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.

Declarer Play - High Cards from the Short Side

When people are first starting to play bridge a mistake most tend to make is to not play the high cards from the short side of the suit first. This leads to the suit being blocked and potential winners being stranded in Dummy with no way back to them.

What does that mean?

Go grab a deck of cards.

Deal out only 1 suit (♠) and give yourself the ♠K2 and Dummy the ♠AQJ4

Dummy
♠AQJ4

Declarer
♠K2

You are up and in your hand. Play the 2♠ towards Dummy's Ace. That wins the trick. Now play the 4♠ from Dummy and win the trick in your hand.

Dummy
♠QJ

Declarer

Where are you?
That's right. In your hand.

Where are your winners?

That's right. In Dummy. Ooops!

Now in a real game you might be able to get over to Dummy with another suit. But you might not. An easy way to prevent this calamity from happening is to play the HIGH cards from the SHORT side first.

Dummy
♠AQJ4

Declarer
♠K2

So in this example the short side is Declarer. Declarer has fewer ♠. They only have 2♠ and Dummy has 4♠. So play the HIGH cards from the SHORT side first. Since the SHORT side is Declarer's hand and the HIGH card in Declarer's hand is the K♠, play the K♠ first and the 4♠ from Dummy. Then you can play the 2♠ from your hand and the A♠ from Dummy. You will be in Dummy now to enjoy your winners!

In all these hands assume you are in Dummy. What card do you play first?

Example 1:

Dummy
♠Q4

Declarer
♠AK2

Answer: Play the Q from Dummy and the 2 from Declarer.

Example 2:

Dummy
♠KQJ4

Declarer
♠A2

Answer: Play the 4 from Dummy towards the A.

Now you try!

Hand 1

Dummy
♠AQJ4

Declarer
♠K2



Hand 2

Dummy
♠Q4

Declarer
♠AKJT2



Hand 3

Dummy
♠A8

Declarer
♠KQ2



Hand 4

Dummy
♠KQJ4

Declarer
♠A2



Hand 5

Dummy
♠K3

Declarer
♠AQ2



Hand 6

Dummy
♠AKQ4

Declarer
♠J2



Hand 7

Dummy
♠KQ4

Declarer
♠AJT82



Hand 8

Dummy
♠Q3

Declarer
♠AKJ9



Hand 9

Dummy
♠AK4

Declarer
♠QJT32



Hand 10

Dummy
♠J4

Declarer
♠AKQT32



Note that this "High card from the short side" works even when you DON'T have the A.

Hand 11

Dummy
♠K4

Declarer
♠QJ2



Hand 12

Dummy
♠J4

Declarer
♠KQT2



Hand 13

Dummy
♠KJ4

Declarer
♠Q2



Hand 14

Dummy
♠T4

Declarer
♠KQJ2



Hand 15

Dummy
♠KQJ4

Declarer
♠T2