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Scoring the Game |
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Playing the Hand- General Principles |
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Index of Lessons |
As we concluded the last lesson, we commented that once you have the basics understood, you should sit down and play with others of your skill level. You might also have one person who has somewhat greater knowledge and can help everyone else analyze each hand and learn as much as possible from it. You should be prepared for your first sessions to be for the purpose of learning, and you should be prepared to discuss each hand and critique each other's bidding and play.
To simulate that experience, let's revisit the ten hands that we used in the lessons on bidding. Now that we know what the final contracts are, let's analyze the play for each of these hands. (NOTE: In most Bridge publications, the authors view things from the South hand and put you in that seat. We will do the same thing here. Although in the ten hands we saw earlier, various seats won contracts, we will move the hands around so that South is always the declarer, and move the bids around to match.)
You would probably do well to take a deck of cards and lay each of these hands out on the table in front of you. Play the cards as our declarers do. This will allow you to see what each player has at any given time.
Hand 1
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West led the J 
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He did not want to lead trump around into South, nor did he want to lead away from his unsupported honors in spades and diamonds. He chose the Club since it was least likely to give up a trick. Declarer played a small card from dummy, and now East stopped to think.
He assumed the club jack was the top of a three-card sequence, which meant that South had a singleton queen. To keep South from winning that trick, he played the ace of clubs, and was a bit surprised when South played the 3 (NS-0, EW-1). He realized then that the jack was either part of the J-10 or it was a singleton. Either way, East could give his partner a ruff. To make sure he got his king of clubs, he took that trick next, noting that both the queen and ten fell (NS-0, EW-2). Then he led his low club to give West a chance to ruff.
This gave South his chance to think. He needed 7 tricks, but could only see a spade, a diamond and perhaps two hearts (given that he knew from the bidding that trumps were either 5-1 or 6-0, East's double having promised shortness). South was sure that the king and jack of hearts were with West, so he decided to try to force one of them out by trumping with the heart 9. West saw an opportunity to have more trumps than declarer, so he discarded a small diamond, while declarer played the club 6 from dummy (NS-1, EW-2).
This was declarer's first trick. He knew he couldn't draw all the trumps, but he saw an opportunity to force out one of the heart honors from West by next leading the heart 6 towards dummy. Since dummy had the ten, West would have to play one of his honors if he wanted to take the trick.
But West didn't want to be on lead, and so he played the heart 3, dummy played the ten and East followed with the 2 (NS-2, EW-2). (South was now sure that hearts had been split 5-1.) But South, having just won his second trick, now had a game plan. He would lead his good clubs whenever he could and force West to ruff. He figured that having West on lead all the time would be helpful. So He led the club 8. This brought the club 7 from East and South discarded the diamond 3 as West ruffed with the heart 5 (NS-2, EW-3).
South was right about West's leading; almost any lead he might make, West thought, would give up a trick. The best of a bad lot, West thought, was to lead the spade 4, hoping that East had the A-Q and could capture dummy's king. The dummy played low and now East had a problem: should he play the ace, and possibly set up the queen in South's hand (if he had it), or play the ten and risk that South had the jack? He finally decided to play the Ace (NS-2, EW-4), although it would not have mattered which card he played.
East led a spade back to his partner, but South took the queen and then the king (NS-4, EW-4).
In dummy for the last time, declarer led his last good club. East and South both discarded diamonds while West ruffed with the heart 7 (NS-4, EW-5). West did not want to lead away from his heart K-J, so he led the diamond queen, assuming his partner had either the Ace or King. The dummy and East played low, and South won with the ace (NS-5, EW-5).
South now was left with A-Q-9 of hearts, while West had the K-J of hearts and the diamond six. South was now assured of two more tricks, since he had three trump and West had only two. This brought him to a total of 7 tricks, just barely making his doubled contract.
Critiques and Comments
It is interesting and instructional to note that when West led a small spade, he would have done better to lead a diamond, although he couldn't know that at the time. Be very careful of suits where each player has one of the top four honors; usually, whoever "breaks" that suit (leads it for the first time) will give up a trick. If West had led a diamond instead, declarer would have had to lead the spades first, and he would have won only one spade trick rather than two.
Hand 2
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West led the J 
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West had no obvious lead, so he led the unbid major- particularly since he had a short sequence.
When dummy came down, South stopped to plan the play. He had five top tricks and could set up two more in Clubs after forcing out the Ace. Also, he could trump his low heart in dummy. If spades split normally (when there are an odd number of cards outstanding in a suit, the chances are that they will split as evenly as possible; but if there are an even number outstanding, they tend not to split evenly), he could take an additional trump trick. This brought him to nine tricks, and he needed to find another. It would have to come from the diamond suit- namely, the queen in dummy. For the queen to win a trick, the king would have to be in the West hand, and South would have to lead towards the queen.
So, South's plan was to take the opening trick, take two rounds of trump, play his other top heart and get his ruff and then force out the club ace. The rest of his plan would depend on what the winner of that trick led.
So South first took the king of hearts (NS-1, EW-0), and then led a small spade to the king (NS-2, EW-0). He led another spade back to his Ace, noting that East had the last spade- the good queen (NS-3, EW-0). Then he took the ace of hearts (NS-4, EW-0) and led his small heart, ruffing it in dummy with the 8 of spades (NS-5, EW-0). Then he led the jack of clubs from dummy to force out the ace. East followed the adage (second hand low) and so the jack won the trick (NS-6, EW-0). When the dummy led the club six, East took his ace (NS-6, EW-1), on which South had to play the club queen. Since his queen of spades was good, East decided to take two of declarer's trumps out with it, and so he led it and took the trick (NS-6, EW-2). (West needed to protect his diamond holding, and so he discarded a small club.) South now had only one trump left, and East forced him to use it by leading another heart (NS-7, EW-2). Again, West discarded a small club.
South now played the ace of diamonds (NS-8, EW-2), preparing to lead to the queen. He saw, though, that if the queen won and the jack did not fall, he would have to give the defenders two more diamond tricks; so before he led diamonds he took his king of clubs (NS-9, EW-2). Then he led a diamond towards dummy. West was down to the K-J of diamonds and dummy had the Q-8, and so dummy would have to win a diamond trick giving South his contract.
Critiques and Comments
When South took the first round of trump, neither the jack nor queen fell. South knew it was probable that spades were split 3-2, and so the hand with three of them would end up with a good spade trick. When South took a second round of spades, he established that trick for the defense, and, as soon as they gained the lead, they led that card and took two more trumps from declarer's hand and the dummy. It would have been better if South had set up his club tricks before drawing that second round of trump; East would not have been able to lead hearts to take out South's last trump. If you can, wait until all your work in side suits is done before you finish drawing trumps in these situations.
It is also interesting to note that North-South could also make 3 Notrump- three spades, two hearts, two diamonds and two clubs.
Hand 3
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West led the 7 
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West decided to "lead through strength", which he assumed North had, having bid spades.
When dummy came down, South stopped to plan the play. He needed 8 tricks with hearts as trump, but he had only three top tricks (in Clubs). Once the heart ace was played, declarer would have four more trump tricks- so long as hearts split normally. He had at least four club tricks, although getting back and forth to use them would be tricky. So South planned to draw trump and then play the club queen from dummy before coming back to his hand for the ace and king- which, he hoped, would drop the jack and give him an overtrick.
On the first lead, South played the ten of spades from dummy to force a higher honor from East. East played the jack, which won the trick (NS-0, EW-1). Since South bid clubs, East was worried that he might be able to discard a losing diamond, so he thought his team should take whatever diamond tricks they had. He led the diamond queen, figuring that if South had the A only, he would at least set up a trick. If South had the king only, then the defense would get two diamond tricks right away. If South had the A-K, then at least his lead wouldn't hurt.
South knew it didn't matter what he played; East would not have led the queen from A-Q, so West had to have the Ace and his King was trapped. So he played low, and West and dummy both played low as well (NS-0, EW-2). East then led the jack, South played the king and West took his ace (NS-0, EW-3).
West decided to lead his other spade to force south to ruff (as he knew from East's winning the first trick with the jack that he also held the A-K and thus South had a singleton). The dummy played a low spade, East played the king and South trumped with the heart 3 (NS-1, EW-3). Before drawing trump, South led a small club to dummy's queen to "unbnlock" the club suit; this kind of play occurs frequently (NS-2, EW-3). Then he began drawing trump by leading the heart queen. West decided to play low to the first trump trick (NS-3, EW-3), but took his ace when declarer led the jack from dummy (NS-3, EW-4). He had no other appealing lead, so he took out dummy's last trump by leading his ten, a trick that South took with his king (NS-4, EW-4).
Now South ran his clubs, beginning with the ace (NS-5, EW-4) and king (NS-6, EW-4). When the jack dropped from East, South's ten and nine of clubs were good, and so, with one heart remaining, he had all the rest of the tricks.
South ended up making three hearts- his contract with an overtrick.
Critiques and Comments
The play of this particular hand was pretty straightforward, and if many different teams played this same hand, almost all of them would take the same number of tricks (unless a mistake was made, of course).
Hand 4
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West led the Q 
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West thought about leading his singleton jack of hearts; perhaps East had the ace and could win the trick and give him a ruff. But he realized that North cue-bid hearts, showing first round control, so East couldn't have the ace. So he decided to lead the top of his diamond sequence.
When dummy came down, South stopped to plan the play. He was going to lose two diamond tricks right away, so he could afford one other loser. He had five spade tricks, three heart tricks and the club ace. He thought he could get his tenth trick by ruffing a diamond in dummy, or perhaps by setting up a long heart.
The defenders took the first two diamond tricks (NS-0, EW-2), with East taking the second one so he could lead clubs through declarer's strength. Declarer won his singleton ace (NS-1, EW-2) and then ruffed a diamond with the five of trumps in dummy (NS-2, EW-2). He came to his hand with the heart king (NS-3, EW-2) and then ruffed his last diamond with the spade jack (NS-4, EW-2).
Declarer cashed the spade ten (NS-5, EW-2) and both opponents followed. He came back to his hand by ruffing a club (NS-6, EW-2) and then drew trump with the ace and king of spades (NS-8, EW-2). All the trump were now drawn and South had the queen of trump and two hearts. Dummy had the A-Q of hearts and a club. At this point, South claimed the rest of the tricks, explaining that he would lead to the ace and queen of hearts and then trump the club in his hand. The defenders conceded and South took eleven tricks- one more than his contract.
Critiques and Comments
The South and North hands fit very well, and with proper play South would always win 11 tricks. The other line of play was to draw trump right away and then play the king of hearts from the South hand. So long as East did not hold all five hearts or four hearts with the jack, South could run the hearts, and take five spades, five hearts and the club ace. The way the hand was actually played, however, South did not need to rely on the hearts to behave.
Hand 5
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West led the 9 .
West thought a long time before his lead. He knew his side had two aces (because South used Blackwood but stopped at the 5-level). Presumably, South had the heart ace, but what was the other one? West did not want to lead away from his A-Q of diamonds, and leading away from his spade queen wasn't appealing either. So he finally decided to "lead through strength" and chose to lead clubs. He followed the "top of nothing" guideline: when you lead a suit in which you have three small cards, lead the top one.
This lead was music to East's ears. Dummy played a low club and East trumped with the 2 of hearts! (NS-0, EW-1) East wanted to get another club ruff if he could, so he had to get back into West's hand. He knew West had an ace, and it couldn't be the club ace because West would not have led away from it. He assumed South had the heart ace, and since he had the spade ace, he led a diamond.
West took his diamond ace (NS-0, EW-2) and led another club which East again trumped (NS-0, EW-3). East then took his spade ace (NS-0, EW-4) and then led another diamond. But the defense was out of ammunition; South won his diamond king, drew trump and ran the clubs for all the rest of the tricks (NS-9, EW-4). Because of West's fortunate lead, declarer was set two tricks!
Critiques and Comments
This hand is typical of very distributional hands, where there are voids and singletons all over the place. Looking at the dummy, South thought he was 100% sure to win eleven tricks, but because of East's void, he went down two.
It is interesting to see that the only way for East-West to defeat the contract is for West to lead a club before South had a chance to draw trump. And if West had not led a club to the first trick, the most they could have set the contract would have been one trick. As it was, they got an excellent result.
Hand 6
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West led the 5 .
West did not have a better lead, so he followed the guideline for leading at Notrump- "Lead the 4th from the highest in your longest and strongest"- the idea being to try to set up your long suit.
When the dummy came down, South stopped to plan. He needed nine tricks, and there were no trumps. Spades were solid, and would produce five tricks. Hearts would produce one trick when the ace was driven out. Diamonds would add another five tricks when the ace was gone, and there were three tricks in clubs. Actually, on this hand, it is easier to count losers than it is to count winners; the losers are the heart ace and diamond ace.
But South has to be careful to do things in the right order. He must set up his diamonds first. If he forces out the heart ace first, then when a defender wins that card, they could lead hearts again, taking out South's stopper in the suit. Then, when they get in with the diamond ace, they can take more heart tricks.
So, South let the opening lead ride around to his club king (NS-1, EW-0) and then he led a small diamond. East allowed dummy's jack to win the trick (NS-2, EW-0) and when dummy continued with the diamond ten, East played low on that trick, too. But South was always thinking. If he let the ten win in dummy, then he would have to come back to his hand with a spade to continue to set up the diamond suit. When he finally did, his only entry to the good diamonds would be the spade king. But if he won that trick in his hand, then there would be no sure way for him to get back to dummy to cash the other spade tricks! He could get back there with the heart king, but only if the heart ace were with west.
South was not willing to take that chance. He knew that the diamonds were split no worse than 4-1, since West had played the diamond seven on the first diamond trick. South could count and see that East held, specifically, the A-8-6-4 of diamonds originally. He had already played the four, so when he played low on the ten, he still had the A-8. Since South held the diamond nine, he could afford to overtake his good ten with the diamond king and continue to force out the diamond ace by leading the queen (and discarding a low club from dummy). Whether East took his ace then or waited until the fourth lead of diamonds, South could set them up without using his spade entry. So, South overtook his own ten (NS-4, EW-0) and led the queen. East played low once more (NS-5, EW-0) but took the ace when South led the nine (NS-5, EW-1). South discarded a low spade on that trick.
East knew that if his partner had an ace, it had to be in hearts. He wondered if he should lead them to find out. So he thought to himself "If South holds the heart ace, then I can see that he has two more long diamonds, two hearts, two clubs and a spade to cash. This will give him 12 tricks. If my partner holds the heart ace, then South must hold the heart queen, since he would not have bid notrump without a partial stopper in that suit. That card, along with the eight other points he has already played (club king and diamond king and queen) only brings him to ten points. So, for his opening bid, he must have the spade king- which would bring him to 13 points. He might also have the queen, but even if he doesn't, if he finesses for it, the finesse will work. (South would take the king and then lead a small spade towards dummy's A-J-10, playing the ten if West does not play the queen.) So South has two diamonds, two clubs and three spades he can cash if I just lead a club to dummy. Once again, this will give him 12 tricks. In other words, if my partner has the heart ace, if we don't take it now we won't get it at all, so I had better lead a heart!"
East's analysis, based on the bidding and the play thus far, was absolutely correct. If he did not lead a heart to his partner's ace, then South would take the rest of the tricks. If South had the heart ace, he would take the rest of the tricks anyway, so East had nothing to lose. West took his heart ace (NS-5, EW-2) and then South claimed the rest of the tricks.
Critiques and Comments
This hand illustrates three different things. First, we learn about what to lead at notrump when you have no bidding clues from partner. Second, we learn a bit about "transportation problems". When hands are distributional, the declarer of defender may run short of entries to do all the things he wants to do, so he must manage those he does have very carefully.
Finally, and most important, when you are defending, never get complacent and stop thinking. Continually re-evaluate your partner's hand and declarer's hand based on the play thus far as well as the original bidding. This disciplined thinking can help you find the right defense to defeat a contract when the outcome is close. It wasn't here, but it might have been.
Hand 7
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West led the 10 .
The bidding here was interesting. The key bid is South's 2 bid. As soon as West bid diamonds, South knew that North was bidding a "short diamond" and that he probably had support for the unbit suits. South knew his team had at least half the points in the deck, so he tried his best suit.
When the dummy came down, South stopped to plan. He had seven tricks off the top, and needed only one more. That, he thought, could come from ruffing a diamond in the dummy. So he won the heart king in dummy (NS-1, EW-0) and took the diamond ace (NS-2, EW-0). To get to his hand (and to test the trumps), he led to the ace of trump (NS-3, EW-0) and noted the fall of the ten from East and the three from West. He hoped this did not mean a 4-1 trump split. He then led a small diamond and trumped in dummy with the 7 of spades (NS-4, EW-0). He came back to his hand again with the ace of hearts (NS-5, EW-0) and led his last diamond towards the dummy. He ruffed with the 8 of spades, but East overruffed with the jack (NS-5, EW-1). East cashed his queen of hearts (NS-5, EW-2), noting that WEst discarded a diamond. East now knew that dummy's jack of hearts was good.
Down to the queen of spades, the 9 of hearts and four clubs, East led the heart, hoping that West could ruff. West did, with the king of spades (NS-5, EW-3). West led the king of diamonds, dummy ruffed with his last trump and East overruffed with the queen (NS-5, EW-4). That was the last trick for the defense, as South had the last trump and three small clubs, which dummy would take, of course, with the A-K-Q of clubs. North-South ended up with an overtrick.
Critiques and Comments
South almost did not bid, but his taking a chance paid off. How would West have done in a 2 contract though? As it turns out, he would have lost the ace of spades, two hearts, the ace of diamonds and two clubs, going down one. That would have been less points lost by East-West, but West was just outbid. It would have been reckless for him to bid his diamonds again, for he would undoubtedly have been doubled, and then the penalties would have been much greater than letting North-South have their partscore.
Hand 8
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West led the 2 .
At notrump, West did not want to help declarer set up his club suit, nor did he want to lead away from either of his honors so he led the fourth from the highest in his longest and strongest suit- spades.
South had taken a chance, bidding notrump when he was not sure of a heart stopper, so he was relieved to see one in dummy. As soon as he got the lead, he could count enough top tricks for his contract. But the fly in the ointment was the spade suit. Assuming West led fourth-highest, he had to have four spades while East had five of them. If defenders could finesse his queen, South might be down before he even got started. But all South could was hope. He discarded a diamond from dummy. East knew everything South knew- except that he did not know the location of the spade queen. If his partner had it, then they could run the suit. If South had it, then they couldn't. He decided to put South to a guess.
East took the ace of spades as South played the seven (NW-0, EW-1). If South had the queen East wanted South to think that West might have the king. He then smoothly led a low spade back. South actually didn't know who had the king, but, as it turned out, it didn't matter. All South had to do to ensure a spade trick was to play low. The worst case would be that West would win the trick with the ten. But, if he did, and tried to lead spades back to East, South would be assured of winning a trick with the queen eventually. Only if South played the queen right away and West took it with the king could the defenders run five spade tricks.
So, South played the 8 of spades, and West took it with the ten (NS-0, EW-2). West led the 4 of spades back to East, who had the K-J-6-5 while South had the Q-9. No matter what East played, South would win his queen. And, as soon as he did, he would run off nine more tricks (six clubs, two diamonds and a heart). As it turned out, East went ahead and played his king while South played the nine (NS-0, EW-3), and then he led another spade that south took with the queen (NS-1, EW-3). On these first four spade tricks, declarer had discarded the 6 and 7 of diamonds and the jack and nine of hearts. When South took his diamond ace (NS-2, EW-3), dummy was left with six good clubs, the top diamond and the ace of hearts, and so South took the rest of the tricks, making 4 notrump.
Critiques and Comments
Resist the urge to play games in the minor suits. To make game you need to take 11 tricks (only one less than a slam). Remember that as long as there is a stopper in the other three suits, long solid suits are just as good at Notrump- and it is a lot easier to make game. Had North tried to play five clubs, he would have lost two hearts and a diamond for down one.
Hand 9
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NOTE:
Once clubs were set as trump, North thought that his distributional hand, his aces and kings and his support for clubs justified a try for slam. He began by cue-bidding his diamond ace, and South followed with a cue-bid showing the heart ace. North showed the club ace, but South had no other controls to show, so he went back to clubs. North, on the basis of his singleton heart, king of spades and king of trump went ahead and bid the slam.
West led the K .
At a slam contract, you must endeavor to make safe leads; don't lead anything that might give declarer a trick. Here, West has his heart sequence to lead.
South saw that his side's hands fit very well. Instead of counting tricks, South just looked at his own hand. North had the A-K of spades to take of South's two small spades. South's three small hearts can be trumped in dummy. South did have a losing diamond and there appeared to be no place to put it. That, South thought, would be his only loser.
South took the first trick with his ace (NS-1, EW-0). He could not afford to draw trump until he had ruffed his small hearts, so he immediately led a heart and trumped it with dummy's 2 of clubs (NS-2, EW-0). South decided to give up his diamond loser right away, so he took dummy's ace of diamonds (NS-3, EW-0) and then led another diamond for the defenders to take; East took it with his queen. (NS-3, EW-1). East could see that South was ruffing in dummy, so he led a trump to try to cut down on the number of ruffs declarer could get. Declarer took this club lead in his hand with the jack (NS-4, EW-1). South led another small heart and ruffed it with dummy's ten (NS-5, EW-1). East could not overruff, so he discarded a small diamond, voiding himself in that suit.
To get back to his hand for the last heart ruff, declarer led a diamond from dummy, intending to ruff with the club 5. East, however, ruffed with his remaining club- the eight. This meant that South had to overruff with the jack (NS-6, EW-1). East had the right idea, but South's clubs were good enough to withstand the "uppercut". South led his last heart and trumped it with dummy's last trump- the king (NS-7, EW-1). South came back to his had by trumping another diamond with his club 7 (NS-8, EW-1). South had four cards left- the Q-5 of trump and two small spades. He claimed, saying he would first draw West's last trump and then take the A-K of spades and finally win the last trick with his 5 of trump. Six clubs bid and made!
Critiques and Comments
The bidding on this hand was interesting, illustrating the use of cue-bidding. However, North was too rash in risking a sure game for a 50-50 chance at a slam. The slam would have failed had West held seven hearts instead of just six, or if West had led a trump originally (South needed all his trump for the cross-ruff). You should set this hand up on a table and see what would have happened had either of these situations occurred. South could not have made his contract.
Hand 10
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West did not have an obvious lead. He settled on the A so he could see if North actually had a diamond suit.
Looking at the dummy, South could see that he could take at least four trump tricks, the king of diamonds (since West had led the ace) and the ace of clubs. He needed at least one more. He could get another spade trick if the finesse for the king worked. He could get a heart trick if he could force out the Ace and queen. He could also get another club trick if the king were with East.
Before he did much more, he played low from both hands to the first trick (NS-0, EW-1) to see what West would lead next. West decided to continue with diamonds and led a small one. Declarer played dummy's king, since he knew that West would not have led the ace from A-Q, and so East must have that card (NS-1, EW-1). Next, declarer tried the spade finesse by leading dummy's queen, on which he and East played low. West decided to hold up his king, and also played low (NS-2, EW-1). (It can be a useful play to refuse to take a trick right away; sometimes, you can fool an opponent into thinking that you actually don't have that card, and this can cause him to take a losing line of play. In trumps, it is often done to try to run declarer out of trumps.) South thought his finesse had worked, so he temporarily abandoned drawing trump to try to get a better count on the hand.
West had shown up with the ace of diamonds, and South presumed that East had the king of spades. If he could locate the king of clubs, this would give him a better idea of where the hearts were. He took the ace of clubs (just in case there was a singleton king with West) (NS-3, EW-1), and then led dummy's small club towards the queen. East played low, of course, South inserted the queen, and West took it with the king (NS-3, EW-2). West, now had shown up with 7 points and East, so far, had shown up with 5- the presumed king of spades and the queen of diamonds.
West led another small diamond (following the good principle that when you have no obvious lead, lead a card that your opponent knows you have. In this case, West knew that either declarer had the queen of diamonds or he knew that East had it, so West wasn't giving away any new information with his lead. East, of course, took the queen (NS-3, EW-3). East now had his five hearts and two clubs. He did not want to lead away from his A-Q of hearts, so he led his good jack of clubs. South and West played low and dummy trumped with the small spade (NS-4, EW-3). Next, still postponing the decision in hearts, declarer repeated the spade finesse by leading dummy's jack. When East showed out, declarer knew that West had held up, and that his king would win a trick. The problem was, declarer wanted to be in dummy to lead hearts. How could he arrange this?
Declarer thought if he let West win his king, then there were only a few alternatives. If West returned a spade, declarer would be in dummy where he wanted to be. If West returned a heart, he would do declarer's work for him. If West led a good diamond or club, dummy could ruff, and, once again, declarer would be where he wanted to be. So declarer let the jack ride. West saw no reason to hold up again, and he took his king (NS-4, EW-4). Now, West knew that if he led a club or diamond, he would give declarer a "ruff and sluff" (he would allow declarer to ruff in one hand and discard from the other) giving him a trick he would not otherwise be able to get. He still did not want to lead hearts, so he led his last spade, putting declarer in dummy with the spade queen (NS-5, EW-4).
All dummy had was his original four hearts, so declarer had to lead one of them. But now his job was easier. West had shown up with the king of spades, ace of diamonds and king of clubs. If he also had the ace of hearts, he would have opened the bidding. So east had to have the ace. So, South confidently led a heart and, when East played low (trying to make declarer guess), played the king, which held the trick (NS-6, EW-4). South now had two good trump and a losing heart, so he laid down his hand and claimed two of the last three tricks. He took eight tricks altogether, making his contract with an overtrick.
Critiques and Comments
Sometimes, the lowest contracts are the hardest to play, as points are split more evenly between the teams. Declarer and both opponents need to always keep track of who has shown up with what. There will tend to be much finessing going on, and few, if any, long suits to run. So when you practice playing hands, try to practice with more low contracts. You will learn more.
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Scoring the Game |
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Playing the Hand- General Principles |
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Index of Lessons |
