Test Your Bridge Skills #27

You have 8 points, partner shows a minimum opening, and there's no real fit, meaning you have no ambitions for game.

Therefore, you simply want to play the best part score; 2♦. So simply Pass.

Not so fast. What if partner has 3 (good) cards in Spades; wouldn't playing in Spades be better?
We might even make game vs a suitable hand. Maybe, but why should they have 3 cards in Spades? And what if they have just 1 Spade (or less..)?
Even if partner has 3 cards in Spades, there isn't much chance to make game.

For a 2♠ rebid, you need to have 6 reasonable cards, but here you only have 5 poor cards.

And why not 3♣?
In this case 3♣ is a new minor forcing, showing a strong hand and not necessarily long Clubs (see hand 2). It's similar to 4^th suit forcing but because only 2 suits were bidden, you need to use a new minor to keep the bidding going.

Partner's hand could be:

You can see that 2♦ is a good part score while if you bid 2♠, you will crash. If you bid 3♣, partner will bid on (they may not pass), resulting in you reaching too high a contract.

Note:

1. Though 1♠ by responder shows 4+ cards, a rebid of 2♠ will normally show 6 good cards, when opener bids a new suit or rebids the 1^st suit. It would be OK to rebid 2♠ with 5 cards if opener rebid 1NT because you'd know that partner had 2-3 cards in Spades, or if you had a really strong 5 suiter and bad fit with partner's suit(s).

 

2. Say you have ♠Kx ♥Qxxxx ♦xx ♣Qxxx as responder and bidding goes: 
   1♦ -------- 1♥
   1♠ -------- ? = rebid 1NT, not 2♥ 

   1♠ -------- 1NT
   2♦ -------- ? = rebid 2♠, a correction, which doesn't promise 3 cards in Spades (otherwise you would've likely bid 2♠)

 

3. Say you have ♠xx ♥KQxxxx ♦xx ♣Qxx as responder and bidding goes: 

   1♦ -------- 1♥
   1♠ -------- ? = rebid 2♥, 6 good cards, showing 6-9 points. 

   1♠ -------- 1NT
   2♦ -------- ? = rebid 2♥ 6 good cards, showing 6-9 points.

Hand 3

Against 3NT your partner leads the ♦Q. What will you do?

Against 3NT your partner leads the ♦Q. What will you do?

As the declarer shows a balanced hand and as partner likely leads a top of sequence from their long suit, it seems that partner has ♦QJ10x and declarer has ♦Kx, though partner might lead from ♦QJx.

It's also known that the declarer doesn’t have 4 cards in any major as they don’t support Hearts or bid 1♠. Therefore, declarer's distribution is likely 3-3-2-5, or could be 3-3-3-4.

In addition, it's clear that the ♣A and the ♠A are both with the declarer as partner has a maximum of 6 points. It means that opponents have at least 24. Given you have 10, and you already saw the ♦QJ, your partner can't hold an ace.

If you win the ♦A and continue with a diamond, the declarer will take the ♦K and try the Heart finesse. Upon winning the ♥K, you'll continue with another Diamond, but the defense will take only 3 Diamonds and a Heart, and the declarer will make 9 tricks.

Therefore, to set the contract you need to hope that partner has the ♠Q and play accordingly in order to make 3 Spade tricks.

Playing the ♠10 will make sure of 3 Spade tricks, assuming partner indeed has the ♠Q, otherwise there's no chance to set. If the declarer plays low, your ♠10 will make the trick and you'll continue attacking Spades. If the declarer takes the ♠A, your Spades are promoted and you'll make 3 more spade tricks after you win the ♥K. If the declarer covers with the ♠J, partner will take with the ♠Q and return Spade to continue developing your Spades, if dummy plays low, you play the ♠7, and if they try the ♠9 you cover with the ♠K to promote your ♠87.

If, instead of the ♠10, you'll play the ♠7 at trick 2, the declarer will play low and your partner will need to win with the ♠Q, as the ♠9 is in dummy, and now declarer's Spades are protected as they make both ♠AJ in their hand.

If you try the ♠K at trick 2, the declarer will take the ♠A and their Spades are still protected as after ♥K, if you play low, they can run it to the ♠9, promoting the ♠J and if you play the ♠10, they win with the ♠J, promoting the ♠9.

Note:
a. Count partner's points and distribution, when on defense. It isn't hard, as usually the declarer's hand is known. As in this case, declarer bidding suggest they have 12-14 points, balanced hand, and no 4 cards in any major. That means, partner has 4-6 points, no more than 4 cards in Diamond and from the lead partner has ♦QJ, no side aces, and the declarer has the ♦K and the missing aces.

b. When you see that the only way to set is to hope that partner has a certain card, then assume they have it, and play accordingly. Here, assuming partner has the ♠Q, is the only way to set, by developing 3 Spade tricks and the only winning card to play is the ♠10. Here, there's a reasonable chance to find partner with the ♠Q as the declarer is already known to have ♠A, ♣A and ♦K.

Hand 4

You play 3NT.
West leads the ♠K.
You hold up twice and win the ♠A on the 3rd round. All players follow the suit. How will you continue?

Best Answer: ♣Q

You play 3NT.
West leads the ♠K.
You hold up twice and win the ♠A on the 3rd round. All players follow the suit. How will you continue?

You have 6 tricks on top (1 Club, 3 Diamonds, 1 Heart, 1 Spade). There are many potential tricks available: develop Heart, develop Clubs and also 4th Diamond could be high.

The Club suit looks most promising. If you play ♣A and then ♣Q, opponents might hold up, and now still missing 2 tricks. You still need to try the Hearts. If you lose it to the ♥K, opponents might take also the ♣K and the 4th Spade for 1 down (3 Spades, Club and Heart).

If you try ♦A and Club finesse, you can make 9 tricks if the finesse works as now you can move quickly to Hearts to develop 2 more tricks. However, if you play ♦A and try Club finesse, which fails, you'll lose the entry to Clubs.

If you play Hearts from hand, you develop 2 more Hearts, and then you can test the 4th Diamond, and if it fails try the Club finesse for the 9th trick. It can only make if either Diamonds are 3-3 or the Club finesse is success.

The line which brings 100% success is to play ♣Q from hand. If Opponents win with the ♣K, they can take the 4th Spade, but you can make the rest without touching the Heart suit. You still have the ♦A to enter dummy and make 4 Clubs, 1 Spade, 1 Heart and 3 Diamonds. If Opponents hold up the ♣Q, you move straight to the Heart suit and avoid losing to the ♣K. Then, you make ♣AQ, 3 Diamonds, 1 Spade, and 3 Hearts.

Note:

• When you need to develop more than 1 suit, you sometimes need to "snitch" a trick. That means to play the suit in such a way that it'll be too expensive for opponents to win the trick. If they win it, they promote lots of tricks for you (Clubs here) and if they don’t, they'll lose the trick they could have won as you move to another suit.
• Timing and tempo.
  By playing ♣AQ, you develop the ♣K for opponents as the setting trick. West hold up and win it later after winning the ♥K.