Contract 4♥ and West leads the ♠ Q. When planning the play declarer (you) can see that you can probably lose two spades, a diamond and a club. Watch what happens if you win the trick with the ♠A. Your plan to ruff a spade won't work as the defender that wins the trick will immediately play a trump and any thoughts of playing a club so as to establish a discard on the ♣K in dummy won't work as you have no way back. The solution is to duck the opening lead and now West has a dilemma. If he leads a trump, the ♠A will be an entry for the ♣K after you have forced out the Ace; and if he leads a spade to kill the entry to dummy you will be able to ruff the third round of spades.    

After the lead of ♠ K declarer can see eight tricks on top and the ninth could come from the diamond finesse or various possible plays in the club suit. Playing for the drop in clubs is not the best percentage play of the club combination in isolation, but by cashing your top cards in the suit where the missing honour is more likely to fall and then finessing in the other suit, you give yourself the best chance of nine tricks without losing the lead. 

Against 4♥, West leads the ♣A and continues with ♣K and ♣4 ruffed by East who returns a trump. (Note: East here showed a doubleton first playing the ♣9 and at trick two played the ♣3). Having lost the first three tricks declarer now knows that the success of the contract depends on finding the ♦Q. Declarer takes the trick in dummy with ♥K, plays the ♠Q to the ♠A and ruffs a spade. Next he plays a trump to ♥J, West discarding a club, and ruffs another spade, West again discarding a club. These ruffs didn't bring any extra tricks, but they served to uncover the the distribution of the opponent's cards. Since West is now known to be 2-1-5-5, declarer should play West who has more diamonds than East (5 v 2), to have the ♦Q. Declarer plays a trump to the ♥A, next plays the ♦J and if not covered by West, runs it. Contract made.

WHAT HAPPENED: West led ♦6. Declarer rose with the ♦K in dummy and then led to the ♥AKQ, but with the suit failing to break 3-3, soon found he could not make more than his eight top tricks and the contract was down one.

The RULE OF 11 is more than a guideline it is mathematically foolproof. It is used, when the opening lead is the 4th best card, by 3rd hand (partner of the opening leader) and by the declarer. Here is how it works: (a) subtract the size of the lead from 11. (b) the answer tells you how many cards higher than the lead are in the other three hands (apart from leader's). (c) look at your hand and dummy's and count up how many cards are higher than the lead. From this work out how many cards higher are in the other hand.  

WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN: LEAD: ♦6. Apply the rule of 11 to the ♦6. (a) 11-6 = 5. (b) there are five cards higher than the ♦6 in the North, East and your own hand (South). (c) Declarer can see the North South hands have five cards higher than the ♦6, which means East cannot have a card higher than the 6. Therefore the ♦10 will win the first trick. So declarer can play the ♦10 and now cash the remaining eight top tricks. Contract made.

East plays in 4♠ and South led ♦Q. In making a plan, declarer can see that there is 1 or 2 losers in trumps, although when missing two honours you can play for split honours, i.e. one to be with North and one to be with South, in which case one trick will be lost. No heart or diamond losers as you have plenty of trumps and one or possibly two losers in clubs as you may be restricted ruffing in dummy should the outstanding trumps divide 3-1. 

Declarer should win the first trick in hand with the ♦K and next play a trump towards dummy with the intention of finessing the Jack. As it happens South plays the ♠K which is won with the ♠A in dummy. Another small trump comes next which North wins with the ♠Q. North now plays the ♥K on which declarer wins with dummy's ♥A. Now take out the remaining trump from North by leading the ♠J from dummy. Cash the ♦A and then play a club to the ♣A and next play the ♣K. Next lead the ♦10 and ruff with dummy's last trump. Then lead your last Club from dummy and North can do no better than play the ♣Q and you win the last three tricks with two trumps and the ♣10, making the contract plus 1.

This hand is taken from Monday night's competition and demonstrates two important techniques, 1. Trump Management and 2. Timing.

Following three passes South opened 1♥, North responded 3♥ showing four card support and 10-12 pts. South bid 4♥ which was passed all round and West led a club. Declarer made a plan and went about the play in expert fashion. East won the first trick with ♣A and played back a club which declarer won with the ♣K. Next the ♥J was successfully finessed and then a spade played to the King which West won with ♠A. West got of lead with the ♦7 and declarer won East's ♦J with the ♦A. Declarer played a trump to dummy's Ace and although the King of trumps was still at large, declarer was in total control. The ♦K was followed by a diamond ruff, West declined to over-ruff. Declarer next played the ♠Q and then ruffed a spade in dummy. Another diamond from dummy and ruffed with declarers last trump and over-ruffed by West. Dummy scored the last two tricks with a trump and the fifth diamond. 

South plays in 3NT and West leads ♥6. The natural-looking plan is to duck the lead, East will win and shift to the ♣J to set up three club tricks for his side and will score another heart or diamond trick to defeat the contract. The declarer, who recently had read a book on opening leads, analysed it and realised that the ♥6 is not a fourth best as he held six higher hearts between his own hand and dummy's hand and only five are possible by the Rule of Eleven, if it were a normal lead. Winning with ♥A, he ducked a diamond. East won with the ♦J and shifted to the ♣J, however, declarer was in control, winning with the ♣A he now played on diamonds. Declarer made four diamonds, three spades, ♥A and ♣A for the contract. Note: the ♥9 is a fourth-round stopper.

South plays in 6♠ and West leads the ♥J. In making your plan to get 12 tricks, you immediately notice you have 11 winners and 2 losers, i.e. a club and a diamond. You must aim to establish dummy's club suit, so you can discard the diamond loser. You win the the heart lead and draw trumps in three rounds. If your next move is to play a club to the Ace, you will go down. You will not have made full use of the ♣A. Instead you should duck the first round of clubs, playing a low club from both hands. In this way you will preserve dummy's ♣A as an entry on the second round of clubs. East wins the first round of clubs and switches to the ♦J. You win with the ♦K, saving dummy's ♦A as a later entry to dummy. You cross to the ♣A and ruff a club in your hand. The clubs break 3-2, you are pleased to see, and the club ruff establishes the suit. You now cross over to the ♦A to play one of the good clubs, throwing your diamond loser. Slam made.

The term AVOIDANCE is given to any tactical manoeuvre designed to keep one particular defender, known as the 'danger' hand, from obtaining the lead.

South plays in 4♥ after the bidding shown. Whereas South held a balanced hand in the range 12-14 HCP's and therefore could have opened 1NT, he correctly opened 1♥ as he held a good 5-card suit and could then rebid the suit. Holding a poor 5-card major (e.g. J9764 or Q8432 in the range 12-14 HCP's it is best to open 1NT as the suit is not rebiddable. West decided to lead from his long suit and led the ♠6. Declarer saw he could afford to lose a spade, a heart and a club, but that it was essential to keep West from obtaining the lead again for what might be a fatal club switch. When East played the ♠K he allowed it to hold - the first move to prevent West from getting in. Winning the next spade, the declarer did not make the mistake of playing the trump Ace, a pseudo-safety play, but ran the ♥8. It was possible that West might hold four trumps to the queen. When the ♥8 won, the ♥10 was finessed, and the ♥K cashed, and declarer came back to his hand with the ♦K, drew the remaining trump, and made the diamonds to score eleven tricks. 

Note: it was perfectly safe for declarer to run the ♥8. Had East held the ♥Q, he could win the trick, but could do no harm to the declarer. 

South plays in 4♥ and West leads the ♦J. South when making his plan sees he will lose two diamond tricks, the Ace of trumps and there is a likelyhood of losing a club trick also.

The play: On the ♦J declarer plays dummy's ♦3 and East makes an attitude signal by playing ♦8 (high card says "I like") and declarer the ♦2. The ♦10 is continued and East takes this with the ♦K and then plays ♦A which declarer ruffs. Declarer next cashes ♣A and ♣K and then ruffs the ♣7 in dummy. If declarer plays a trump now, West will take his Ace and give East a club ruff. Instead, declarer should come back to hand by ruffing a spade and the ruff his ♣Q with dummy's last trump.

Note: Did you notice that East could have defeated the contract, when winning the 2nd trick with the ♦K he then switches to a trump. However, the trump switch is unlikely.

Sometimes the play is so simple that we overlook it. In this example South ended in a contract of 4♠ and the opening lead is the ♥A. At first glance we see declarer has five trump tricks, four club tricks and the ♦A, giving ten tricks. The Play: The declarer, obliged to ruff the heart lead, is reduced to four trumps. He cashed dummy's two Ace-Kings, but can only return to hand by ruffing another heart. With the trumps breaking 4-2, East is left with the odd trump and the contract fails. incidently with 6 cards missing, they will break 3-3 36% of the time and 4-2 48% of the time.

Declarer was obsessed with the idea of cashing the two club winners that had become established, but it is just as good to ruff them! At trick two the declarer must cash the ♦A, then ♣A and ♣K. The contract is now cold. Declarer next ruffs a heart, ruffs the ♣J with trump King, heart ruff back to hand and ruffs the ♣Q with the trump Ace and ten tricks made. Declarer makes seven trump tricks as well as ♦A and ♣A and K.

I had arranged to meet my friend Bill at a local club, after he had finished playing in his weekly duplicate bridge tournament. I arrived to find him a little agitated, his partner Fred had received word of a domestic crisis (the premature birth of his first child) and, somewhat reluctantly, had left.

“It’s the last hand of the session”, said Bill, “and you will have to take Fred’s place”.

“But I've never played the game” I protested. “Never mind”, Bill explained, “just tell me what cards you have in your hand, keeping the bids as low as possible. The pair bidding the highest gets to play the hand – then it’s just a question of taking tricks, like Whist”.

Now Whist I understand, so, somewhat relieved, I sat down in the South seat. We each picked up our hands and I found myself looking at:

♠ J2

♥ 432

♦ 8765432

♣ A

I had to bid first, so of course I said “One Club”. West said “One Spade”, “Two Hearts” said Bill. East and West had nothing more to say as the bidding continued:

Me - “Two Spades” (Bill pulled out a card which said “Alert”, I thought I was!)

Bill – “Three clubs”

Me - “Three Hearts”

Bill - “Four No-Trumps”

This gave me an anxious moment. I didn't appear to have any of them!

However I recovered and gaily finished describing my hand with “Seven Diamonds”.

They all looked at me strangely, before West, with a pitiful expression on his face, said “Double”.

West led the ♠ K and Bill put his cards on the table:

♠ A9

♥ AKQ65

♦ AK

♣ Q1054

The play was easy for an experienced Whist player like me. I won ♠A on the table, cashed ♦AK, which drew the outstanding trumps, then ♥AKQ6, throwing the ♠J from hand. I then lay down my remaining cards saying “I appear to have the remaining trumps”.

West (who Bill told me later was the most experienced player in the club, and had represented Skerries in a team game against four bridge experts from Rush) had been increasingly squirming in his seat and growing red-faced during the play, then spluttered “I would like an explanation of the bidding”. To which I replied, of course, “I was only describing my hand as Bill asked”.

Thursday nights bridge has really taken off well in the club and the following hand is taken from the first week of the Shambo Trophy, played for by members who are of Inter B and Novice grades.

The bidding: S passed as dealer and W opened 1♥, N overcalled 1♠ and E jumped to game in ♥.

The play: North led ♠A and declarer planned the hand carefully. On the face of it declarer could see three possible losers i.e. two spades and one club, and in order to make the contract one spade and one club loser would have to be ruffed in dummy. N after winning the first trick continued with the ♠K which won and then played a third ♠, this is very much decision time for declarer who has to ruff in dummy. Declarer passed the test with flying colours and ruffed with the ♥J; if declarer ruffs low, then S will over ruff and a club switch will see the contract go down. Declarer next played two rounds of trumps, played ♣K which was won by N. The ♦ return was won by the Ace and after a ♣ to the Queen, the remaining club was ruffed in dummy. Contract made and I think you will agree the hand was both bid and played excellently by one of the novice partnerships who only completed classes earlier this year.