Bidding Question

Partner opens the bidding 1♥. What is your bid?
♠Q
♥95
♦K9742
♣KJ983

Show Answer

The correct bid on this hand is 1NT. This shows 6 to a bad 10 HCP, DENIES having 3 card support for Partner, DENIES having a four card ♠ suit and does NOT guarantee a balanced hand.

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

How to take that Extra Trick

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

This post picks up from the previous post so please read that one first:
How Can Getting an OVERTRICK be Bad?

Did you figure it out? How I can take 12 tricks?

Here are the hands again:

Contract:4♥ Opening lead:3♦
Dummy:
♠QJT3
♥Q942
♦AKT8
♣8

Declarer:
♠K52
♥AKJ5
♦QJ952
♣4

First let's count losers again. I will count the losers in Declarer's hand since Declarer has that nice ♦ suit.

How many losers does Declarer have in each of the suits?



You heard what happened last post. Everyone took 12 tricks but me. I somehow have to figure out how to get rid of one of my losers. Hmmmmm.

Can't see any way of getting rid of that ♠ loser. I should always have to give the Opponents that trick.

That leaves the ♣ loser. Do I have to lose that one?

I do have a long ♦ suit. I have longer ♦ in my hand. That means that I can play off all the ♦ and on my fifth ♦ I no longer have any ♦ in Dummy. I can throw away a losing card from Dummy.

If I throw away a ♠ that doesn't help me one bit. I still have to lose a ♠.

BUT if I throw away a ♣ then I won't have any ♣ in Dummy. That means that I can trump the losing ♣ from my hand in Dummy. That would avoid a ♣ loser. Then I just have to lose that ♠.

Play this out at home if you are having troubles understanding. Deal out the cards and play along with me.

Dummy:
♠QJT3
♥Q942
♦AKT8
♣8

Declarer:
♠K52
♥AKJ5
♦QJ952
♣4

The lead was the 3♦. I won the lead in Dummy and took out three rounds of trump. This is what the two hands look like now:

Dummy:
♠QJT3
♥Q
♦KT8
♣8

Declarer:
♠K52
♥5
♦QJ95
♣4

I play HIGH card from the SHORT SIDE in ♦ ending in my hand. So I start with the K♦, then play the T♦ and then the 8♦ winning the trick in my hand with the J♦. This is what the two hands look like now:

Dummy:
♠QJT3
♥Q
♦
♣8

Declarer:
♠K52
♥5
♦Q
♣4

I am now in my hand. I can play the Q♦ and play the ♣ from Dummy. This is what the two hands look like now:

Dummy:
♠QJT3
♥Q
♦
♣

Declarer:
♠K52
♥5
♦
♣4

I don't need to trump the ♣ right away. Right now I want to play the K♠. HIGH card from the SHORT SIDE. The Opponents win their A♠ and try to play the A♣ but I trump the A♣ in Dummy and all the ♠ in Dummy are good. Making 12 tricks!

Note that if the Opponents had started with a ♣ I would have lost the trick. But they didn't start with a ♣ and when they didn't take that trick right away I was able to throw away my losing ♣ and take 12 tricks.