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.
You lead the ♣A. Partner plays the ♣2 and declarer follows with the ♣4.
- How many points does partner have?
- How many Hearts does partner have?
- How many Spades does partner have?
- What does partner need to have for you to defeat the contract?
- How will you continue?
Solution
- How many points does partner have?
Between 3 and 5 points. Declarer has 15–17 points, dummy has 13, and you have 7. That leaves partner with 3–5 points.
- How many Hearts does partner have?
One Heart. Declarer showed four Hearts by bidding 2♥, you have five, and dummy has three, so partner has the remaining Heart.
- How many Spades does partner have?
Three Spades. Declarer showed four Spades by bidding 4♠, you have two, and dummy has four, so partner has the remaining three.
- What does partner need to have for you to defeat the contract?
The ♠A. Without it, declarer can make ten tricks, losing no more than two Club tricks plus, at most, one additional trick to your partner. If partner has the ♠A, you can score a Heart ruff to defeat the contract.
Another possibility is for partner to hold ♠Qxx. Declarer will finesse into partner's queen, allowing partner to win the trick. Partner returns a Club to your ♣K, and you play another Heart, ruffing it to defeat the contract.
- How will you continue?
Lead a low Heart at trick two. Normally this would show an honor, but here it is a suit-preference signal rather than an attitude signal. Partner will recognize that from the auction and the layout of the hand.
Declarer wins the trick and plays the ♠J, which partner wins with the ♠A. Partner returns a Club to your ♣K, and you give partner a Heart ruff to defeat the contract.
Things to remember:
- Count points when defending, not just when declaring. Use the points in your hand, dummy, and declarer's announced range to work out what partner is likely to hold. In this hand, switching to a Diamond may seem logical, but counting the points tells you that partner cannot have the ♦AQ.
- Count distribution as well as points. The bidding often tells you a great deal about everyone's shape. Here, declarer showed a 4-4 pattern in the majors, allowing you to work out that partner has one Heart and three Spades.
- Now suppose you held this hand after the same auction, with the same dummy:
You again lead the ♣A. Counting the points is even easier this time. You have 11 points, dummy has 13, and declarer has at least 15, so partner can have at most 1 point. That means partner has no entry to their hand, so switching to a Diamond is pointless, they will never gain the lead to give you a Diamond ruff.
Distribution counting tells you that partner has a singleton Heart and two Spades. So, play a Heart at trick two. When declarer plays a trump, rise with the ♠A to protect partner's remaining trump, then play another Heart for partner to ruff. Unlike the original hand, you can cash the ♣K before playing the second Heart because the ♠A provides the entry back to your hand.
- Remember that after a Stayman auction, bidding 3NT shows four cards in the other major, the one opener did not show. Otherwise, with no four-card major, responder would simply bid 1NT to 3NT.
Although a low Heart is normally an attitude signal showing an honor, in this example it is a suit-preference signal. This is the same principle used when giving partner a ruff and indicating which suit you would like returned for a second ruff.
Hand 2
Against 6♥, West leads a Heart. East follows suit, and you draw a second round of trumps.
- How many losers do you have?
- You have several ways to make your twelfth trick. The Diamonds may break 3-3, making the fourth Diamond good. The Club finesse may work, or you could play a Spade to the ♠Q, hoping the ♠K is with West and that your ♠Q will become a winner. What are the odds of each line?
- Which line should you try first?
- Which should you try second?
- Which should you keep as your last resort?
- How will you play the hand?
Solution
- How many losers do you have?
You have three losers. Looking only at your hand, you have two Spade losers and one Club loser. Looking only at dummy, you have one Diamond loser, one Spade loser, and one Club loser. In practice, however, you have only two losers because you can ruff either the third Spade in dummy or the fourth Diamond in your hand. That leaves you with only one Spade loser and one Club loser.
- You have several ways to make your twelfth trick. The Diamonds may break 3-3, making the fourth Diamond good. The Club finesse may work, or you could play a Spade to the ♠Q, hoping the ♠K is with West and that your ♠Q will become a winner. What are the odds of each line?
If you consider each option independently, the probability of the Diamonds breaking 3-3 is 36%. The Club finesse succeeds 50% of the time, and playing a Spade to the ♠Q succeeds 50% of the time if the ♠K is with West.
- Which line should you try first?
Play Diamonds first. Why? Because you can test the Diamond suit without risking the contract or committing yourself to a finesse. If the Diamonds break 3-3, as they do here, you can discard the ♣Q on the fourth Diamond, lose only one Spade trick, and claim twelve tricks.
- Which should you try second?
If the Diamonds do not break 3-3, play a low Spade to the ♠Q. If the ♠K is with West, your ♠Q becomes your twelfth trick. You can later discard a Club from dummy on the ♠A and ruff the ♣Q in dummy. The reason for trying the Spade play before the Club finesse is that, if the Spade play fails because East holds the ♠K, you can still try the Club finesse. However, if you take the Club finesse first and it loses, you will eventually lose to both black Kings.
- Which should you keep as your last resort?
The Club finesse should be your last resort. If you try it earlier and it loses, you will always lose a Spade trick as well.
- How will you play the hand?
Cash two rounds of Hearts, then cash the ♦A, ♦K, and ♦Q. If the Diamonds break 3-3, win the fourth Diamond and discard the ♣Q. Otherwise, play a Spade to the ♠Q, planning to discard a Club from dummy on the ♠A if West produces the ♠K. If the ♠Q loses to East's ♠K, the Club finesse becomes your final chance.
Things to remember:
- Counting losers. Count losers from one hand, usually the hand with the longer trump suit, although not always. If both hands contain the same number of trumps, choose one hand as your reference. Using declarer's hand as the reference, you have two Spade losers and one Club loser. Using dummy as the reference, you have one Spade loser, one Diamond loser, and one Club loser.
In this hand, it is better to count from declarer's hand, planning to ruff one Spade in dummy and establish your twelfth trick by one of the available lines.
- Jacoby 2NT. Playing Jacoby 2NT means that a jump to 2NT after a one-level Heart or Spade opening shows at least a four-card trump fit and a game-forcing hand. This convention is very effective for exploring slam. After the 2NT response, opener continues as follows:
- 3 of a new suit: shows a singleton.
- 3 of the trump suit: shows a good slam-oriented hand with no singleton and asks responder to begin control bidding, as in this example.
- 4 of a new suit: shows a strong five-card side suit, a potential source of tricks. Some partnerships instead use this bid to show a void.
- 4 of the trump suit: shows a minimum opening with no shortness.
- Some partnerships also use 3NT to show a hand between the 3♥ and 4♥ rebids.
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.
