Aylsham & North Walsham Bridge Circle
 
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Always call the Director if you are unsure........... For an excellent article by Andrew Kambites go to "Bridge Tuition" then select item nine "Calling the Director".
 
 
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Do you know where Val and Keith are? I wonder if they played Bridge or just held good hands!
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Follow the link "Bridge Tuition", then "Ann's Bridge Classes", then "Declarer Play Hands" for ways of making extra tricks. Or just click on this bulletin to take you directly there.
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GOOD ARTICLES

CLICK HERE to go to Bridge Tuition - "Ann's Bridge Classes" item (11) for an excellent article on "The Role of the Declarer" and item (9) Calling the Director.
USEFUL TIPS

(1) AVOID JUMPING STRAIGHT TO 3NT WHEN RESPONDING

 

South
K 8
T 9 6
A 8 5 3
K Q J 7

 

North East South West
1H Pass 2C Pass
2H Pass 4H

South should avoid making an immediate response of 3NT. It takes a lot of bidding space and leave opener no room to describe their hand. 3NT might not be the right contract or a slam might be missed if opener has a strong hand.

Better to just make a forcing bid of 2C and see what partner bids next. In fact there is no hand where you need to respond 3NT after a 1 opening, as you can always bid any 4 card suit!

 

(2) DON'T PRE-EMPT WITH A 4 CARD MAJOR

Don't open the bidding with a pre-empt if your hand contains a four card major in addition to the pre-empt suit.

Pre-empting tends to shut up your partner so you may miss out on a major suit fit and even miss a major suit game.

North
6 2
A 8 5 2
V O I D
K Q T 8 7 5 3
 
South
K T 7 5
K Q 6 5 3
A J 6 2
V O I D
North East South West
Pass Pass 1h Pass
4h

If North pre-empts with 3c South will have to pass. Although South has opening points it is not enough to change suit after a pre-empt (need 16+).

 

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Declarer Play Hands
 
 
  1. Cold Contracts
Contract 3NT by South. Opening lead K by West........You have nine top tricks. It is sometimes best to take them off the top in case the opponents are able to make five tricks if they gain the lead.......You have no heart cover and your only possibility of extra tricks is if the minor suits break 3/3.
  2. Avoiding Blocking
Contract 3NT by South. Lead is K by West..............You have nine top tricks but you must play the Spade suit correctly. Win with the A and move to the Spade suit............Take care .........You must play the K first (big card in the short hand) which gives you a "helicopter" (5 Spades) to get across to North's remaining three spade tricks.
  3. Using Entries
Contract 3NT by South. Opening lead K by West...............Again you have nine top tricks. But take care when you play the diamonds.............take the opening lead with A (in case they switch to a club) and immediately unblock the diamond suit ensuring that you keep the A as an "entry card" to the other two diamond tricks. Note that a Club lead would have defeated the contract!
  4. Driving out opponents top cards
Contract 3NT by South. The lead is Q by West................ You unfortunately this time you only have six top tricks, so you need three more, where are they?.......... They are in the heart suit............Win the first trick with the A and immediately lead K to drive out the opponents Aand thereby "establish" three heart tricks. You must do this at trick two whilst you still have control of the other suits.
  5. Exhausting opponents cards in a suit.

Contract 2NT by South. The Qis lead by West....................You have only eight top tricks so you need one more. It is likely to be in the long club suit, you have eight cards in the club suit so they have only got five (hopefully a 3/2 split) even with a 4/1 split you have the top four clubs so can "establish" the 2 as your fifth club trick........Take care when you play the club suit that you play the KC first (big card in the short hand) so that you do not "block" the suit.
  6. Maintaining communication by
Contract 2NT by South. Lead Q by West..................You have only six top tricks, you need two more............. holding eight of the thirteen cards in the club suit you are hopeful of making four tricks from that suit. With a 3/2 split against you you can "Take one, take one, lose one to make some" ie the two "little gems" on the table (3 & 2 clubs)..........BUT we have no "helicopter" to get back to them and no "entry card"........The secret is to "duck " the first round of clubs so that you can gain access to the club suit in Dummy by means of the A or K draw the rest of the opponents cards in that suit and establish two club tricks. You have to give away a trick to enable you make others.
  7. Leading towards honours.

Contract 3NT by South. Opening lead is Q by West................You have only eight top tricks so you need one more...............The only possible hope is the K.............You must lead a low card from South TOWARDS the K......Your only hope is that the A is "in front of" the king in the West hand...........this is only a 50% chance but at least give yourself that chance!.........Remember it is a "circular game".......... Playing against other beginners they will sometimes lead out their Aces early and make life easy for you ..........but as they get more confident they learn not to, they keep their Aces to kill their opponents Kings!

  8. The finesse.
Contract 3NT by South. Lead Q from West........................You have only seven top tricks. The spades have 50% chance of providing those two extra tricks depending on the position of the K...............Your only HOPE is that West has the King of Spades , sitting in front of the dummies A/Q/J.................Take the first trick in your hand and immediately before playing any other cards lead a low spade towards dummy ........and play your Queen..........CROSS BACK to your hand and play another low spade towards dummy playing your Jack.......You now have the two additional tricks required to make your contract..............(In this situation it would not help the defence in any way if West were to play his K earlier, In different situations when a high card is played  towards dummy it is usually correct to "cover an honour with an honour" making the opponents use up two of there high cards and hopefully promoting a trick for your side)..............A finesse has only a 50% chance of working but at least give yourself that chance. Putting up the Ace immediately gives you no chance......... unless East holds the singleton King!!!
  9. Simple hold-up play by declarer.
Contract 3NT by South. Opening lead K by west................You have only seven top tricks, your source of extra tricks is the diamond suit but the opponents club suit poses a big threat. You can minimise this threat...........With only six cards in the suit led, you need to hold up once. RULE OF SEVEN (7 - 6  = 1). You should hold up your A at trick one but play it at trick two..................Next play your diamond allowing the SAFE HAND (East) to win a trick. East is now unable to return a club to his partner! (If West plays his Jack of Diamonds at trick one  do not allow him to win as he is the DANGER HAND and has three club winners. You must then play off your A/K and hope that East holds the missing honour)........You now have the extra two tricks (6 & 3) which you need to make your contract............. as long as you remembered to keep the Ace Hearts ENTRY CARD.
  10. Scoring extra tricks with trumps.
Contract 4S by South. Opening lead A by West (Bidding sequence not included)...................You have only seven top tricks, the extra three are sitting in Dummy .............You must NOT draw trumps as you need to use the three small spades in Dummy to ruff three losing clubs in your hand giving you the ten tricks to make your contract............As soon as you have those extra three tricks remember to draw the trumps!............If the opponents lead a trump at trick one or you decide to draw trumps early then the contract will not make.
  11. Establishing a suit by ruffing.
Contract Six Diamonds by South. Lead KS from West (Bidding sequence not included)...................You have only nine top tricks..................the long club suit will have to provide three more!!..............It can if you play the cards in the correct order! You must not draw defenders trumps at first as Dummies trumps are required for entry purposes at specific times..Take the first trick with the A then lead a club to the Ace and another club ruffing in hand...........(Watching & Counting.............. opponents have played four of their six clubs - they still have two left)..............Now cross to Dummy with A and lead another club, ruffing in hand........(Watching & hoping..........both opponents followed suit so the remaining clubs in Dummy are now established winners).............. Careful now!............. Before you can cash them you must draw defenders trumps. You must play the Q next  and then across to the dummy's K drawing the last trump on the way and now you can cash the three established club tricks (little gems) discarding losers from your hand and making the twelve tricks required. Great fun isn't it!
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