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.
Your partner led the ♥10 and declarer played the ♥K from dummy.
- How many points does partner have?
- What can you infer from partner's lead?
- What do you need partner to have in order to set the contract?
- How will you play?
Solution
- How many points does partner have?
Declarer’s 2NT rebid showed 12 to 14 points and a balanced hand. Dummy has 13 and you have 7 points, so partner has 6 to 8 points.
- What can you infer from partner's lead?
Partner led a short suit. Singleton or doubleton? Look at the bidding. If partner had a singleton, that would place declarer with four Hearts, and declarer would likely have rebid 2♥. Therefore, partner has ♥10x.
- What do you need partner to have in order to set the contract?
You need to hope partner has two tricks. Partner cannot have more with 6 to 8 points. One of them must be in trumps, either ♠A or ♠K, and the other in Diamonds. A third Club will not work, even if declarer has xxx, as declarer can discard a Club on a fourth promoted Heart after drawing trumps.
- How will you play?
Even if partner has two tricks, it is still not enough, as you have just one trick. The setting trick, therefore, must be a Heart ruff. To let partner ruff a Heart, you must duck trick one.
If you win the ♥A now and play another Heart, you will have no more entries to your hand. So duck trick one and encourage with the ♥8. Declarer wins with the ♥K and plays Spades, but partner wins with the ♠A, plays a second Heart, and you win the ♥A and let partner ruff a Heart. Later, partner will make the ♦K as the fourth trick for the defense.
Things to remember:
- Note North’s 2♣ bid. It is best to agree that a direct 4♠ bid shows a weak hand with five Spades and is preemptive, to put the opponents under pressure. With a good hand, bid another suit first and later bid 4♠ to show an opening hand opposite an opening hand. That bid could help find a possible 4-4 Heart fit, which is often better than a 5-3 fit.
- Playing SAYC. When responder changes suit at the one level, then 1NT by opener shows 12 to 14 balanced, and 2NT shows 18 to 19. When responder changes suit at the two level, as here, 2NT by opener shows 12 to 14 and 3NT shows 18 to 19. When playing 2 over 1, you can have other agreements about the 2NT rebid, as the sequence is game forcing.
- You can have many agreements about a 10 lead. With 10xx you can play MUD or agree on count leads, leading low from three cards, but you should not lead the 10 from 10xx if you do not have the 9. In this hand, partner led the ♥10 and when you see the ♥9 in dummy, it is clear that the lead is from ♥10x.
- Ducking is a very important tool to keep communication. Here you had one entry to your hand, and it was important to use it when you could let partner ruff a Heart. Ducking can be done by both a defender and the declarer. In other situations, you can duck when you need an entry to a long suit but have no other entries to that hand, except in that long suit that you want to develop.
Consider the following hand:
You play 3NT and receive a ♠Q lead. You have six sure tricks and must develop three more from the Clubs, but you need to lose a Club trick and you have no other entry to dummy. So, duck a Club. This will develop the Club suit, assuming a 3-2 split, and keep communication between your hand and dummy. Win any return from the opponents and cash your Clubs.
- What is the difference between duck and hold up? Hold up is when you play second or fourth hand, while your opponents are trying to develop their long suit, and you refuse to win your top card in order to cut communication between them. This can be done by declarer to cut communication between defenders, or by a defender to cut communication between declarer and dummy.
Duck is when you initiate that suit, playing first and third hand, and deliberately play low from both hands in order to keep communication between the two hands.
So: Hold up is to cut communication. Duck is to keep communication.
Hand 2
Against 4♥, West led the ♣9. You played the ♣A and East followed with the ♣8.
- How many losers do you have?
- What can you infer from West’s lead?
- What does East’s ♣8 suggest?
- What is the real danger here?
- How will you play?
Solution
- How many losers do you have?
Four losers: two Spades, one Diamond, and hopefully just one Heart.
- What can you infer from West’s lead?
Likely a doubleton. From three cards, West would have led either a middle card if playing MUD or a low card. If West had three cards with an honor, they would have led low. A singleton is unlikely, as East would likely have rebid the suit with seven cards, not vulnerable.
- What does East’s ♣8 suggest?
Likely suit preference. It could be encouragement for West to continue Clubs when they get the lead, but that is unlikely here. It could also show count, which is not very helpful here. Most likely, since the Club suit seems unimportant, East is signaling suit preference for Spades.
- What is the real danger here?
The real danger is losing two tricks in the trump suit.
- How will you play?
Win trick one and play a Heart to the ♥Q at trick two, hoping the trump suit divides 3-2.
There is no need to rush to play the ♣K at trick two and discard a Spade. You can discard your Diamond loser on it later. If you play the ♣K at trick two and then take the Heart finesse, West will win the ♥K, play a Spade to East, and then the ♣Q from East will promote the ♥10 for West.
Now you will lose another Heart, and you still have a Diamond loser. Discarding a Diamond instead will not help, as East will continue with another Club and the ♥10 will still be promoted.
So play the Heart finesse at trick two. West will win the ♥K, but whether they return a Club or a Spade, you are safe to lose only two Spades and one Heart. When you regain the lead, you can draw the remaining trumps and later discard your Diamond loser on the ♣K.
Things to remember:
- When you lead partner’s suit, lead high then low from a doubleton, low from three or more cards with an honor, second best from three or more cards without an honor, unless you play count leads, and top of a sequence from two or more touching honors. From this, you can conclude that the ♣9 lead was from a doubleton.
- Overcall ranges need agreement. My suggestion is to agree that a one level overcall shows 9 to 16 points and a two level overcall shows 12 to 16 points. With more points, double first and later bid your suit to show a strong hand, sometimes called a “big double” or “super overcall”, typically 17 to 20 points.
If you play a wider range for overcalls, for example 7 to 18, then the advancer, partner of the overcaller, will have much more difficulty describing their hand, especially without a fit. For example, what range should a 1NT response show, when there could be a game on, but also a risk of getting doubled if partner’s overcall is light?
- Count is given by defenders when declarer initiates a suit, in second and fourth hand.
- Playing standard carding, high then low shows an even number of cards, and low then high shows an odd number.
- Playing UDCA, it is the other way around: low then high shows even, and high then low shows odd.
- Playing REO, odd cards show an odd number of cards, and even cards show an even number of cards.
- Count helps defenders work out declarer’s distribution and also helps decide when to win a top card. Usually, you want to win it on the last card of declarer’s short suit.
- For example, if you hold Axx and dummy has KQJxx, and partner plays low to the first trick, that shows an odd number of cards, so three. That means declarer has two. Therefore, you should hold up once and win the ace on the second round.
- A promotion can happen when a defender is sitting over you and cannot follow suit. If you discard or ruff low, the defender can overruff with a relatively low card. If you ruff with a higher card, the defender can discard, and their intermediate card, such as the ♥10 in the hand above, will be promoted.
To avoid a promotion, you can do several things. You can draw trumps early, before this situation occurs, as in the hand above. You can also try to keep the lead away from the other opponent, so the suit that creates the promotion is not played. You cannot do that here, but it can be relevant in other hands, for example by playing loser on loser and cutting communication. Another option is to keep high trumps in both hands, if dummy does not have the suit.
- Timing is everything. Sometimes it is important to discard losers early, but not in this hand. Here you could discard a Diamond loser later, so there was no need to rush. In other hands, early action is essential.
Another example:
You play 4♥ and West leads the ♠Q. You have four losers, one in each suit. If you play a trump at trick two, the opponents will win and play a second Spade, and now you will lose a Spade trick along with three aces.
So, realizing you cannot afford to lose a Spade, you need to develop Diamonds quickly so that you can discard your Spade loser on the last Diamond. Make sure to win trick one in hand and keep the ♠A as an entry to the third Diamond.
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.
But Hand 2 stated QS led by N. But that card is held by declarer S. Confusing for one who is trying to determine whatlead means.