Welcome back readers!
Bridge is a brilliant game—full of logic, creativity, and endless discovery.
These quizzes are here to help you sharpen your skills in both declarer play and defense. Each hand presents a real-world challenge: you’ll only see your own and dummy’s cards, just as at the table. Along the way, I’ll pose questions—clues to guide your thinking and help you work through the hand.
In a way, it's like solving a riddle.
The goal? To train you to ask the right questions at the right time. Whether you’re declaring or defending, success often hinges on knowing what to look for—and what you need to figure out.
Try each hand on your own before checking the solution.
As before, you’ll find a “Things to Remember” section at the end—highlighting key lessons in bidding, play, and defense that you can carry into your next game.
I hope you enjoy—and keep growing on your bridge journey.
First Question:
You've agreed to play standard carding with your partner - for attitude, high encourages, and low discourages; for count, high–low shows even, and low–high shows odd.
- What does the 2NT rebid mean?
- What do you lead?
- You lead the ♣A, and partner follows with the ♣10. What does it mean?
- What is declarer's distribution?
- Which suit should you play next?
Solution
- What does the 2NT rebid mean?
12–14 balanced with 5 hearts and a diamond stopper (or stoppers).
- What do you lead?
Lead the ♣A. Partner’s bid suggests a good chance they have quick entries to their hand. If so, you might be able to get a club ruff.
- You lead the ♣A, and partner follows with the ♣10. What does it mean?
Suit preference for the higher-ranking suit — partner wants a spade! Yes, you agreed that a high card encourages on an ace lead, but look at dummy! What could partner possibly have to encourage clubs?
- What is declarer's distribution?
Likely 3-5-2-3 distribution (doubleton diamond). With 6 hearts, declarer would likely have rebid 2♥. With 4 clubs, declarer would have supported with 3♣. Declarer could have 4 spades. Since partner overcalled 2♦, declarer cannot have more than 2 diamonds.
- Which suit should you play next?
Continue with the ♠9. If you switch to a diamond — even though partner overcalled 2♦ — declarer will win, draw trumps, and make 11 tricks: 5 hearts, 4 clubs, and 2 diamonds. The defense will only take the first and last tricks (declarer discards 2 spades on clubs).
But if you play a spade, the play may go: spade to the ♠K, club ruff, spade to the ♠A, club ruff, and a third spade, which partner ruffs, resulting in three down!
Things to remember:
- You can count declarer’s points and distribution: their 2NT rebid shows 12–14 points and a balanced (or semi-balanced) hand, with a diamond stopper (or stoppers). When responder changes suit at the 2-level, showing 10+ points, then opener’s 2NT rebid shows 12–14, while 3NT shows 18–19.
Note: If playing 2/1, you and your partner can agree to use the same structure, or instead treat the 2NT rebid as showing 18–19, or even allow it to show either 12–14 or 18–19 (this requires a partnership agreement), since the bidding sequence is game-forcing.
- When you lead an ace but the suit is dead—meaning it’s clear that the defense has no more tricks in that suit (e.g., dummy has the KQ or more, or dummy has a singleton allowing declarer to ruff the next trick)—you don’t give an attitude signal (ATT = want/don’t want the suit continued). Instead, you give a suit-preference signal:
A high card (on partner’s ace), preference for the higher-ranking suit.
A low card, preference for the lower-ranking suit.
So here, the ♣10 showed a preference for spades. A low club would have shown preference for diamonds (clubs are dead, and hearts are trumps).
- Although an overcall is usually a strong lead suggestion, the situation can change. Partner’s overcall suggested a diamond lead—primarily against notrump, though not exclusively. However, partner didn’t know you held a singleton club, nor did they know the final contract would be 4♥. Now that the dummy is down and you've seen the club signal, you must follow the signal, not the original bid—so play a spade at trick two.
- When you lead a low card (attitude), you’re showing strength in the suit and asking partner to continue. When you lead a high card, you're suggesting a switch. That’s why you led the ♠9, to make it clear that you don’t want a spade return (though your stiff ace lead should make that obvious already).
- Note that partner wins the spade with the ♠K, which implies they also hold the ♠A—otherwise declarer would surely have won with it. Third hand plays low from a touching sequence—meaning if partner were to play the ♠A at trick two, they’d be denying holding the ♠K.
- Partner can signal suit preference again when returning clubs for you to ruff, a high card followed by a low card shows preference for a spade continuation all the way.
Second Question
West led the ♠7
- How many losers do you have?
- How are the opponents' points divided?
- Which card will you play from dummy?
- You tried the ♠Q, but East covered with the ♠K. Why didn’t West choose another lead, such as a club?
- Where is the ♣A?
- Where is the ♣K?
- Where is the ♣Q?
- Where is the ♥K?
- Where is the ♦Q?
- How will you play the hand?
Solution
- How many losers do you have?
Five: 1 spade, 1 heart, 1 diamond, and 2 clubs.
- How are the opponents' points divided?
About 12 points in West and 6 in East, based on the bidding.
- Which card will you play from dummy?
Try the ♠Q — maybe the ♠K is with West, and your ♠Q will win a trick.
- You tried the ♠Q, but East covered with the ♠K. Why didn’t West choose another lead, such as a club?
With a strong club sequence, West would likely have preferred a club lead. So West is probably missing a key club honor — most likely the ♣K. With ♣AKQ, ♣AK, or ♣KQ, West would typically lead a club.
- Where is the ♣A?
West. East has about 6 points — the ♠K and the ♣K — so West holds the rest.
- Where is the ♣K?
East.
- Where is the ♣Q?
West.
- Where is the ♥K?
West.
- Where is the ♦Q?
West.
- How will you play the hand?
Since all the high cards are marked, you can play the hand as if the cards were open: win the ♠A, then finesse to the ♦10 at trick 2. Cash the ♦A, return to hand with the ♥A, and discard a spade from dummy on the ♦K. You can now ruff your spade loser in dummy and lose only two clubs and the ♥K.
Timing is important! Don’t play the ♥A too early — you need it as an entry to the ♦K. Any other line, and you’ll lose 2 clubs, a spade, and a heart.
Things to remember:
- This is another important hand for counting — this time, you’re counting high-card points. The opening lead gives a valuable clue, since West didn’t lead a club, it's likely that East holds a club honor, probably the ♣K. Together with the ♠K played at trick 1, this makes up East’s 6 points as suggested by the bidding.
- West’s 3♠ bid is not a game invite — it’s just competitive, showing a 6-card spade suit. To invite game, use a double as a general game try. (If South passes, you would then bid 3♣/♦/♥ as your game try.)
- Consider the timing. You need a quick spade discard to avoid losing a spade. Therefore, you must preserve the ♥A as an entry to your ♦K, so you can discard your spade loser on it.
About the Author
Oren Lidor is considered one of the best bridge teachers in Israel, is the author of 5 bridge books, and teaches bridge to people from all over the world on BBO.
Great lesson. Thanks.
The presentation is much easier to read and follow.