Introduction
You are the declarer in a Bridge contract. Your partner’s cards are the dummy hand, displayed on the table for everyone to see. As the declarer, you are responsible for playing both hands. You will play the cards from dummy or your partner will play a card only as you direct.
As the declarer, your job is to make the contract, and making the contract often requires a strategy. This lesson provides the underlying basis for making a strategy and outlines some strategies that will help in fulfilling your contract.
Counting Tricks
Look at you and your partner’s hand. Sure-tricks are all the tricks you can take without losing the lead. To start, sure tricks are aces, ace, king combinations or a sequence starting with an ace all in the same suit. Sure-tricks are the count of all of those cards.
If the number of cards in one suit held by the opponents is less than or equal to the sure tricks, then the sure tricks count in that suit is the length of the longest holding between you and your partner.
An example:
You hold: A, J, x, x. Partner holds K, 10, x. You have two sure tricks.
You hold A, K, Q, x, x, x, x. Partner holds J, x. You have 7 sure tricks. What if partner held x, x?
Contract Tricks, Losers, and Strategy
The number of tricks needed to win the contract is the contract bid level plus the 6-tricks forming the base or book. So a 4-♠ contract needs 10 tricks or a 6 trick book + 4 a trick contract.
The losing tricks are the contract tricks minus the sure tricks.
The strategy, then is to use playing tactics to turn losing tricks into winners. The first basic strategy is to take your winning tricks only if the play also creates additional winners. And the second basic strategy is to take your winners when you have enough tricks to make your contract.
Communication between hand and dummy is important and takes constant planning before you take your winners. You get from hand to dummy by leading a suit from your hand that has a winning card in dummy. You get from dummy to hand by leading a suit from dummy that also has a winner in your hand. Before you play a card that breaks the communication chain, be sure to play all winners in the hand before leaving it for good.
Before each trick, count sure tricks. If you have enough sure tricks to make your bid, take them. If you have lost control because you can’t stop your opponents from winning all the tricks in a suit, then you should consider cutting losses and taking winners. Otherwise, you should apply a tactic to make more winners.
Tactics
The tactics presented in this lesson all create additional winning tricks. The process of each tactic will be described along with an explanation of how the tactic creates additional tricks.
These tactics are presented in the context of the declarer. The declarer has the advantage of seeing two hands and, by extension, knows what cards the defenders have collectively. These lessons may apply to defensive play, though to a lesser extent.
Tactic: Promoting a Sequence
Without the Ace, declarer’s (or dummy’s) 3-card sequence of K, Q, J are not sure winners, but leading into the sequence can turn at least 2 losers into winners. Caution: when there is a trump suit, then pulling trump first is recommended.
|
South leads the 8 to the KQJ sequence. If West plays the Ace, then North’s Spade sequence will become winners. Otherwise, at least 2 of North’s Spades will be winners.
Tactic: Finessing a Middle Honor
You finesse the King when you lead to an Ace, Queen combination by playing the Queen instead of the Ace. If you can repeat the finesse or the King is played before the Ace, you may win an extra trick. Remember, a finesse is not assured and may lose when the King is behind the Ace, Queen. If you need to lose a trick in a suit, consider losing it with a finesse. A finesse can also help set up a long suit by either trapping an honor or losing a trick before you lose control.
Three examples of finesses
|
South leads the 7. If West plays the King, South plays North’s Ace. Otherwise, South plays North’s Queen. North/South wins an extra trick.
|
West leads the 4. South play’s North’s 5. If East has the King, East should play it, making South’s Queen good.
If East does not have the King, then South plays the Queen, making the Queen good.
|
West leads the 4. South play’s North’s 5, not the Ace. East plays the 10 to protect West’s honor. South’s Jack is guaranteed to be good, no matter who has the Queen. This is a free finesse that can become available on the first lead.
Establishing a Long Suit
Establishing a long suit can create winners by playing the high ranked honors can turn 1 or more losing lower ranked cards into winning lower ranked cards. Ideally, the long suit should have 8 or more cards in the two hands with at least 2 top honors and at least a 5-3 splitor a 6-2 split. If the long suit is in the dummy hand, you may need a winning card as a another entry to dummy, so it would be wise to establish the long suit first before your side entry is played.
Keep track of how many cards in the suit are held by the opponents. You may have to lose a trick run the suit or lose to the Ace. Consider finessing the King or the Queen early so you can maintain control if the finesse loses.
Occasionally, you may face an opposition that has a 4-1 split or worse so that creating winners may not be safe. So keeping track of the number of cards played is important. If you cannot capture all of the opposition cards, you may need to maintain control in the suit and look for winners in other suits.
|
South leads the 8 to the KQJ sequence. If West plays the Ace, then North’s Spade sequence will become winners. Otherwise, at least 2 of North’s Spades will be winners.
Look for suits with sequences like KQJx. After you lose the Ace, you have at least 2 winners. A long sequence could be more reliable than a long suit.
When you are establishing a suit, take your winners in the hand with the short suit first, then cross over to the long-suited hand and take your winners there.
Creating Extra Tricks with Trumps
Having trumps in your hand gives you control when you are void in a suit, but trumps can also create tricks when the opportunities present themselves. You can gain an extra trick and remove a loser by trumping early in the hand holding the fewer number of trump. You can also create tricks by establishing a cross-ruff when you have trumps left over in both hands. Note that the cross-ruffing technique is riskier when trumps have not been pulled.
In the two examples, South is the declarer playing a ♠ contract.
|
South takes advantage of the singleton ♥ in dummy and plays the Ace of ♥ and then leads the 6, trumping in dummy. South then pulls trump, losing only to the King. The early trump nets 5 tricks from the trump suit instead of just 4.
|
Trumps were pulled in two rounds. After South regains the lead, South can create a cross-ruff by leading the 8 of ♣ to the Ace and leading the 4 of ♥ to the Ace, creating a void in hand and dummy. South can then alternately trump a ♥ and then a ♣ until the trumps are gone. If South had played the Aces and then led the trumps, South would have won 5 tricks. By playing the cross-ruff, South made 7 tricks with the same cards.
Review Questions
South is the dealer in the following hands. Identify a tactic or tactics that shp
- What tactics would South use in the following North/South pair.
|