesn't have all five of them!)
♥ 1 loser -- I will probably lose the A♥.
♦ 1 loser -- I will lose the A♦.
♣ 1 loser -- I might have to lose to the K♣.

Pretty good. I am in 4♠ and I only have 3 losers. I will make my contract. Should I try to avoid any losers?

Hmmmmm. I am probably always going to have to lose to the A♥ and also the A♦. But I can try to avoid losing to the K♣. Can you see how?

I can always try the ♣ finesse. When I am playing the ♣ suit I will start from Dummy (very important to start there!) and try playing the 9♣ to begin with. If my RHO plays the K♣ I will win my A♣ and all my ♣ are good! If my RHO plays a small ♣ instead I will play a small ♣ from my hand. Yes this could lose to the K♣. But that's okay. The rest of my ♣ will be winners. HOWEVER, if my RHO has the K♣ (they could) then my 9♣ will WIN the trick! Try it at home to see. Just deal out the ♣ and give RHO the K♣ and a couple of other ♣. Look what happens. If the 9♣ wins then I am still in Dummy to repeat the finesse again. This time I will play the J♣ and if RHO plays low, I will play low. The J♣ will now win the trick. Again I am still in Dummy. I can now play the 2♣ and if RHO plays low I can win my Q♣. My A♣ will be a winner.

So that's how I will try to avoid a ♣ loser.

FIRST thing I need to do is to TAKE OUT the opponents TRUMP.

So the first thing I will do when I win the first trick is to take out all the opponents trump. I will try to remember to end in Dummy so I can try the ♣ finesse. Once I play the ♣ I can play on ♦ and give the opponents the A♦. Then all my ♦ will be good. I can even lose to the A♦ first and then play the ♣. Not a big deal. The big deal is to take out trump! Otherwise when you play all your winners the oppponents will run out of the suit and be able to trump your winners! This is not good.

So take out trump and try the ♣ finesse. It can't hurt and you might avoid a loser.

Counting Losers

In bridge when Declarer is playing in any trump contract (♠, ♥, ♦, ♣) the first thing they should do is to count their LOSERS. These are tricks that Declarer might have to lose. Declarer then knows how many losers they have and can decide if and how they are getting rid of any losers.

Here are a few examples:
Dummy
♣K94

Declarer
♣AQ3

How many losers does Declarer have in the ♣ suit?

Declarer has ZERO losers in the ♣. They should not have to lose any tricks in that suit.

Dummy
♣K9

Declarer
♣QJ3

Declarer has ONE loser in the ♣. They will have to lose one trick in that suit -- the Ace.

Sounds pretty easy, right? It gets a little more complicated.

You only look at the losers in ONE hand. Not the other. But Losers can be counted in EITHER hand so you need to count either the number of losers in Dummy OR the number of losers in Declarer's hand. So with this holding:
Dummy
♣983

Declarer
♣76

There are no high cards in this suit. That means that if you are looking at the losers in DUMMY you have THREE losers. You will lose three ♣ tricks because there are three small ♣ in Dummy. However if you are looking at the losers in DECLARER'S hand you have only TWO losers. There are two small ♣ in Declarer's hand. The theory behind this is that if the Opponents play one more round of ♣ you can trump the ♣.

However it gets a little trickier. You only look at the losers in one hand BUT if you have high cards in the other hand you get to look at those. So:
Dummy
♣A83

Declarer
♣K6

If we look at the losers in Dummy we can count ONE loser. The A♣ won't lose a trick and we won't have to lose the 3♣ because we have the K♣ in our hand to take care of that loser. But we will still have to lose the 8♣.

If we look at the losers in Declarer's hand we don't have ANY losers. The K♣ will win a trick and the A♣ in Dummy can take care of our 6♣. We can trump any more ♣.

Let's practice. How many losers do you have in Dummy? How many losers do you have in Declarer's Hand?

Hand 1:
Dummy:
♣985

Declarer:
♣62



Hand 2:
Dummy:
♣AKT2

Declarer:
♣64



Hand 3:
Dummy:
♣52

Declarer:
♣AJ



Hand 4:
Dummy:
♣AQ8

Declarer:
♣953



Hand 5:
Dummy:
♣K532

Declarer:
♣AT7



Hand 6:
Dummy:
♣K543

Declarer:
♣A8



Hand 7:
Dummy:
♣A9

Declarer:
♣KQ



Hand 8:
Dummy:
♣AQJ4

Declarer:
♣T93



Hand 9:
Dummy:
♣QJT

Declarer:
♣K4



Hand 10:
Dummy:
♣T82

Declarer:
♣A54



Hand 11:
Dummy:
♣Q93

Declarer:
♣KJ8



Hand 12:
Dummy:
♣AQ86

Declarer:
♣K95



Hand 13:
Dummy:
♣9543

Declarer:
♣K2



Hand 14:
Dummy:
♣7

Declarer:
♣T93



Hand 15:
Dummy:
♣A987

Declarer:
♣Q4



Hand 16:
Dummy:
♣AK4

Declarer:
♣65



Hand 17:
Dummy:
♣A7

Declarer:
♣T54



Hand 18:
Dummy:
♣AQ62

Declarer:
♣85



Hand 19:
Dummy:
♣972

Declarer:
♣QJ3



Hand 20:
Dummy:
♣AQ52

Declarer:
♣K8



Hand 21:
Dummy:
♣93

Declarer:
♣AK2



Hand 22:
Dummy:
♣Q53

Declarer:
♣962



Hand 23:
Dummy:
♣K76

Declarer:
♣32

Declarer Play Problem #5 - 3NT

This post talks about counting winners in NT. If you want some practice on doing that please read this post first:
Counting Winners

The reason why we count winners in NT is to determine whether or not we have enough tricks to make our contract. If we do not have enough tricks to make our contract we have to figure out a way to get more tricks! If we do have enough tricks to make our contract we try to figure out if we can make more.

Check out these posts to see how Declarer can take extra tricks with a finesse:
The Finesse
More Finessing
Eight Ever, Nine Never

If you want to see me walk through a few hands with you check out these posts:
Counting Winners in Action - 6NT
Counting Winners in Action - 3NT

This post is designed to test your declarer play in NT. Count your winners and determine how you will play the contract. For example you could say "I have 9 tricks and I am taking my tricks and running!" Or you could say "I have 8 tricks and I will try the ♣ finesse for my 9th trick!"

So let's practice. The final contract is 3NT. Declarer opened the bidding 1NT and Dummy bid 3NT. The lead is the J♥. Count the winners in the ♠ suit. Count the winners in the ♥ suit. Count the winners in the ♦ suit. Count the winners in the ♣ suit. Do you have enough tricks to make your contract? If yes, can you try to take any more? Will you try to take any more? If no, what will you do in order to make your contract?

Contract:3NT Opening lead:J♥
Dummy:
♠42
♥K2
♦AQ874
♣AJ95

Declarer:
♠AKJ9
♥AQ8
♦K93
♣843