East KNOWS, or should know, that Declarer has both the  ♣King and Queen. Why? West led the Jack, denying the Queen. If South did NOT have both the King and Queen he would surely have played a small ♣ from Dummy.

Therefore the defense need four tricks in the ♠ suit to defeat the contract. East MUST play the ♠ Jack when West, having won the  ♦ Ace, leads the  ♠9, which is covered by the Ten in Dummy. East needs to now play the 2 to West's King. When West plays his last ♠ , East's A7 is sitting over Dummy's Q6. Well done West for playing the  ♠9. If he had played the 3 the suit would have been blocked!

This is a hand where passive defense gives you the best chance of defeating the contract, so at Trick Two West should continue with a high ♠. The play of ANY other card from West guarantees South will make his contract. With ♠  cards played in the first THREE tricks, Declarer can afford to lose only ONE of the three Queens  ♥ , ♦ or ♣  that have not been played.

This looks to be a contract that is going to need careful playing since you, as Declarer, are going to have to lose two ♣ tricks. As you will have to lose the lead twice in the ♣  suit, AND you have only 2 stoppers in the ♥  suit, danger is looming. If East has both of the top ♣ honors your contract is going to fail. However as East passed in the opening position it is probable that he does NOT have both of the missing honors in that suit.

The hand is still going to present some problems and the thinking Declarer can solve his problems by playing the ♥ Queen at Trick One AND letting East's King win the trick. Through this play Declarer can win whatever suit East then plays and have time to drive out the two top ♣ honors. Declarer will now take 10 tricks in his 3NT contract, for a well-deserved excellent score!

Clearly East is the "danger hand" for you. Why? If East is on lead then a ♥ through your AJ will almost certainly make it impossible for you to make your contract. From the lead of the  ♠9 at Trick Two it would appear highly likely that East has the King in that suit. Declarer should win the Ace in Dummy and lead the ♦Queen, which is won by West. That player returns a ♠ to East's King. Winning the ♥ return you now have 9 tricks - 3 in the ♠ suit, one in the ♥ suit, 4 in the ♦ suit and one in the ♣ suit. Are you tempted to finesse West for the missing ♣King? I hope not! You are not playing Matchpoint Pairs - you are playing IMPS. The important matter is making your contract. Overtricks in this situation are relatively unimportant.

My apologies for the late appearance of the answer to the problem.

If West plays the  ♠ King at Trick Two it is for one of two reasons - either West commenced with a 7 card ♠  suit OR West has no trumps and  is trying to force Declarer. The latter is the more likely, because with a seven card ♠ suit headed by the AK West may well have decided to bid that suit over the 2NT opening. Trumping the  ♠ King with the ♥2 Declarer should play a small ♣  to the King and Queen. Noting that East's play had suggested a 3 card ♠ suit  Declarer should now play the Queen of that suit, breathing a sigh of relief when East follows suit, Now Declarer should lead the ♦  Ace and a small ♦ to Dummy. Playing the two top cards of that suit in Dummy. Declarer should now play the  ♣ Ace. East is forced to ruff with South over-ruffing. Declarer should now play his remaining ♠ to Dummy, ruffing with the Jack, with East having to under-ruff. The  ♥ Ten will again have East under-ruffing. Poor East with a five card trump suit does not take a trick in that suit! Well played Declarer.

North was indeed optimistic in his 6NT contract and, regrettably, he took an inferior line of play in his attempt to make the contract - and failed! On a ♣  lead he could see 9 top tricks - 2 in the ♣  suit, 5 in the ♦  suit and one in each of the major suits. Declarer tried to get extra tricks in the ♥ suit but his  holding in that suit was not strong enough for that to succeed. If he held AJTxx in one hand then attacking that suit would have had  a better chance of succeeding - at least in theory. Having played a ♥  Declarer was doomed. As the cards lie, attacking the ♠  suit was the play that worked. Playing a ♠  from Dummy and inserting the Queen when the Jack or Ten was played gives Declarer 4 tricks in that suit. While a 4/2 break in that suit was not unexpected, it should be noted that Declarer can take 4 ♠  tricks only when West has the JT doubleton or the KJ or KT doubleton.

This hand should not create too many difficulties for Intermediate players. One of the most important things to remember when you are playing duplicate bridge is that it is seldom good tactics to go down because you were trying to make an overtrick. On this hand Declarer has ten tricks 'for the taking'. He has only three Losers - one ♠ , one ♥   and one ♣. If Declarer tries for an overtrick by taking the trump finesse he will be DEFEATED, because East will now score a ♣  ruff. The correct way to play this contract is, at Trick Two, to play the trump Ace and then a second trump. Ten tricks taken! 

On this hand Declarer has a potential Loser in each suit. This hand was written up some years ago by Eddie Kantar. He gave the hand the title of Temptation. If you are tempted to win the opening lead in Dummy and then play a ♥  to the Ace in your hand, so that you can play the ♦  finesse, then you are indeed going down. You now have a Loser in each suit. The recommended play is for Declarer, at Trick Two, to play the  ♦Queen. This will lose to East's King but he can now discard a losing ♥  on Dummy's winning ♦.

This hand was not a particularly difficult hand to play. All Declarer has to remember is that this is not a hand in which he should put his contract in jeopardy by trying for an overtrick.

There was certainly some quite aggressive bidding going on at this Table! When Declarer played a ♠  at Trick Two, East, who was better known by her screen name - Joan Crawford- showed she was also a talented bridge player. She reasoned that South almost certainly had the ♦  Ace, but if he did not have the Jack also she could knock out a valuable entry to his hand. So East executed a Merrimac Coup, by giving up a valuable asset from her hand to destroy an entry to Declarer's hand prematurely. {This was a very good example of a Merrimac Coup, named after an incideent in the Spanish-American war in 1898. The US deliberately sank its own ship, the Merrimac, to block the entry/exit of the harbor at Santiago de Cuba.} The play of the ♦  King by East now made it impossible for South to make his contract. as he could not get back into his hand to draw East's trumps without overtaking one of Dummy's high trumps.

Excellent defense by a talented lady! 

This hand was taken from "Bridge Analysis" by Boris Shapiro, published in 1976. This, in my view, is a book well worth reading for serious students of bridge!

It is important for Declarer to look confident when they see Dummy - although that may be difficult on this hand. If you do not look confident you have already given assistance and encouragement to the defenders!!

With a ♠ lead Declarer took the first 8 tricks - two  in the ♠ suit, three in the ♣ suit, two in the ♦ suit and a ♦ ruff. At that stage West had a four card ♥  suit and one card in the ♦ suit. When Declarer led a ♠  West had to ruff with the 9 to stop the ♥ 7 winning in Dummy. Declarer over-ruffed with Dummy's King. This gave him 9 tricks. Declarer now made the last 4 tricks with a cross-ruff.

While Declarer made this Grand Slam with a 3/3 fit, life would have been much more difficult if West had decided to lead a trump. However if a trump had been led I am confident that the hand would not have appeared in Shapiro's book.

Declarer needs to keep West off lead for as long as possible so that he cannot lead a ♣  through Dummy. This can be accomplished by the use of a "trump avoidance play" in case West has all 4 missing trumps. Therefore Declarer should lead the ♠Jack from hand, playing low from Dummy if West plays low. If East happened to have the trump Queen he cannot attack the ♣ suit without giving Declarer a trick. As the cards lie in this hand the avoidance play lets Declarer pick up all of the trumps.Now he should play a ♦ to establish that suit. When West wins the Ace and can play the ♣ ​suit. Declarer should win the Ace and discard his losing ♣  cards on Dummy's winning ♦ cards. The avoidance play iin the trump suit enabled Declarer to take 11 tricks in his 4♠   contract.

Wolff reported a number of different approaches that Declarers took in their attempt to make their contract. Drawing trumps and taking the  ♣ finesse did not work. Neither did drawing trumps, cashing the ♣ Ace and King, and taking the ♦  finesse, when West covered the  Queen thus blocking the suit.

Some declarers made the slam by ruffing the second ♠ and immediately taking the ♦  finesse BEFORE drawing trumps. They were then able to discard their losing ♣ on Dummy's winning ♦ . 

Wolff considered that this was not the optimum approach. He considered that the best play was to cash only two trumps - the Queen and the Jack, before playing the ♣ King and Ace. Declarer could then take the ♦  finesse and it did not matter whether West played the King in an attempt to block the suit. Declarer still had the trump King as the entry to enable him to discard his losing ♣  on Dummy's winning  ♦ . Would you have found that play?

Once East comes up with the  ♦ Ace it should be clear that West, who opened the bidding, has the missing 12 points. Declarer should win Trick Two with the  ♥ Ace in Dummy and then play the  ♣ King and Queen. His next play should be to lead a small ♥  from Dummy to the Jack in his own hand. Declarer should now play the ♥  King, discarding the small ♣  from Dummy. Now he should ruff his  ♦ Ace with a small trump from Dummy and then exit with a small trump. West can take his two trump winners but the has no choice other than to exit with a ♦ . This card will be ruffed in Dummy while Declarer discards the losing ♥  from his own hand.

A well-planned and well-executed display!

What do you know about East's hand? You know he started with a seven-card  ♥ suit headed by the QJT, and a singleton ♣. Almost certainly as he has a comparatively weak bid suit he is likely to have some other distributional features. So a 1-7-4-1 shape would not be unexpected. What about West's hand. You know he started with a singleton ♥  and a 4-card  ♣ suit. Almost certainly West does not have both of the two top ♦  cards as he would have likely led that suit if he had both of those cards.

Once you recognize that East has a top ♦  you must  draw all of the trumps otherwise East would give West a ♥  ruff. Next you should lead a ♦  from hand, playing the Queen from Dummy with East winning the King. East will return a high ♥  which you win in your hand. Now you should play a second ♦  and, if West plays low, play the Jack from Dummy. Contract making! If East held the two top ♦ cards you were never going to make this contract, as East would have winning ♥  cards to play.

The very first matter that East has to establish is the number of ♥ cards West started with. Remembering the bidding, West knows that almost certainly Declarer does NOT have 4 cards in the ♥ suit! WHY? His first re-bid was 1♠, which shows a 4 card  ♠ suit and denies a 4 card ♥ suit! It therefore does appear that West has a 3 card ♥  suit.  As East's only entry to his hand is the ♥King he cannot afford to play the King until the third lead of that suit, BUT he must encourage partner to persevere with the  ♥ suit. He can do this by playing the the 8 on the opening lead - if the partnership are playing standard signals. If the partnership are playing odd/even or upside down signals West should play the 3.

When West wins the first of his minor suit Aces he should continue with a ♥ . Again East should play small. When Declarer plays his other minor suit West should win his Ace and play his last ♥ . The defense will now take 5 tricks  - 3 ♥  tricks and two minor suit Aces. Contract defeated!!

My apologies for incorrectly showing North as the Dealer - it was indeed South who made the opening bid.

If you, as Declarer, make the assumption that you have 8 tricks IF the missing cards in the ♦ suit break 3/2, and the ♠ suit breaks 4/3, then this contract should not be too difficult to make. Winning the opening ♠ lead, Declarer should immediately play a ♥ to Dummy. East will no doubt win that trick and return a ♠. South should win that trick and play the  ♦ KQ8, overtaking the 8 with Dummy's Ace. He should then play the  ♥Jack, which will be won by West who can cash his two ♠  tricks. However Declarer can now make his contract by playing his ♦4 to Dummy's 6, which will enable him to play his established ♥  Winner.

As only one person has responded to my request to let me know if you want the WBP to continue, I will, over the rest of July, decide whether I want to continue to put in the effort of producing this on a weekly basis.

What should Declarer do now when West does not follow to the second ♣? If he chooses to play a ♥ he has not been paying attention to the bidding nor has he been following the play of the hand up to this moment. He should know that West commenced with 6 cards in the major suits. Declarer should play the remainder of the ♠  suit. When he does that he will discover that West commenced with a 2-4-6-1 distribution. So far Declarer has taken 7 tricks - 4 in the ♠ suit, one in the ♦ suit and 2 in the ♣ suit. If he now plays a small ♦   from each hand West is now on lead and has either to lead a ♦  into South's KT, or exit with a ♥  to give Declarer his ninth trick.

While not all players will agree with West's opening bid of 2♦ when he has ♥AJxx in his hand, South's play as Declarer enables him to avoid having to play the ♥ suit! 

You ruff the opening lead and play the trump Ace, with East discarding a ♣ . You need to set up the ♦  suit, so you should cross to Dummy with a ♥  to Dummy's 9. Your attempt to finesse the  ♦ Queen is unsuccessful as West wins the King and forces you yet again with a ♣. You ruff again and are now down to ♥ KQ, while West has the 75 and Dummy has the singleton J. Next Declarer should play the  ♦ Ace and another ♦  . As that suit breaks 3/3 you have now established the suit. Winning the  ♦ Jack, West plays his last ♣. As you have a ♠  loser you should discard the 4 on West's  ♣. Another ♣  from East will not help the defense as Declarer can ruff in Dummy, play a ♠   to his hand and play the top two trumps. No other play can help the defense. A well-played hand by South!!

Would you and your favorite partner transfer when North overcalls 1NT, or would you bid the  ♠ game yourself? Personally I would NOT transfer in this situation. Why? Partner's hand is pretty well-known after he has overcalled 1NT and I have a couple of minor suit holdings in which I would prefer the lead to come up to me rather than through me!

So we are now faced with the problem of making this contract with West's lead of the  ♥ King. It looks as if we have a ♣ Loser and possibly 3 ♦ Losers. It does look as if the only reasonable way of making this contract is by endplaying West in the  ♥  suit. This will take some careful planning! Declarer should duck the opening lead and win the  ♥ continuation, discarding a small ♣  from hand.  Declarer should next play two rounds of trumps, and then the ♣  King and Ace before ruffing a third ♣  in his own hand. His next play should be a small trump to Dummy's King, followed by exiting with the  ♥ Ten, on which he discards the losing ♦ 6. Poor West is now endplayed. He has to either lead a ♦  or give Declarer a ruff and a discard.

A Loser-on-Loser play coupled with an endplay are techniques that should be in every bridge players' tool-kit!

On looking at this contract you may well feel that you will make at least your contract - 3 ♠ tricks, 3 in each of the minor suits and one or more in the ♥ suit. However West may well be threatening to make your life unhappy by establishing and running a number of ♥ tricks! That is exactly what will happen if you play the ♥5 from Dummy on West's opening lead. East will play the 8  and now you will be playing the Ten. When you play a black suit to drive out the Ace, West will win and play the ♥  Ace and and the 9. Your contract is now defeated - losing one ♠ , three ♥ s, and one ♣ .

Now look at what happens if you take a different approach and play  Dummy's Queen at Trick One. When that wins you then lead a ♣, driving out the Ace. Whatever West now returns he cannot establish his ♥ suit, before you have driven out the  ♠ Ace. By adopting this line of play you end up up taking ten tricks. You achieved this by playing the ♥ Queen from Dummy at Trick One. After all the bidding strongly suggested that East was extremely unlikely to have the  Queen BUT could have had the 8 or the 9 in the  ♥ suit!! ANALYZING THE BIDDING CAN SO OFTEN GIVE YOU KEY TO MAKING YOUR CONTRACT.

One matter that Declarer MUST look after is that he CANNOT let East get on lead, because a ♠ lead from that hand would spell disaster! Therefore if East plays low on the opening lead Declarer should discard a ♥. If East overtakes the initial ♦lead Declarer should ruff and go to Dummy with a small trump. He should then play the  ♦ Jack from Dummy, discarding a small ♥ from his own hand. In both of these scenarios Declarer will make his contract by ruffing Dummy's third ♥. Provided the missing ♥ cards break 3/2 (a 68% chance), Declarer's 2 ♠ cards can be discarded on the 2 winning ♥  cards in Dummy

How would you play this hand? Of course now that you have seen all 4 hands it is much easier. When this hand was first reported the Declarer went down when, after winning the initial lead, he tried a ♠ finesse, losing to East's Queen, and then losing a second finesse in the  ♥ suit.

There would seem to be a much better approach - rather than trying two finesses. A more effective approach would seem to be leading the  ♦ Ace at Trick Two. When Declarer finds West with a void in that suit it is not too difficult for him to pick up the complete ♦ suit. His next play should be that of playing the ♥ 9, letting it run unless West covers it. As the cards lie poor East wins that trick and has to return a major suit letting South make his Slam. The clue to finding the correct play was West's initial pre-empt. Stripping East of both minor suits creates the end-play to succeed in this contract.

Taking 10 tricks in this contract is not really difficult, but playing Pairs you should really be trying to take MORE than 10 tricks. However unless you plan very carefully there could be problems. Looking at his own hand Declarer should come to the conclusion that it may well be possible to establish a third ♦  Winner in his hand on which he could discard a losing ♥  from Dummy. A word (or two) of warning...if you are going to establish a long suit you need to be sure that you can access that long suit ONCE you have the additional Winner established.

When Declarer plays his  ♠ Ace he must be careful to NOT play the 2 from Dummy. He can play the 8, 7, 6, 5 or 4 BUT NOT THE 2. He should next play the ♦  Ace and King, before ruffing the 3 with the trump Jack. West still has a fourth ♦  so Declarer should now play the  ♠ 8 to his King, enabling him to ruff another ♦  with Dummy's highest trump. The carefully preserved  ♠2 can now be overtaken by the 3 in Declarer's hand so that Dummy's losing ♥ can be discarded on the winning ♦9 in Declarer's hand. 11 tricks taken will be the result and a better than average score will be collected.

Next week's Bridge Problem will be sent from the "Ovation of the Seas" leaving Muscat and heading East across the Indian Ocean towards Cochin, India.

Declarer's task is to avoid losing both a ♦  trick and a ♥  trick. If Declarer has a choice between a. trying to establish a long suit, or b. taking a finesse, he should first try to establish the long suit IF he can try both, without losing control. So on this hand Declarer should test the ♦ suit first to see if the missing cards break 3/3. As they do indeed break 3/3, Declarer's  ♥ Queen can be discarded on the 13th ♦ in Dummy. This is indeed fortunate for Declarer as the ♥  finesse does not work!

There are some contracts that can only be made IF  one, or both, of the defenders can be dissuaded from making the winning play. In this contract the Declarer played, at Trick Two, the misleading  ♣ 9. West was unwilling to part with his Ace on the first play of the suit and it fell to East to win the first ♣  trick with his King. East then played a ♥  to clear that suit. The contract could not now be defeated. Declarer played the  ♣ Ten and trumped West's Ace in Dummy. It was now a simple matter to draw trumps in two rounds and throw Dummy's ♥ Loser on Declarer's winning  ♣ .

Once you have won the  ♥ King, it is time to draw trumps. When that has been done Declarer has to avoid having a ♦ Loser. There are four possibilities [1] Finesse West for the missing Queen, [2] Play the ♦ Jack from Dummy and finesse East for the missing Queen, [3] Play the Ace and King and hope the Queen falls, [4] Finesse West for the missing ♠ King (if successful that suit will provide a Winner on which to discard the losing ♦). [1] and [2] are each no better than a 50% chance. [3] and [4] together give you a 70% chance of success. As can be seen the  ♦ Queen does indeed fall doubleton.

When a finesse in either of two suits will allow you to make contract, play off the top two tricks in the longer suit in case the missing honor appears. If it does not appear then take the finesse in the shorter suit.

This hand was taken from a very useful 'small book' (61 pages) by David Bird and Marc Smith. The book, Safety Plays, is, in my view, one of the easiest books to read on this very important topic.

On this particular hand Declarer has indeed been very fortunate that he did not receive a ♦ lead. His contract is now safe if he does not lose two trump tricks. The safety play is to play the trump Ace once you have discarded the ♦Queen on the ♣King. If the trump King has not appeared Declarer must enter Dummy, with a ♠ and lead a trump to the Queen.

Note that Declarer is faced with a difficult problem if he did indeed receive a ♦ lead.  In that situation he has to hope for ♥Kx in East's hand. 

After winning the opening lead in Dummy Declarer played the ♠Ace, with East showing out. Declarer has now to try to find a way of making his Slam when it looks as though he has both a trump Loser and a  ♦Loser. Not fazed by the unexpected trump situation our Declarer cashed his  ♠King  and  ♣Ace, before ruffing his remaining ♣ in Dummy. He next led a ♦ to his Ace and then played a second ♦  through West, winning with the King in Dummy when West followed suit. {If West had ruffed Declarer would have played low from Dummy - making his contract.} When West followed to the second ♦,  Declarer played the King from Dummy. He now switched the the ♥ suit, with West following to all three rounds. When Declarer now exited with a trump, poor West was end-played. He had to lead either a ♣  or a ♥. As neither Declarer nor Dummy have any cards in either of those suits, a ruff and a discard enables South to bring this Slam home.

On the lead of the ♥4 East plays the Queen. The question for you as Declarer is 'should you win this trick, or should you hold up?" The answer to this question really depends upon which of the Defenders has the ♦Ace! There is perhaps a small clue that might help you resolve this question. Do you see that clue?

 If West commenced with a five card  ♥ suit, a couple of useful black suit cards + the  ♦ Ace, he may well have ventured a 1♥ overcall. If you suspected he had the  ♦ Ace you should win the opening ♥ lead as East would now not be able to get on lead to put a ♥ through your J5. However as West did NOT make an overcall the odds slightly favor East to have the  ♦ Ace. Therefore South should hold up playing the Ace until the third round, hoping that East has that important Ace. He does indeed and now when he gets on lead with the  ♦ Ace he does not have a ♥  to return to his partner. Declarer  makes his contract with 4 ♦  tricks. one ♥  trick and two tricks in each of the black suits. The inference that Declarer concluded about West's hand not having the  ♦ Ace was indeed correct. Not a particularly strong inference BUT it was correct!

When should you draw trumps? If Declarer decides to attempt to draw trumps on this hand he will go down. How does he know not to draw trumps? He cannot know for certain that drawing trumps will fail. However if he considers the possibility that there is an adverse split in the trump suit AND the defender with the better trumps has four cards in the ♣ suit, he might want to take an alternative approach. The winning approach is, at Trick Four, to play the  ♠Ace and then ruff a small ♠ . Now if Declarer leads the  ♣Queen and trumps it in Dummy he is going to make his contract no matter if one defender has both the Ace and Jack of trumps. All the defense will be able to take will be the  ♣ Ace and the  ♥ Ace and Jack.

It does look as though you have only 3 Losers, one in each of the suits - other than trumps. However as you are almost certain that East commenced with an 8-card ♦ suit, and you commenced with two 5 card suits, it is unlikely that the other suits will break kindly for you! When you start playing trumps, say the Ace and small from Dummy to your Ten, East discards a ♦  on your second trump. Now West has as many trumps as you have. It does not make any sense to draw all of West's trumps and the try the ♣ ​finesse - it is highly likely that the  ♣King is in East's hands. If you take that approach you will probably lose count of the number of ♦  tricks that East will take! No, you will have to try to set up the ♣ suit BEFORE you draw all of the trumps. So play the  ♣Ten and let it run. East will do best by not winning the King. If that occurs Declarer should play a second  ♣. As there were initially only 5 ♣  cards missing it is important to play the Ace now and then play a third  ♣. Declarer can then win whatever suit is returned and will make his contract - losing one  ♠, one ♦, and one ♣ . If indeed East, when he wins the  ♣King, plays a third ♦  Declarer can throw away his ♠ Loser, ruff in Dummy with the trump Queen and claim 11 tricks! 

Declarer can see that he has 8 tricks - two ♠ tricks (once the Ace has been driven out), 2 ♥  tricks, and 4 ♦ tricks (once the Ace has been driven out). To make his contract Declarer will also have to win a ♣ trick! At one table Declarer won the ♠ Ten and immediately played the ♣ King. East, playing upside down count, played the 2 and West was able to work out that South almost certainly had a singleton ♣, and thus took his Ace. The contract was defeated! At the other Table Declarer overtook Dummy's  ♠ Ten with the Queen and then played her  ♣ 5 towards Dummy. West with no clear idea how many cards in the ♣  suit East had, did NOT rise with the Ace, and thus Declarer had 'stolen' his extra trick. Now it was a simple matter for him to establish his ♦  suit and make his contract.

When you are on lead and you have length in the trump suit it is often a very good idea to lead your long suit, hoping to force Declarer to ruff, thus shortening his trumps. This was the thought of West on this hand, so he led his 4th highest ♦ . Needless to say he was surprised to find that it was his partner who was short in that suit.  Now the defenders took three ♦  tricks, and, as West had a winning trump, the contract was defeated. As West's colleagues pointed out to him almost any lead was going to defeat this contract!  However West's approach to the opening lead when he had length in the trump suit was quite correct.

Declarer has 12 top tricks and the question is "from where is the 13th trick coming?" If West has led from something like QJTx he will have to guard the ♠  suit when the ♦ suit is run. In addition if East, as seems likely, has four or more ♥ cards he will have to guard that suit. So who is going to guard the ♣ suit?

Declarer should win the opening lead in his hand with the Ace and run five ♦  tricks, discarding a ♠   and a ♥  from his hand. He should then play the ♠King, and the  ♥Ace and King, ending up in Dummy. Dummy now has four cards left - one in each suit. East has had to find 4 discards on the run of the ♦  suit, almost certainly one ♥ , one  ♠ , and 2  ♣ s. When he has followed suit to the  ♠ King and the  ♥ Ace and King, East has a top ♥ and ♣Qxx left in his hand. Declarer has a ♥ and the  ♣AK2. West's final four cards are a high ♠ ​ and the  ♣Jxx. When the 13th ♦  is played from Dummy both East and West are faced with a problem for which there is no solution. If East discards a ♥  then Declarer discards a ♣. If East discards a ♣  then Declarer discards a ♥ . West has a similar problem -  If he discards a ♣  then the  ♣ 2 becomes the 13th trick! If West discards a ♠  then the 9 in Dummy becomes the 13th trick.

In relation to last week's question. The two experienced IMP players I consulted had two different views  - one would try to make the contract via a minor suit finesse - standing the risk of a -200 score, while the other would settle for a -100 score in both Pairs and Teams.

One of the important matters for Declarer to be aware of is that it looks as though, once he sees Dummy, that E/W can probably take at least at least 9, if not 10 tricks in a ♠ ​contract.  That being so Declarer has to be very careful not to go down two. -200 will never be a good score if the opponents do not bid on to game. South therefore needs to plan carefully. He has already lost two tricks. If he decides to take the two-way ♣ ​finesse, and it loses, then N/S will lose a total of 6 tricks and the dreaded result of -200 will be the result.

As a contract of 3♥  by South is a great contract Declarer needs to minimize his possible losses. A score of -100 would be a great result. This can be achieved by Declarer drawing trumps and then playing a ♦ . The defenders can take their three ♦  tricks but then have no choice other than to play a ♣ or give Declarer a ruff and a discard of a ♣ ​from his hand.  That is clearly the approach that Declarer should take in a Matchpoint game. In a Teams match the situation is not quite so clear. However a losing ♣  finesse and a score of -200 is unlikely to be beneficial  to the team! Personally I would almost certainly settle for -100 at IMPs scoring also. However I will canvass the opinions of a number of higher level IMPs players, and let you know next week what the majority view was.

To make this contract Declarer needs only 3 ♣ tricks, NOT four! IF Declarer decides that he should get an overtrick by taking four tricks in the ♣ suit, and decides to lead twice to the high ♣s in Dummy, he is almost certainly going to be defeated. Striving for an overtrick, which could mean the contract is defeated, is not usually a good PLAN!

To guard against a bad ♣ break Declarer should, at Trick Two, play either the  ♣7, from his hand, or lead the 2 from his hand and insert the 8 from Dummy when West plays low. This enables East to win with a low ♣ and return his remaining ♠ to West. Declarer wins that trick and plays his remaining ♣ to Dummy's King, Queen or Jack. Declarer will now end up taking 9 tricks, even if East switches to a ♥  after winning his second ♣ . If East decides to switch to a ♥ after winning the first ♣ then Declarer is almost certainly going to be defeated. If Declarer wins the opening ♠ lead with the King in his hand, a ♥  switch at Trick Three is more difficult to find. Why? East may well believe that his partner's opening ♠ lead was from a suit headed by the Ace, or Queen, or both!

I am sure that not all South players would jump to 4♥  after partner has given a simple raise. However should South invite with a bid of 3♥ then North would accept and bid the game.

You are West on this deal and have led the  ♣3, won by East's Ace and you have won the return with your King. If you now return the ♣Ten, or Jack, Declarer will be forced to ruff and you will now have the same number of trumps as he has. Declarer has little choice but to draw trumps and hope that East has the all-important  ♦ Ace. Unfortunately for Declarer YOU have the  Ace, and can now take your remaining  ♣ Winners. With this forcing defense East/West will take 5 tricks, defeating the contract by two tricks. 

There is really no point in ducking the opening lead, although it does no harm to duck. When you take the ♣Ace you should play your two top  ♠s. When you know that you can take 5 tricks in that suit it is time to pause and look again at your options. You know that many of the field are going to be playing in a contract of 2♠ , almost certainly taking 9 tricks. A contract of 1NT, making 2, is not going to score well. Declarer needs to consider whether or not he can take 9 tricks in a NoTrump contract. If West has the  ♥Queen an extra trick can be made by taking the finesse. Many experienced duplicate players will be prepared to take the chance of going down in a NoTrump contract if they KNOW that quite a number of the field are likely to be playing  in a suit contract, taking 9 tricks. Note that is important for Declarer to be aware that he needs an entry back to his hand to take the third trick in the ♥ suit. Therefore he should play only the two top tricks in the ♠ ​suit so that he can use the remaining cards in that suit as the entry back to his hand. While experienced Duplicate players will consider taking the ♥ finesse in a Matchpoint Pairs game, they would almost certainly NOT take the finesse when playing in a Teams match, where the overtrick is of much less importance.

When Declarer looks at his hand and that of Dummy he should see that he has a ♥  Loser, a ♣ Loser and two possble Losers in the ♠ suit. Fortunately West did not make the opening lead of a  ♠ , otherwise he would have lost the first two tricks and his contract would be that much more difficult to make. Declarer now needs to be very careful and avoid letting West get back on lead. He can achieve that by playing the ♣Ten and letting East win the first trick with the Queen. As soon as he gets the lead Declarer needs to draw the opponents' trumps, breathing a great sigh of relief when East has the Ace. Declarer can now dispose of one of his ♠ Losers on Dummy's winning ♦ . This was a somewhat lucky hand for Declarer, because if the trump Ace was in West's hand the contract would almost certainly be defeated.

If the Kokish/Kraft recommendation for North to jump to 4♥ was a bit of a surprise, how do you feel about East's 1♠ response to his partner's 1♦ opening? They state "We believe that today at least half the expert community would not consider passing 1♦ at this vulnerability."

However you are now South and as Declarer you are striving to make 4♥ with the ♣Ace as the lead. When you look at Dummy you realize you are going to need some luck to make this contract. Ruffing the opening lead you have to choose between trying to ruff three ♦s in Dummy or trying to discard some losers on the ♣ ​suit in Dummy. The latter should be your choice. Why? Well one reason would be that East almost certainly has no more than a doubleton ♦ and you will NOT be able to ruff 3♦s in Dummy AND play two rounds of Trumps! So the best play is to lead the ♥Queen at Trick Two. West will probably win the King (although he MAY not play the King if he thinks his partner has the Ace!), and then play his ♠King. It does him no good. You win the Ace and then play a small ♥ to Dummy's Ten. Now you play the  ♣Queen, discarding a ♠ from your hand. Poor West is now on lead and has to lead either a ♦ or a ♣, either of which would make it certain that you are going to make your contract! If West plays a ♦ you have two tricks in that suit: if he leads a ♣  you win the Jack and then ruff a small ♣  to set up the long ♣ ​in Dummy on which you can discard either a ♠ or a ♦.

The ONLY way you can go wrong on this hand is if you go to Dummy and attempt a ♠ finesse. Now you are going to lose. With that play you are going to lose the trump King and the ♣Ace as the cards lie. The correct method of playing the hand is to win the opening ♥ lead and lay down the ♠Ace. When the trump King does not appear Declarer should play his  ♦7 to Dummy's Ace then play the  ♦King and Queen, discarding the two ♣Losers.  This is a far superior play to trying for the anti-percentage ♠ finesse! 

You have already lost one trick and you have now discovered that East has the ♦J8 and you have no trumps left in Dummy to enable you to finesse through East. You have the ♦QT6 in your hand. What you really have to do is finesse East's ♦J8!!! To achieve this you have to carry out two plays. 1. You must reduce your trumps to the same number that East has; and 2. You must lead from Dummy at Trick Twelve. At Trick Five you should play a small ♥ from Dummy to the Queen in your hand. Now you play a small ♥  to Dummy's Ace and then ruff a ♥   in your hand with the ♦6. You have now reduced your trumps to the same number as has East. Now you cross to Dummy with a small ♠  to the Queen. From Dummy you start playing the winning ♥s. If East trumps, you over-trump, play your last ♦ and claim with your three winning ♠s. If East does not ruff you continue playing ♥s, discarding the top ♠ s from your hand. Now you are still in Dummy at Trick Twelve with only 2 cards  - both small  ♠s. East has the  ♦J8, and must play one of those cards. You are sitting over him with the  ♦QT. A trump reduction play is indeed a useful tool to have in your 'bag or tricks".

When, as South, you receive the lead of the  ♠King and consider your Plan, you should see that you have 11 tricks - one ♠ , 3 ♥s, 3 ♦s and 4 ♣s. The only possibility of getting an additional trick has to be in the  ♦ suit. However you do not yet have enough information about the defenders' hands to work out how to play the ♦ suit.

As you must lose a ♠  it is a good idea to duck the opening lead, so that when you get a second lead of that suit you will start finding out more information about defenders' hands. East follows suit on the opening lead and on the second ♠  he discards a small ♥ . So we now know that West started with a 5 card ♠ suit. Next you can cash 4 ♣ tricks and 3 ♥  tricks. West followed to the 3 ♥ tricks and  3 of the 4 ♣ tricks, discarding a ♠  on the fourth ♣  . From our counting exercise we now have established that West commenced with 5 ♠s, at least 3 ♥s and exactly 3 ♣s. West can therefore have a maximum of 2 ♦s. All Declarer has to do now is to play the  ♦Ace and a small ♦ to the King in Dummy. The lead from Dummy of the ♦8, through East's J9 to South's QT, brings in 12 tricks for Declarer. One of the important keys in Declarer play on this hand was the ducking of the opening lead to begin the task of getting a count on West's hand. Of course once you have a count on West's hand you automatically have a count on east's hand.

Would you have believed me, when I put this hand up a couple of days ago, if I had said "Isn't Dummy's ♠  suit a powerful holding?" I guess the answer is that you would probably NOT have believed me!

OK let us look at the two hands. You had to lose a ♥  and now you have done that at Trick Two. It looks as if there is now no problem if the missing ♦ cards break 3/3. However that is against the odds. Having won Trick Three with a high ♠  in Dummy Declarer should play a ♥ to his Ace and then take 4 ♣  tricks. After the first 8 tricks have been played these are the cards that West has: ♠J, ♦J985, while Dummy has: ♠2, ♦AQ42. East has: ♥ K74, ♦ T7, While Declarer (South) has: ♥5, ♦K63, ♣T. Just look at the dilemna that West faces when Declarer plays the ♣T. If West discards the ♠J then Dummy's 2 will make a trick, with Declarer discarding a ♦  from Dummy. If West discards a ♦  then Declarer discards the ♠2 from Dummy and takes four tricks in that suit to make his contract, discarding his losing ♥ on Dummy's winning ♦. Notice that Declarer has not played any of the ♦  suit until he has finished playing the ♣ ​suit. So if by some chance the squeeze is not working Declarer can still fall back on trying for 4 tricks in the ♦ suit.

Declarer's chances of making this contract initially seem to depend upon the missing ♦ cards dividing 3/3, or the ♣ Queen being doubleton. The more experienced Declarer, however, may see another possibility - a squeeze on West. That is certainly possible IF West commenced with four ♦ cards and the  ♣Queen.

Declarer has to lose a ♦ anyway, so he  should play a little ♦  from both hands after he has played 3 rounds of trumps. East wins this trick with the Queen or Jack. At this stage West has 6 cards left ♦ T98 and  ♣ QT9. Dummy has ♦AK4 and ♣J63, while Declarer has ♠Ten, ♦75 and ♣AK7. East who has just won a ♦  trick and now has to lead from ♥ T9, ♦ J and ♣ 842. The squeeze is now all set up. No matter what card East plays Declarer will win, either in Dummy or in his hand. The ♠Ten  in Declarer's hand becomes the very important squeeze card which forces West to discard either a ♦  or a ♣ , enabling Declarer to  take three tricks in one of those suits.

To understand the mechanics of this type of squeeze you may find it easier to follow if you actually deal out the four hands.

Declarer can see 11 tricks in this contract, once he has driven out the ♥Ace - 2♥s, 3♠s, 4♣s and 2♦s. .If the missing ♠s break 3/3  the Declarer has his contract but probability suggests that a 4/2 break is more likely than a 3/3. That being the case the more experienced Declarer will almost certainly consider the possibility of a squeeze play. Winning the opening ♦ lead he is likely to drive out the ♥Ace. West wins the trick with that card and returns the ♦Jack. The experienced Declarer will now start playing his ♣suit as this is the suit that may well cause some squeeze problems for one of the Defenders. Playing 3 rounds of that suit he discovers that West started with a singleton ♣ . He is forced to find 2 discards and will probably discard two ♦s and one ♥ . West is now in a real quandary. His last five cards are ♠J975, and  ♦Ten. Dummy has ♠AKQ4 and ♦8. Declarer has ♠763, ♦9 and ♣J. When Declarer plays the ♣J, poor West must either discard a ♦  or a  ♠  giving Declarer the last 5 tricks - making his contract!  

Declarer can see that he has a ♦ loser and one or more ♥ losers; in fact he will have 2 ♥ losers IF East gets on lead. Therefore Declarer has to ensure that East does not get on lead! If Declarer can do this AND the missing ♦ cards are split 3/3 then this contract can be made. Declarer's first move should be to duck the opening ♠King lead. It matters not what West continues with. Declarer draws trumps, ending up in Dummy, and then plays the  ♠ Ace, discarding a small ♦  from his hand. Next he plays a small ♦ to the Ace and a small ♦  to the King. Now he plays a third ♦ from Dummy, ruffing it in his hand. When both opponents follow to this third round of the ♦  suit, Declarer returns to Dummy with a trump and discards a ♥  on the 13th ♦.  Adopting this Avoidance Play (avoiding East, the danger hand, getting on lead), Declarer makes his contract losing one ♠ and one ♥.

Certainly the play of the trump suit by the defenders made life somewhat easier for Declarer. Now he needs to build on that beginning. Having won the trump Queen in Dummy he should lead a small ♣ to the Ace in his hand. Next he should lead the ♦ Jack towards Dummy. If West does not cover with the King then Declarer should play a small  ♣ from his hand towards Dummy, playing the Ten if West plays low. (Declarer can always get back to his hand with the ♥  King so that he can repeat the ♦  finesse.) If West covers the intial lead of the ♦ Jack with the King, Declarer can return to hand with a small ♦ from Dummy, and lead a ♣ towards Dummy, again inserting the Ten if West plays small. Playing this way Declarer should take 3 ♠  tricks, one ♥  trick, 3 ♦  tricks and 2 ♣  tricks.

Competing in the balancing position indeed paid a good dividend on this hand. With only 18HCPs North/South managed to take 9 tricks.

On first looking at this problem (and not being able to see the E/W hands) it might appear that Declarer has to take either the ♥  or the ♣  finesse to make this contract. As both of these finesses lose this was not going to work and the astute Declarer needs to find a better way of making his contract. There is indeed an approach that works. Declarer should win the trump Ace and lead a ♦  to his hand in order to lead a ♠  towards Dummy. West wins the ♠ King and can do no better than lead another trump. East wins this trick and exits with a ♣ . Too late!. Declarer wins the ♣ Ace, and draws the last trump. He can now discard his two losing  ♣ cards on the long ♦ in Dummy and the  winning  ♠ Queen.

This hand highlights the admonition of many bridge teachers - "The finesse is the play of last resort".

One of the skills that ALL top players develop is that of Counting. For Declarer, the ability to work out the distribution of the opponents' hands, even when they have not bid, gives him a greater chance to make his contract, or make one or more over-tricks. For Defenders the ability to work out Declarer's actual distribution can enable them to work out the best defensive Plan.  This hand is a good example of the effectiveness of COUNTING.

After Declarer has won the opening lead and played the  ♠ Ace and King you, East, know that South commenced with a seven-card trump suit. Therefore he has only 6 cards in the other three suits. When Declarer plays the top three ♥ cards, discarding the ♦ Queen on the third ♥ winner, you KNOW that South's hand had the distribution of 7-2-2-2. So when Declarer plays the ♥ Ten you CANNOT afford to ruff. By now you know that Declarer's last 5 cards are all trumps. You, East, should simply keep on discarding your ♦ suit. Declarer will ultimately be forced to ruff and will then have to lead a ♠  from his holding of T875. You will now take two trump tricks to defeat the Slam.

This hand has generated quite an amount of discussion, with more than one respondent being concerned that West might have commenced with a seven-card ♥ suit. I guess that is possible but perhaps West might have made a jump bid in the ♥ suit, if that was the case.

It should be noted that the 5♣  contract cannot be made if West finds the best possible defense! The reality is that if Declarer wins the opening lead his chances of making this contract have been significantly diminished. Declarer should play the 7 from his hand on the opening lead, after East has played the 8. It is highly likely that West will interpret partner's 8 as an encouraging card and continue with a second high ♥ . Declarer should  win the trick with the Ace and ruff his last ♥ . Trumps should now be drawn. Declarer will now be aware East has no ♥  cards or ♣  cards left in his hand. When Declarer now plays a  ♦  from his hand and plays either the Ten or Jack from Dummy, poor East is end-played. He has only ♠  and ♦  cards left and has to lead around to Dummy, enabling South to make his contract.

How can this contract be defeated? If West, having won the opening lead, plays a ♦  at Trick Two, East can avoid the endplay by leading a trump once he has won a ♦ .

Very often in bridge the opening lead determines the outcome of the contract. In a similar fashion the play that Declarer makes at Trick One can determine the success or failure of the contract. Sometimes deception is the only ploy that is available to Declarer to enable him to make his contract. Indeed that was the situation with this hand.

Declarer has 7 Winners - 2 in the ♠ suit, 3 in the ♦ suit and 2 in the ♣ suit. Declarer can also see that he is likely to lose four ♥ tricks once he loses the lead. His only hope of making this contract is in taking 4 tricks in the ♣ suit! Declarer's only possibility of succeeding in taking 9 tricks is through indulging in some deception. Put yourself in West's position and make a decision about what you are going to lead at Trick Two if, on the opening lead, the 4 is played from Dummy, the 8 from East and the 5 from Declarer. If you were West would you not believe that your partner's 8 spot was an encouraging signal in the ♣  suit? You would almost certainly continue with a second ♣ ​ and Declarer would now take his 9 tricks! If West is not deceived by your play and switches to a ♥  then that West player would indeed be in the minority!

East has nothing in his hand that will enable him to win a trick. He KNOWS that if the contract is to be defeated the setting trick must come from his partner. If there is another defensive trick available East has to discard in such a manner that West will know which five cards to keep when Declarer has finished playing all of his trumps.

If the partnership are playing standard signals (high card showing an interest in that suit) then East should start discarding the 2, 3, 4 and 5 in one of the minor suits - it does not matter which one. East should then discard the 2 in the other minor suit. His partner should now come to the conclusion that East has NO MORE CARDS in the first minor suit he discarded. If East had discarded four ♣ cards then West  knows that Declarer commenced with three cards in that suit. If East first discarded his four ♦ cards then West, who has four cards in that suit himself knows that Declarer commenced with only two ♦ cards. 

If East/West are playing upside down signals then East would discard one of the minor suits in the order of 5, 4, 3 and 2.

This hand was taken from a book written in 1972 by Victor Mollo. That book has a very meaningful title "Test your Defense. Where the Points Are Won."

That title simply underscores the importance of defense!

What could the lead of the ♣Ten be about and should West rise with the Ace or not? Is it possible that South is a clever Declarer who knows that if he can "steal" a  ♣ trick, while he still has a  ♥ Winner, he will have time to drive out the ♦ Ace and claim 9 tricks - 3 ♠s, 2 ♥s, 3 ♦s and one ♣? Indeed this is what the clever Declarer was doing and his deception involved leading the ♣Ten from QJTx.

Were there any clues available to West that could encourage him to immediately win the ♣Ace and continue with a second ♥? YES! If Declarer commenced with ♥AQx it would make a great deal of sense for him to 'duck' the opening lead! The fact that he did not take that course of action strongly suggests he started with a doubleton AQ. If West wins the ♣ lead and returns a ♥ then Declarer will be defeated because East can/will return a ♥  when he wins the ♦Ace. If East does not have the ♦Ace then this contract cannot be defeated - BUT Declarer cannot have the ♦Ace along with ♠QT7, ♥AQ, ♣QJT2. Why? He would have 15 points!!

A tough hand for the Defenders but this is the sort of defense that wins champioships!!

It indeed takes some thinking (Discovery!) for East to make the correct move at Trick Three. Let us start with the ♦   suit. What do you imagine prompted West to lead the ♦ King? As it was an unbid suit it would not be unreasonable to assume that West commenced with something like KQJx or KQTx. It is quite unlikely that West led from shortness. So East can see that, as the defenders already have won two ♦ tricks and will, almost certainly win a ♣ trick, one more trick needs to be won to defeat the contract.  Can anything go wrong if the ♣ Ace is played at Trick Three? Let us look carefully at Dummy. There is only one ♣  in Dummy. Can Declarer get rid of it anywhere? Almost certainly the answer to that question should be NO. Why? You can see four ♥  cards in Dummy so Declarer would need five of that suit in his own hand before he could discard a card from another suit in Dummy.  Unlikely!

So where is the setting trick going to come from for the Defenders? The only hope would appear to be If West has a ♥   trick. Based on this analysis East should play a ♥  at Trick Three. The defense will now defeat the contract, taking one ♥  trick,  one ♣  trick and 2 ♦  tricks. Look at what happens if East plays his ♣ Ace at Trick Three. He wins that trick but now when he plays a ♥  Declarer will win the Ace, draw trumps ending up in his own hand, and then DISCARD THREE  ♥ s from Dummy on the three winning  ♣ s in his own hand.

Win the opening lead of the ♦Queen and play the ♣Ace and Queen. If the ♣King has appeared you have more tricks than you need. If the King has not appeared it is best to guard against a 4/1 or 5/0 ♠ break by playing small towards the Ten in Declarer's hand. If the ♠ suit is 4/1 then the Jack will appear and you now have 9 tricks - 5 ♠s, 2 ♦s and 2 ♣s. If the suit break is 5/0, and the Jack has not appeared, drive out the ♣King and claim ten tricks. A very important issue is for Declarer to ensure that he keeps a ♦ entry to his hand so that he can access the ♣ suit once the suit has been established.

This hand was adapted from Eddie Kantar's excellent book "Take All Your Chances 2.:

When you first saw this hand I had put a ? mark, instead of a bid, for South's re-bid. This was done deliberately so that you would pause for thought BEFORE you made a call. Perhaps some of you wanted to at least think about whether you should make another bid. Pass was indeed the correct call to make. 

Now for the correct defense! This hand was one written up by Mike Lawrence a few years ago. His suggested play is for South to win 2 ♠  tricks and then exit with the ♦9.  North should win 2  ♦   tricks and then give South a ♦ ruff. So far it is 5 tricks for the defense. Now when South exits with a top ♠   Declarer is in more trouble. In addition to the tricks the defense have taken already they should win 3 ♥  tricks and one ♣ trick. Declarer ends up taking 4 tricks. In other words North/South took nine tricks!

This was indeed a brutal hand for Declarer. If South had ever been tempted to re-bid his strong ♠  suit, instead of passing partner's Double, the result should make him really glad he did not yield to the temptation!

There are two important matters to consider with this hand – 1. Declarer has a ♣ Loser and 2 possible ♣ Losers, and 2. Does one of the Defenders present particular problems if they are on lead?

Here are all four hands:

The astute Declarer will recognize that (a) the only real possibility of making this contract is by developing Dummy’s long ♣ suit on which to discard ♠ Losers from his hand, and (b) West is the danger hand and must be kept off lead so that he cannot lead a ♠ through Dummy’s K7.

OK now that you have recognized the two above factors – what is your PLAN? The critical issue in developing Dummy’s ♣ suit is to keep West off lead! At Trick One Declarer should play the ♥King from Dummy and, when East plays the Ace, DISCARD the ♣7 from his hand. Declarer should then win the ♣Ace and play a small ♦ to Dummy, ruffing a ♣ high in his own hand, before returning to Dummy with a trump and ruffing a third ♣ high. As the missing ♣s are 3/3 Declarer has two winning ♣s in Dummy on which he can discard two ♠s, conceding one ♠ to the Defenders.

This Plan depends upon the 6 outstanding  ♣ cards breaking 3/3. If that does not occur then Declarer is unlikely to make this contract.

​

While this looks to be a fairly easy problem BE CAREFUL. If the trump suit breaks 4/2 AND the Jack is in the hand with the long trumps you need to take precautions to ensure that you can access Dummy’s long ♣ suit. The probability of the ♥ suit breaking 4/2 is 48%, and that is the break the Jack has 4 chances of being in the long hand and only 2 chances of being in the short hand. If you have got this far in your thinking you should be glad that you are not in Slam.

With the probability of a trump Loser and a ♠ Loser Declarer needs to plan carefully. It would be a real shame to go down in a game when you wanted to be in a Slam. This hand now becomes an exercise in control of the trump suit. When West continues with a second high ♠ Declarer should discard a ♦ and then ruff the third ♠. Now that Declarer has created a void in both hands he should concede a trump trick by playing the ♥Ten. If the ♥Jack does not appear Declarer should draw trumps and claim 11 tricks. If the ♥Jack wins the trick no play by defenders can stop Declarer from taking ten tricks.

If Declarer had decided to play the ♥AKQ, nine tricks (at best) would be the result. While partner hopefully does not show his disappointment he may well be unhappy.

To quote Eddie Kantar: “One of the secrets of trump control is to give up an early trump trick when both you and dummy are void in the force suit”. In this hand the ♠ suit was the force suit.

You have nothing to gain (and a lot to potentially lose) by 'ducking' the opening lead of the ♦  King,  so win it with Dummy's Ace.  It is now very important for Declarer to find out the trump situation. So that he can retain an extra entry to Dummy, Declarer should play the ♠ Ace and Queen from his own hand.  If both opponents follow to the two trump leads you, the Declarer, now have two choices. Option [1] You can play the trump King and three rounds of the ♣  suit, making the contract if the ♣  suit breaks 3/3, OR the ♥  finesse works; the probability of that 'combined' approach working is about 68%. Option [2] An alternative approach would be playing off the top two ♣  cards, AFTER you have played two top trumps, and ruff a low ♣  with the trump Jack; if one of the opponents ruffs the second ♣  then you were NEVER going to make this contract; assuming both opponents follow to two rounds of the ♣  suit your high ruff of the third ♣  and the playing of a trump to Dummy's King enables you to discard a losing ♦  on Dummy's winning ♣ .

For those who are interested in probability and WE all should be, Option [2] has about an 84% chance of success - about 16% higher than Option [1]!!!

First a few words of explanation..... The North/South hands that were actually played in the 1998 World championsips were altered by the author of the book from which I took the hand. The ♥  suit was slightly changed. In the Championships the South hand had ♥ Q62 and the North hand had ♥ AK7. The author gave South ♥ A62 and North ♥ KQ7. This slight change made absolutely no difference to the play or the bidding. In the Championships the North/South pair played a 10-12 point 1NT. The author, in his wisdom, decided it would look better to his readers who were more used to a 12-14 NT opening. I believe the 5♥  response should have been 5♠  , but I am only guessing! 

Now to the play. This is certainly not a great slam to bid - but it will indeed be a great result if South can manage to bring it home. As Declarer, what chances can you see? If the missing trumps are not 3/2 then whatever slim chance Declarer had has now become even slimmer! Let us then assume that the trumps are 3/2. There is really no possibility that you can both set up the ♦  suit and then actually access the winning ♦  because you have only two entries outside the ♦  suit. So how should you proceed? Win the opening ♥  lead in Dummy and play three rounds of trumps, relaxing ever so slightly when the suit breaks 3/2, with West discarding a small ♣  on the third trump. Declarer should then play the ♦ Ace, followed by a ♦  ruff, with East and West following both times. 

What next? Declarer knows that West had only 2 trumps, and had at least 2 cards in the ♦  suit. Perhaps he should also wonder about the opening lead of the ♥ 8. It looks to be from a short suit - singleton, doubleton or perhaps tripleton! In addition Declarer cannot see either the ♣ King or ♣ Queen. This COULD suggest that West does not have both of those cards. The ♣ suit looks to be about the only possibility of making this hand - but Declarer should not attack it yet. He should play a top ♥ . West discards another  ♣ . So now we know that East commenced with a 6 card ♥ suit and a 3 card ♠  suit. When Declarer now ruffs a third ♦   East follows to that suit also. So Declarer now knows that East is either void or has a singleton in the ♣  suit. The only chance that Declarer has is that East indeed does have a singleton ♣  AND it is either the King or Queen! Indeed that is the situation, exposed by Declarer's play of the ♣ Ace. Now by leading a ♣  from her own hand  Declarer loses but one trick to make her Slam.

A well-played hand. It is important ot note the process of discovery that Declarer embarked upon to give herself the best chance of making this contract!

With only 18 High Card Points many West players will open this hand 1♦ . North will almost certainly overcall 1♥  and East will Pass. South will either respond 1♠  or 2♥. [However some West players may choose to open their 18HCP hand 2♣, on the basis that it is a hand that has only 3 Losers IF there is either a ♣ or a ♦ fit with partner.  There is no doubt that, if West's two suits were major, rather than minor, suits then a 2♣ opening bid would be the bid of choice for many more West players.] In a 1♦ - 1♥ - Pass - 1♠ /2♥ sequence, West has to be careful to now make a bid that adequately describes his hand! Certainly a re-bid of 3♣ does not do justice to his hand. A re-bid of 4♣  is slightly better, but in my view 5♣ is an even better bid. If West does indeed re-bid 5♣ will/should East bid on to the Slam? Again,in my view, he should bid on to 6♣ . Why? He has 4 card support for partner, he has an 8 Loser hand AND he knows that West has a ♥ void!

Bidding on to the Slam is more difficult than making it! Provided the missing  ♦s are split 4/3 Declarer should be successful. Ruffing the opening ♥  lead in his own hand he should immediately ruff a small ♦  in Dummy. Returning to hand with a second ♥  ruff he should ruff a second ♦  in Dummy. Now coming back to his hand with the  ♠Ace he should ruff a third ♦  in Dummy, before playing Dummy's last trump, overtaking that in his own hand and drawing the remaining trumps. Playing his three winning  ♦s, Declarer can then concede the 13th trick, a small ♠ , to the opponents.

This hand was adapted from a hand in a very interesting book "15 Winning cardplay techniques" by David Bird and Tim Bourke. I believe that Bourke produced the hands and Bird wrote the analysis. 

Bird advocates the following line of play. Win the ♥ lead and play a ♦  to the Ace. Play a trump to the 8 in Dummy and ruff a ♦  high in your hand.  Bird considers that there is better than average chance for West to have commenced with the ♦Kx, because of him having a six card  ♥ suit, headed by the King. He then recommends that, if the ♦ King has not dropped, then Declarer should return to dummy with a Trump to the Ten. and play a ruffing finesse, playing East for the missing King. He claims that East has a greater chance of having  ♦ Kxx or Kxxx, than West has of having Kxx. This makes sense when you recognize that West has only 7 spaces for the ♠, ♦ and ♣  suits, while East has ten spaces for those same 3 suits. 

The issue for all of us to understand is that this is the type of analysis we need to undertake when we are playing!!

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South, looked at his hand, counted the points and decided to open 4♣. I cannot imagine many of today’s partnerships pre-empting with this type of hand. South was not really expecting his partner to bid. West passed and then South, to his dismay, realized that he had made an opening bid of 4♦ NOT 4♣. Under the rules that applied at that time a bid made could not be changed once LHO had made a call. Not surprisingly North raised his partner’s pre-empt to 5♦. The Author, who was sitting East wrote that “South…. was a retired army officer, calm by training and temperament and never giving away his hand by look or gesture”. South was indeed going to need all of his stoicism as the bidding continued! South had to get the contract back to his real suit so he now bid 6♣. I would have thought that North would have realized that South had meant to bid 4♣ to start with. However North did not think in this fashion and now bid 6♦!! Yes South now bid 7♣ and North again bid the ♦ suit. Now South is playing in a 7♦ contract!

West made the lead of a high ♥ and - well you can see what happened then. Declarer ruffed with his ♦2, played the Queen and another ♦ and, with the missing ♦s being 3/3, wrapped up his Grand Slam with one ♥ ruff, 4 ♦ tricks and 8 ♣ tricks.

To rub salt into East/West’s wounds a ♥ lead is the ONLY lead which permits the contract to be made AND there is no play for 7♣!

Not a real candidate for a Weekly Bridge Problem but I must say it amused me to read about it in the 1934 book which was re-printed in 1978.

There are times when too much information is disclosed during the bidding, with the result that the defenders' task is made a great deal easier. Such was the case at this table in a Knockout Teams match. As both Declarer and Dummy had bid the ♣ suit it was clear, once East saw Dummy, that his partner was void in that suit. Winning the opening  ♠  lead with his King, East could not afford to lead the ♣ Ace and a second  ♣ , because then his partner would be wasting a trump. East's correct play would be to lead the ♣8 suggesting a ♠ return once West has ruffed. While Declarer ruffs the ♠ return from West, he cannot stop East from later winning both his  ♣Ace and Queen, defeating the contract.

It was interesting to note that the bidding was quite different at the other table in this Teams Match. South made the same opening bid of 1♥  and after West passed North jumped to 4♥ . While this bidding may not be considered technically correct it certainly did not assist the defense who were unable to find the correct play of the ♣ suit, which was the only way to defeat this contract.

It is important to remember that to defeat this contract the defense has to take at least 5 tricks. The opponents have, between them, 26-28 HCPs. It certainly does not look as if you and your partner have sufficient points, outside of what you have already seen, to generate a 5th trick! Did you, East, ask yourself why Declarer played the ♥ Jack when you returned the 2 AND the 9 was sitting in Dummy? If you did ask that question then I do indeed hope that you quickly came to the conclusion that both Declarer and Dummy commenced with 2 cards in the ♥  suit.

Having reached that conclusion you would of course know that your partner commenced with a five card ♥ suit, and you thefore need to play the Ten under West's  Ace so that defense can now take five tricks to defeat the contract. Failure to play the Ten on the 3rd ♥ will have East/West taking only 4 tricks!

Bridge is indeed a thinking game - but this problem should not really have presented you with too difficult a challenge!

The careful Declarer should see that he cannot afford to let West get back on lead because a ♦  lead from that player will result in 2 Losers in that suit. To restrict the chances for West to get on lead Declarer should not win the opening lead, letting East win the trick with his Jack. It is highly likely that East will return partner's lead and Declarer will win this with his Ace.

The best way for Declarer to proceed is to play two top trumps, leaving the ♥  Jack in Dummy as an entry to the ♣  suit. At Trick Five Declarer should play the ♣ Queen from his hand. If that card wins the trick then Declarer should continue with the 9, overtaking it in Dummy with the Ten. If the King has not yet appeared Declarer should now play the Ace. By playing in this manner Declarer will lose only 3 tricks - the ♠ Jack, the ♣ King and one  ♦  .

This hand should not create too many problems for Declarer - if he plays carefully AND passively. He should win the opening ♠ lead in Dummy and immediately play the ♣ King, ruffing it in his own hand, returning to Dummy with a trump so that he can ruff Dummy's last ♣. Declarer should now lead a low ♥ from his hand. This will be won by East who has little choice other than to return a second ♥. Declarer should play low on this card. If East retains the lead and returned a third ♥ Declarer should cover that card and his fourth ♥ would now be a Winner, thus avoiding a ♦ finesse.  However as East does not have a third ♥ his choices are limited - he has to give Declarer a ruff and a discard, by playing a ♣, or, by playing a ♦, do the finessing for Declarer in that suit.

If West overtakes the second ♥ from East his options are also limited. He can play his winning ♥, giving Declarer a trick in that suit so that he does not have to guess the ♦ finesse, or giving him a ruff and a discard by playing a ♣, or playing a ♦, doing the finessing for Declarer in that suit.

This was indeed a hand where careful and passive play worked best for Declarer!!   

The card actually led by West was the ♦2, not the 6 that was stated in the problem sent out on Saturday night. Declarer played the ♦3 from Dummy and this was ruffed by East with the ♠3. If Declarer is going to make this contract he needs to realize that almost certainly it is the ♦ suit in Dummy which is going to provide a location for him to discard his ♣  Losers. To access that ♦ suit Declarer needs to play one of his high ♦ cards at Trick One. When East returns a trump at Trick Two Declarer should  play the three rounds of trumps necessary to draw the Opponents' ♠  cards. Once he has done that Declarer should play his remaining high ♦  and then his ♦ 9, overtaking it in Dummy if West does not play the Queen! If West does NOT play the Queen it will be trumped by Declarer when he plays a small ♦  from Dummy. Best defense will have West winning the ♦Queen and exiting with a small ♥ . If West does not take that course of action then Declarer will almost certainly take 11 tricks - losing one ♦  ruff and one ♦ . 

 It is possible that Declarer MAY make 10 tricks in another manner. Not unblocking the ♦ suit, Declarer can draw trumps and then attempt to endplay East by exiting with his ♥ 5, putting East on lead by covering whatever ♥  card West plays.

If you are one of the people who decided to lead a ♠  at Trick Three then you should pause, analyze the bidding and try to find a logical reason for Declarer's play. Having passed to start with Declarer then jumped to 2NT over partner's 1♦ bid. A 2NT bid in this situation shows 11 or 12 points. Declarer must have the ♦ Ace otherwise he would assuredly have played  ♦ to establish that suit. By playing the ♥ suit at Trick Two surely Declarer must be trying to establish some tricks in that suit. You KNOW that he must have the ♥ King as you can see the other high cards. That accounts for 7 of Declarer's points. Time to look at the black suits! Declarer must have the ♠Ace, otherwise he would not have let you on lead with the ♥. You KNOW that Declarer started with a doubleton ♠, because of partners ♠2 lead. Therefore Declarer cannot have an honor in the ♣ suit. This Declarer has done what very many experienced player do - he has played deceptively at Trick Two before the Defenders have had the opportunity of exchanging information with each other, and probably before they have really analyzed the bidding and the play to the first two tricks. Yes, Declarer was lucky that the ♥  suit broke 3/3 - but he had a PLAN, and it worked! 

Declarer has lost the only trick he can afford to lose - if he wishes to make his contract.

He knows (or at least he should know) that this contract will depend upon finding out which of the Defenders has the ♠King and whether it is singleton or doubleton! The astute Declarer will delay deciding how to play trumps until he knows more about the distribution of the missing cards. At this stage he knows that West commenced with a 7-card ♦  suit and at least one ♥ , and East has a ♦ void and at least one ♥.

The recommended way of playing the contract is for Declarer to play a second high ♥, discarding Dummy's ♣ Ace, if West does not ruff. If West ruffs then Declarer over-ruffs, draws the remaining trump and claims. If West has not ruffed then Declarer, at Trick Four, plays his 3rd high ♥, discarding Dummy's last ♣ if West does not ruff. Declarer can now play the three high ♣ cards from his hand. When West discards a ♦ on the 3rd ♣ Declarer KNOWS that West commenced with a hand shape of 2-2-7-2. It is now a simple matter of finessing West for the trump King.

It was counting that enabled Declarer to make this contract. Counting is a skill that ALL bridge players need to develop AND use.