The Play of Ten Random Hands
	The Bidding of Ten Random Hands
	Index of Lessons

Once the bidding is over, then the play of the hand begins. As you already know, the player on the team that won the contract who first bid the suit of that contract (or first bid Notrump, if the contract is in Notrump) becomes the Declarer. The opponents are now called The Defenders. The defender on Declarer's left selects a card from his hand to lead to the first trick. Once he lays that card on the table, Declarer's partner lays his hand down on the table in front of him.

He puts the trumps, if any, on his right, and then alternates the other suits by color to the left of the trumps. He lays these cards down in a stairstep fashion towards the Declarer so that it will be easy for the Declarer to select the cards he wants to play. Once he does this, he has no more responsibilities during hand play; this is why he is called The Dummy.

(NOTE:
According to the rules, Dummy may only say one thing about the game during the play of the hand. If, as Declarer is playing the hand, he (Declarer) does not follow suit (he plays a card in a different suit than the one that was led to the trick), Dummy is allowed to say "No Hearts, Partner?", for example, if Hearts was the suit led. If he chooses to do so, he must do so before the defender on Declarer's left plays to the trick.) Declarer will play the hand for his team, playing from both his hand (which remains hidden) and Dummy's hand- now called "The Board"- in turn, clockwise around the table. Whoever wins a trick leads to the next one. Play proceeds in this way until all thirteen tricks have been played and the hand is scored.

In this lesson, we want to talk about some general principles of play- principles both the declarer and the defenders will want to follow.

The Opening Lead

If you are sitting on declarer's left, it will be your responsibility to lead to the first trick. The question is, of course, "Which card should I lead?" Without seeing your hand and the bidding that led to the final contract, it is impossible to say, but there are some general principles to keep in mind.

Lead Partner's Suit

Generally, if your partner bid, you should lead that suit, since that is where his strength lies. You should do this unless you have some better lead to make or if the bidding reveals that leading partner's suit will not be productive.

On the opening lead, you won't have the opportunity to see the dummy before you lead, so there are some conventional guidelines for leading your partner's suit. One, called "top of nothing" means that you should lead the top card if you have two or three small cards. If you have a sequence (see below) you should definitely lead the top of that sequence. With four small cards, lead the smallest. Finally, if you have two to an honor, lead the honor card. If you have three or more to an honor, lead the smallest one.

Lead Through Strength (aka Lead Up to Weakness)

When you lead, particularly if the contract is a high one, try not to give anything away. If partner did not bid, avoid leading a suit that the Declarer bid, since you will be leading around into his strength, and any high cards partner might have in the suit could be trapped. This brings up our first maxim:

"Lead through strength"

This applies not only to the opening lead, but to subsequent leads the defenders will make, and it should also be borne in mind by the declarer. It is usually more productive, when you lead a suit, if the strengh in that suit is on your left- when the strong hand is the second one to play. Whichever hand is last has an advantage; having seen the first three cards in the trick, the last hand, if it wants to win the trick, can play the lowest card that is higher than any yet on the trick, saving higher cards for later.

If you are trying to pick a suit to lead, you should tend to choose one bid by the dummy rather than the declarer; if declarer bid it, the strong hand (presumably) will be the last one to play. Here is an illustration (although not an opening lead):

Dummy A Q 9 6 West 8 7 5 East ????? Declarer ?????

Let's assume that West believes that is partner has the King and Jack. If West leads this suit, dummy will have to play first. If dummy plays the Ace, East can throw a little card. If dummy plays the Queen, East can overtake with the King. And if dummy plays a small card, East can win the Jack. So if West "leads through strength" East can win whatever high cards he happens to hold.

Dummy 9 6 2 West 8 7 5 East ????? Declarer ?????

But if this is the situation, and we still assume partner has the King and Jack, the declarer is the one with the Ace and Queen. If we lead the suit, whatever card our partner plays will be overtaken by declarer, since he gets to play last. We should avoid leading this suit.

Now, this does not mean that partner will automatically get his King and Jack; if declarer concludes that East has these cards, he can always go to the dummy in another suit and lead from there himself. But at least he will have to work harder. Not leading this suit falls in the general category of not doing declarer's work for him.

Leading From a Sequence

A sequence is three or more cards of touching rank, such as K Q J or Q J 10 or J 10 9 8. When you have such a sequence, the cards are all of equal rank. That is to say, if you had the J 10 9 8 and you led the Jack, declarer, if he wants to win the trick, will have to play the Ace, King or Queen. But the same would be true if you led the 8; again, to win the trick, declarer would have to play one of those high cards. For this reason, leading from a sequence doesn't "give anything away" since declarer would have to play the same cards to win the trick no matter which card you led.

This brings us to another maxim:

"Lead the top of a sequence"

Although you could lead any card and get the same result, when partner sees that you led the Jack, he can assume that you would not have led out that honor unless you had the two cards below it and weren't giving anything away to declarer. This is not always true; there are times when you might lead the Jack without the ten and nine (such as if your partner bid the suit). But in suits that have not been bid by your side, leading from the top of a sequence consistently can give partner valuable information.

Leading to Notrump Contracts

But if partner has not bid, what do you do? Well, you should try to set up your own long suit. This brings us to another maxim:

"Lead the fourth from the highest in your longest and strongest"

This maxim applies when you are leading to a notrump contract and have no obvious lead to make. Simply find your longest suit, count four cards down from the top card, and lead that card.

J 7 6   K J 8 6 2   Q 9 7   J 10

With this hand, for example, Hearts is your longest suit. So count down four cards from the top of the suit and lead the 6.

J 7 6 5   K J 8 2   Q 9 7   J 10

But let's say this was your hand. Now we see that the Spades and Hearts are of equal length. In this case, lead from your strongest suit, which is Hearts. You should lead the 2.

One more maxim is:

"Third hand high"

This applies when your partner has led, and means that when the play comes around to you, that you should play a high card to try to take the trick (unless, of course, partner has led a high card or the dummy has played one higher than any you have).

Playing Subsequent Tricks

Once you have a chance to see the dummy, it will be easier to pick a good lead, because you will be able to see where the strength is (or isn't). But if you are defending, you will, more often, not be leading but rather playing second (or last). When you are the second person to play to a trick, there is yet another maxim worth remembering:

"Second hand low"

This is to say that when declarer leads a card from the dummy, you should tend to play a low card (don't stop to think about it; play smoothly or declarer will know you indeed have a high card), unless you can take the trick and have some reason to do so immediately. As an example, say you are playing Notrump and you and your partner have already established a suit that you can run. Declarer leads a card from the board or from his hand, and you hold the Ace. You should take it immediately and run the rest of the tricks in the suit you have established.

On the other hand, if declarer leads a card from dummy's holding of x x x and you hold Q x x, you should play one of the small cards smoothly. Declarer may be attempting a finesse against the Queen, and there is no reason to make his job easy for him (even though you know the finesse will work). We will talk about finesses later.

There is quite a lot to learn about defending a hand, and in this short set of lessons, we can't possibly do more that get you started. There is no substitute for practice- actually playing the game- under the watchful eye of someone who has experience and can help you evaluate your actions on a given hand, bringing up additional techniques as needed.

Declarer Play

When you are the declarer, your job is a bit easier than the defenders'. After all, you get to see both of your hands, while each defender gets to see only his own. Armed with the knowledge of all the cards you hold, you have the luxury of being able to plan how you will play each hand to win the maximum number of tricks. The only things you can't control are the opening lead and the lead a defender makes when they have just won a trick.

When the opening lead is laid down on the table, your partner will lay down his hand. This is when you should stop and think- before playing a card from the dummy to the first trick. Even if dummy has a singleton, and your play is forced, do not play that card until you have developed a plan for how you are going to win the tricks you have contracted for.

Planning the Play

When the dummy's hand goes down you should start going suit by suit and counting up the tricks you are sure to win- "off the top" (without giving up the lead to the opponents). If you can take enough tricks to make your contract "off the top", then, as a beginner, you should probably go ahead and do so. As you get more experience, you can look for ways to take more tricks than you contracted for, and get a few extra points. But for now, just go ahead and make your contract if you can.

For example, look at this situation:

North   Q 10 x   A Q x x x   x x   A x x West Leads the  K East   South   A K J x x   K x   A x x x   x x

The Bidding North East South West Pass Pass 1 3 4 Pass Pass Pass

Over South's opening, West pre-empted in Clubs, showing a good, long suit. North, with good support for South's Spades and an opening hand himself, simply bid the Spade game. (He did not, with his good hand, go on to investigate slam, because he knew that South's hand was limited to 16 points, since he did not open with a Strong Club. North could then only add to 29 points, not enough for a small slam.)

West led the  K, undoubtedly from the K Q J sequence. At this point, South stops to think. With eight trumps, there are only five outstanding, so South will win all five tricks in Spades. Since he has the  K, he will take at least three tricks in Hearts. With two Aces, he can see a total of 10 tricks, exactly what he needs for his contract. While there is a play for an 11th trick, novices would do well to simply take their tricks and make their contract.

So, South plans to take the first Club trick, draw trumps and then take his three Heart tricks and the  A. Then he can concede the last three tricks to his opponents. 4  bid and made.

Of course, the number of contracts you will bid where you can take all the required tricks off the top will be relatively small. Almost always, you will have to give up the lead to the opponents at some point, and so you need to factor into your plan what you will do when that happens. You can't predict everything, but you can make reasonable assumptions to start with, changing your plan if necessary as the hand unfolds.

As an example, let's change our sample hand slightly:

North   Q 10 x   A Q x x   K J 10 x x   x West Leads the  K East   South   A K J 9 x   K x   x x x x   A x

The Bidding North East South West Pass Pass 1 3 4 Pass Pass Pass

The bidding was exactly the same, but this time, when West leads and South counts his "off the top" tricks, he comes only to nine tricks- five Spades, three Hearts and one Club. Where is the other trick to come from? There is an excellent chance that South can win a Diamond trick. South knows that West undoubtedly has K Q J of Clubs; as we learned earlier, leading an honor card promises a sequence. That's only six points for West, though, and for his pre-empt he needs 10 points or so, and the only way he can have that many points is if he holds the  A. So if South leads a Diamond from his hand towards the dummy, West will either play that Ace, establishing the  K or, if West plays a low card, South will play the  K from the dummy, which would become South's 10th trick.

That plan is a good one, and would probably work (even if West doesn't have the  A, as it turns out). But there is another line of play that will allow South to win all the tricks he needs without giving up the lead at all. Can you spot it? Notice that North has a singleton Club. This means that South can win the opening lead with the  A and then immediately lead his other Club, trumping it with the  Q in the dummy (just on the off chance that East is also void in Clubs and can overtrump whatever the small spade is in the North hand; if you can avoid even the oddest distribution without endangering your contract, do so). Then he can draw trump and take his three Heart tricks. He will end up with ten tricks right off the top- five Spades, three Hearts, one Club and a Club ruff in the dummy.

These two hands just illustrate the planning process, and were pretty simple. Many times, your plan can take into account all the variables (when the opponents have relatively few tricks they can take). At low, partscore contracts, however, you won't be able to plan the entire hand; you'll have to wait and see what the opponents lead when you give up the lead each time.

Even so, we can provide a general plan for both suit contracts and Notrump contracts. Here they are:

Planning the Play at a Suit Contract

Here are your tasks in the order you should do them:

(1) Draw trump
(2) Set up any tricks that require giving up the lead
(3) Take the rest of the tricks you need

Planning the Play at a Notrump Contract

Here are your tasks in the order you should do them:

(1) Set up your long suit
(2) Take the rest of the tricks you need

Finessing

One of the most common techniques you will use during the play of the hand is the finesse, and so we should talk about how it works.

A finesse is an attempt to win a trick in a suit with a card that is not the highest outstanding card in that suit. Let's take a look at an example:

North   A Q 10 x West   ??? East   ??? South   x x x

Let's assume that South needs to win two tricks in Hearts to make his contract. He has one of them with the Ace, but if he just leads the Ace and then the Queen or Ten, the opponents will take them with King and Jack, respectively. So how can South win a trick with the Queen or Ten with the King and Jack in the defenders' hands?

The answer is with a finesse. The finesse is not a sure thing, though. For the finesse to "work" the cards have to be in the right place(s).

First of all, let's assume that East holds the K J x of Spades. No matter where you lead to or from, East is going to win both the King and Jack- because he gets to play after the dummy, and all he has to do is play low if the Ace is played or cover the Queen with the King or the Ten with the Jack.

But let's move the K J x to the West hand. If you lead from the dummy each time, the same thing will happen- because West will play last, he will discard the low card if you play the Ace, or take the Queen and Ten with the King and Jack, respectively.

But look what happens now if declarer leads from the South hand. Because West, who has the King and Jack is playing second, declarer will see what West plays before he plays from the dummy. If West plays a low card, declarer will play the Ten from dummy and it will win the trick. Then he returns to his hand in another suit and leads another small spade. Again, if West plays the Jack, declarer will play the Queen from the dummy; if West plays the King, declarer will play the Ace. Whatever cards West chooses, declarer will win three Heart tricks.

What will happen, you might ask, if the honors are split between the East and West hands; that is, when one defender has the Jack and one has the King. In this case, you will win only one of the Queen or Ten- if you play properly. As declarer, you lead from your hand towards the dummy. If West does not play an honor, insert the Ten. If East has the King, the Ten will force it out. Then you will win tricks with the Ace and Queen. If East has the Jack, he will win it, but then when you return to your hand and lead towards dummy again, you will insert the Queen if West does not play the King.

Here is another example:

North   A K J x West   ??? East   ??? South   x x x x

What if you need three tricks in this suit? Once again, you should finesse. But since you have the Ace and King, you should play the Ace first. If the Queen does not drop, then come to the South hand and lead towards the King-Jack. If West does not play the Queen, then insert the Jack. Playing the Ace first gives you a slight extra chance if the Queen is in the East hand but is a singleton.

This example brings up another maxim:

"Eight ever; Nine never"

What the heck does this mean? It means that if you have eight cards in the suit, you should always take the Ace first and then come to the other hand and finesse for the Queen- just like above. BUT, if you have nine cards in the suit (put another small spade in the North hand) you should eschew the finesse and simply play the Ace and King and try to drop the Queen. The reasons are mathematically-based, but you can trust that the experts have concluded that in the case of nine cards, playing for the drop wins about 52% of the time- a slight advantage.

North   A x x x West   ??? East   ??? South   Q J 10 9

Here is a little different example. We want to win 4 tricks in the suit. We can only do so if the King is in the West hand. Let's assume it is. Lead the Queen. If the King does not appear, then play a small card from dummy. If the King is in the West hand, the Queen will hold the trick. then just lead the Jack and so on. Eventually, West will have to play the King, and when he does you can play the Ace and any remaining cards in the suit will be good.

North   A K x x West   ??? East   ??? South   J 10 9 8

The same principle applies if you are finessing for the Queen. Lead the Jack and if the Queen does not appear, play a low card from North. You will win four tricks in the suit any time the Queen is in the West hand.

Final Comments

There is a great deal more to the play of the hand that hasn't been covered in this short lesson, but then I'm not trying to write Goren's Bridge Complete over again. There should be enough here to get you started so that you can play with other newbies. There is no substitute to learning from experience. Personally, when I was learning, we would play a single hand (playing the cards in such a way so as not to get them mixed up). Then, we would look at the hand again, looking at all four hands, and critique both the bidding and the play. Was there a better bid that could have been made? A better contract that could have been reached? Could we have won more tricks during the play? Could the defenders have set the contract? And so on. A single interesting hand can provide a great deal of discussion and a great learning experience.

When you have a familiarity with the basics, you can begin to play bridge "socially". That is, you can get three friends together for an evening of play. It would be best if these friends were not bridge experts or competitive players; try to find some people who know somewhat more than you, but who would not be upset if you occasionally needed to ask a question, or consult one of your "cheat sheets" or some other learning aid. Try to find "understanding" players who don't mind helping you along. After all, bridge should be fun, and you should not feel pressured or anxious. If you do, find more amiable friends to start with.

Bridge is one of those games that can take a lifetime to master; but is also one of those games that can provide a lot of enjoyment after only a short time- provided you concentrate for a time and try to learn as much as you can. So I encourage you to supplement these short lessons with a good book on the game. "Bridge for Dummies" or "Goren's Bridge Complete"- start with the first and when you've exhausted its instruction, acquire a copy of the latter and fine-tune your game.

In the spirit of what I just said, go on to the next lesson, in which we will take ten random hands and dissect the play of each one.

	The Play of Ten Random Hands
	The Bidding of Ten Random Hands
	Index of Lessons