This quiz was written by Oren Lidor.
Hand 1
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 will you lead?
- You led the ♠3. Declarer won the trick in dummy with the ♠A, and partner followed with the ♠2. Then declarer played the ♥K, partner followed with the ♥8. Heart to the ♥A, partner played the ♥3, and then the ♥9, which declarer ruffed while partner followed with the ♥7.
Declarer then continued with the ♦Q, won with the ♦A in hand, and ruffed a diamond in dummy. After that, declarer played four more rounds of spades, discarding a club on the last spade. Only clubs remain in dummy now, with three cards left.
Is it important to know which cards partner followed with and which cards were discarded?
- Which three cards are left in declarer’s hand?
- Which three cards will you keep?
Solution
- What will you lead?
North bid 7♠ with a lot of confidence, missing two kings and a queen. You should choose the most passive lead, as it is clear partner has little or nothing. Leading away from an honor could easily give declarer the thirteenth trick. Normally, leading a singleton trump is not recommended, but here it seems safe since partner is unlikely to have values or length in spades.
- Is it important to know which cards partner followed with and which cards were discarded?
Usually, count signals from partner help determine declarer’s distribution, such as showing an even number of hearts. However, in this hand, the position should be clear even without partner’s signals.
- Which three cards are left in declarer’s hand?
Declarer has three clubs. Why? Because if declarer had more hearts or diamonds, they would have ruffed them in dummy, as they did with the second diamond and third heart. Since declarer continues drawing trumps, there are no more cards to ruff.
- Which three cards will you keep?
You should keep ♣K106. This holding protects your ♣10 as the setting trick. Cover the ♣Q with the ♣K. Declarer will win the ♣A and cash the ♣J, but your ♣10 will win trick thirteen. If you do not keep three clubs, declarer’s ♣9 will score the last trick.
Things to remember:
- Although North has a strong hand, they could investigate further. First, they should bid 2NT, showing a game forcing hand with spade support. South might have a singleton club and could show it with 3♣. After showing two aces, North could bid 7♠ if there are no losers. Since South bid 4♠, showing a minimum hand with no short suits, North should ask for aces and then use 5NT to ask for specific kings. When South bids 6♠, denying side kings, North should pass and not bid a grand slam.
- Count is usually given by second and fourth hand. High low shows an even number of cards, and low high shows odd. With upside down count and attitude, it is reversed. If playing REO, then an odd card shows an odd number of cards and an even card shows an even number. In addition, high low of odd cards shows an even number, and high low of even cards shows an odd number, for example with 9753 or 864.
- On defense and also in declarer play, you can learn a lot from how declarer plays. In this hand, the fact that declarer did not ruff additional diamonds or hearts shows that there are no more cards in those suits. Therefore, it is unnecessary to keep cards in those suits, and more important to guard clubs.
Consider the following hand:
Against 3NT, partner leads the 3, showing fourth best and promising at least one honor. Declarer plays the 4 from dummy.
What should you play?
Declarer’s play gives the answer. If declarer had the ace, they would likely play the queen from dummy. If declarer had nothing, they would also try the queen. Therefore, declarer likely holds the jack, meaning partner has the ace, so you should play the king. This could be the layout:
- Try to avoid leading a singleton trump. A singleton suggests partner has length, and if they hold an honor, your lead may give declarer a free finesse.
- Against a slam, if you do not have a sequence but hold honors, lead as passively as possible. Partner is weak, and it is better for declarer to play into your honors rather than you leading them.
Hand 2
Against 6♠, West leads the ♠6 and East follows with the ♠3.
- How many losers do you have?
- What is your normal line of play with a different lead?
- Why should this lead change your plan?
- How will you play?
Solution
- How many losers do you have?
You have three diamond losers, or ten tricks: five spades, two hearts, one diamond, and two clubs.
- What is your normal line of play with a different lead?
A normal plan would be to ruff two diamond losers in dummy. Each ruff creates an extra trump trick and reduces a loser.
- Why should this lead change your plan?
However, this plan requires losing a diamond trick to the opponents. When that happens, they will return a trump, leaving you unable to ruff twice in dummy.
- How will you play?
Sometimes it is better to ruff in the long hand instead of the short hand, especially if you have enough entries and can avoid losing the lead. Count losers from dummy as if it were the long hand: two clubs, one diamond, and two hearts, for five losers.
The plan is to ruff two hearts and two clubs in hand and perform a dummy reversal. To ruff four times, you need four entries to hand.
The correct timing is crucial:
Win the spade lead in dummy. Play ♥AK. Ruff a heart. Play a club to the ♣K. Ruff another heart. Play a club to the ♣A. Ruff the third club. Play a diamond to the ♦A. Ruff the fourth club in hand. You now have your tenth trick, and your remaining spades will provide two more.
Things to remember:
- When you see the dummy, you need to count. You can count either tricks or losers, or both. Here it is easy to count both: ten tricks, or three losers. You count losers from one hand, preferably the long trump hand. Here you count three diamond losers and no losers in the other suits. So your normal plan would be to ruff losers in the short hand. You would usually give up one diamond and then ruff two diamonds in dummy. Each ruff in the short hand creates an extra trump trick and removes a loser.
- However, when this is not possible, like in this hand, where the opponents will play another trump after winning a diamond, you must consider ruffing in the long hand instead. Here, making seven trump tricks can be done in two ways. You could try to ruff two diamonds in dummy and make five tricks in hand plus two ruffs. Or you can ruff four times in hand, making three natural trumps in dummy plus four ruffs in hand. This technique is called dummy reversal. You ruff repeatedly in the long hand until it effectively becomes the shorter hand.
Another example:
You are playing 6♠ and receive a heart lead. You have eleven tricks. Ruffing in dummy for the twelfth trick is not possible. You can make twelve tricks using dummy reversal, assuming spades split 3-2:
Win the ♥A, ruff a heart, play a club to the ♣A, ruff another heart, play a spade to the ♠10, ruff the last heart with the ♠A, then play spades to dummy’s ♠KJ, and finally cash four diamond tricks, discarding a club.
- Fourth suit forcing is game forcing. When you bid the fourth suit, you tell partner that the partnership will reach at least game, and you ask partner to further describe their hand in this order:
- Support partner’s suit with three cards
- Bid notrump with a stopper in the fourth suit
- Otherwise, rebid a suit
- In the auction above, the 2NT bid showed a heart stopper and denied three-card support in hearts.
- In any game forcing sequence, such as after a 2 over 1 response, a 2♣ opening, a jump shift, or fourth suit forcing, bidding game directly shows no further interest, while slower bidding shows interest in slam. When a fit is established and the partnership is exploring for slam, bids show controls. A first round control is an ace or a void. A second round control is a king or a singleton.
- Controls are shown up the line, starting from the lowest available bid. Skipping a suit denies a control in that suit. If partner continues control bidding after a skipped suit, it shows control in that suit as well. If neither partner has control in a suit, the partnership should stop in game, since the opponents can take the first two tricks in that suit. In this hand, the 4♥ bid showed a heart control and denied controls in clubs and diamonds.
- Sometimes you can count losers during the auction. The opener showed a 5-4 shape in spades and diamonds, so they have at most four cards in clubs and hearts. Since all five key cards are held, responder can see no losers in clubs or hearts and expects at most one diamond loser, which can potentially be handled by ruffing or by using a dummy reversal.
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.
Learned something new, never knew about REO carding. Where odd card shows odd count, and even card shows even count. EXCEPT when you play high low then it's the opposite count (assuming this is when you hold only odd or only even cards to solve that problem). One draw back is it might be harder to false card without misleading your partner.
hand 1 : K10x in clubs
hand 2 :
ad 2) ruff 2 diamonds in dummy ;
ad 4) ruff 2 hearts & 2 clubs