Declarer Play - 3NT - Developing extra tricks with Finesses

Before you read this post make sure you know what a finesse is. If not, read this post: http://heidisbridgeblog.blogspot.ca/2016/03/more-suit-combinations.html

Contract 3NT:
Opening lead K♥.

Dummy:
♠A32
♥732
♦A42
♣K765

Declarer (me):
♠K86
♥A654
♦KJ7
♣AJ3

How do I play this hand? In NT I count my winners. Those are sure tricks that I can take right away without losing a trick. I should do this before I even play a card from Dummy.

Winners:

♠2 winners
♥1 winner
♦2 winners
♣2 winners

That's not enough winners. I have 7 winners but I need 9 tricks. I have to somehow get 2 extra tricks. Hmmmmm. Maybe a finesse? Do you see any possibilities for finesses?

Actually there are a couple. I can take a finesse in ♣ and I can also take a finesse in ♦. If the Queen in either of these suits is in a good location for me I can score a trick with my Jack.

To score a trick with my J♦ where do I hope the Q♦ is? Do I want my RHO to hold the Q♦ or my LHO to hold the Q♦?

Here I need my RHO to have the Q♦. If my LHO has the Q♦ they will just cover my J♦ with their Q♦ when I play it. But if I play a low ♦ towards my J♦ and my RHO has the Q♦ they cannot stop me from winning a trick with my J♦. When I lead the low ♦ if they play their Q♦ I will win with my K♦ and then my A♦ and J♦ are both good. If I play a low ♦ and my RHO plays a low ♦ I can try playing the J♦. If my RHO has the Q♦ my J♦ will win a trick PLUS I still have the A♦ and the K♦.

Same with the ♣ suit. Who do I hope has the Q♣? I want to try to score a trick with my J♣.

Think about it.

My RHO. I again need to play a low ♣ towards the J♣ in my hand. If my RHO plays a low ♣ I will try playing the J♣. If RHO holds the Q♣ the J♣ will win the trick. Then I will still have the A♣ and the K♣.

If both those finesses work I will have the 2 extra tricks I need!

Do I need both finesses to work? Do you see another possibility for a 9th trick if only the ♣ finesse works?

So I try the ♣ finesse and it wins! What do I do now?

Here I MIGHT be able to set up my last ♣ winner if both the opponents hold 3♣. But that involves paying attention and making sure there are no more ♣ out there. That's quite a bit to remember so if you forget if that last ♣ is good you can always try the ♦ finesse. Maybe a good thing to remember is that if BOTH opponents follow suit when the J♣ and then the A♣ and then the K♣ are played then that last ♣ in Dummy should be a winner.

Ruff/Sluff

Just what is a ruff/sluff? A ruff/sluff is when the opponents lead a suit where you can trump (ruff) in one hand while throwing (sluffing) away a loser in the other hand. Obviously in order for this to occur you need to be void in the suit that the opponents lead in both your hand and Dummy.

That doesn't even really make any sense at all. You need to see this in action.

Let's take a simple look at a ruff/sluff

Dummy
♠T6
♥3
♦
♣

Declarer
♠84
♥2
♦
♣

♠ are trump. The opponents have no more trump left. They do however have a good ♥ so my ♥ is not a winner. I need all the rest of the tricks. My RHO is on lead. They lead...a ♣. Now I can make my contract! Do you see how? They gave me a ruff/sluff!

Play it out at home to see this in action.

From my hand I can throw away my losing ♥. Then I can trump it in Dummy. Now I have a trump left in my hand. No losers.

Alternatively I could have trumped in my hand and then from Dummy throw away my losing ♥. Now I have a trump left in Dummy. No losers.

Why would the opponents do this? Why didn't my RHO just play the winning ♥?

There are several reasons why Defenders will give you a ruff/sluff. Perhaps RHO has no more ♥ left. Perhaps they thought it didn't matter. It is more than likely they just made a mistake. They are human just like you are. In any event you need to take advantage of these acts of kindness when you receive them.

Let's see a slightly more complicated example:

Dummy
♠T6
♥A32
♦
♣

Declarer
♠84
♥K54
♦
♣

♠ are trump and the opponents have no more trump left. ♥ have not been played yet. You need the rest of the tricks. Your RHO is on lead and they lead a ♦. What do you do?

That's right. You throw away a ♥ from your hand and trump the ♦ in Dummy. You should have no more losers.

Of course it is equally acceptable to throw away a ♥ from Dummy and trump the ♦ in your hand. You should have no more losers either way.

Okay. Now let's see something similar with a full hand:

Dummy
♠AKT6
♥A32
♦Q53
♣A76

Declarer
♠QJ984
♥K54
♦642
♣K2

You are in a contract of 4♠. Your LHO is on lead. They start with the 7♦ which RHO wins with the J♦. Now RHO plays the A♦ and then a low ♦ to LHO's K♦. They took the first 3 tricks. I cannot afford any more losers. Now LHO is on lead and plays the last ♦. Your play. Think about it and then play it out to see if it works.

So the first thing you need to do is to count your losers. (You should have done this before playing to the first trick but it all went so fast...)

So looking at my hand I will count losers.

♠0 losers
♥1 loser
♦3 losers
♣0 losers

Hmmmm. I've already lost the 3 ♦ tricks. Not much I can do about that. I have to get rid of the ♥ loser. Hmmmmm. I could try to throw it away on a winner...but there are no winners I can throw it away on. Hmmmm.

Maybe that ♦ lead would help? Can I throw away a losing card from Dummy? Let's try that.

Which loser should I throw away? I have a couple of losers in Dummy. A ♥ loser and a ♣ loser. Which one should I throw away? Does it matter?

It does matter. You do have 2 losers in Dummy but you are only concerned about one of them. The ♥ loser. You know what you are going to do with the ♣ loser. You are going to trump it. That is not the one you have to worry about.

So throw away the 2♥ from Dummy and then trump in your hand. You should now have this:

Dummy:
♠AKT6
♥A3
♦
♣A76

Declarer:
♠QJ98
♥K54
♦
♣K2

So looking at my hand I will count losers again.

♠0 losers
♥1 losers
♦-
♣0 losers

It looks like I still have 1 loser but I can trump that loser in Dummy. I should be good to go once I take out trump!

Could I have done this another way? Yes. You could have trumped in Dummy first and thrown away the losing ♥ in your hand.

Since I am trumping Dummy I'd better make sure I trump pretty high. I know my RHO can overtrump me since they also have no ♦ left. So I will trump with the T♠. (or the A♠ to show off a little bit!) From my hand I can throw away the 4♥.

Now I have this:

♠AK6
♥A32
♦
♣A76

Declarer
♠QJ984
♥K5
♦
♣K2

So looking at my hand I will count losers again.

♠0 losers
♥0 losers
♦-
♣0 losers

I should be good to go once I take out trump!

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!)