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 led the ♥4. Partner played the ♥J and the declarer won with the ♥K, then played a Diamond to your ♦K (partner followed with the ♦2).
- How many points does partner have?
- Where is the ♥A?
- Where is the ♥10?
- What does partner need to hold for the defense to succeed?
- How will you play?
Solution
- How many points does partner have?
Between 3 and 5 points. Declarer has 15 to 17, dummy has 11, and you have 9. So partner is left with 3 to 5 points.
- Where is the ♥A?
With the declarer. If partner had it, they would have played it at trick 1. Third hand plays high.
- Where is the ♥10?
With the declarer. If partner had it, they would have played it at trick 1. Third hand plays high, but from a touching sequence, third hand plays the lowest card of that sequence.
- What does partner need to hold for the defense to succeed?
The ♣A. Without it, the declarer can make 9 tricks, as they can always develop 4 Diamonds, and with 2 Spades, 2 Hearts, and the ♣A that is 9 tricks. But if partner holds it, the defense prevails.
- How will you play?
Play the ♣8 at trick 4. Partner will win with the ♣A and return a Heart to help you promote your suit. It's important that the second Heart comes from partner's hand. If it comes from your hand, the declarer will score the ♥10 and make overtricks.
When partner plays Heart, you score your ♥Q over declarer's ♥10, continue with a third Heart to draw out declarer's ♥K, and your ♦A is an entry to your remaining 2 promoted Hearts. Two down (3 Hearts, 2 Diamonds, and the ♣A for the defense), unless declarer skips a second Diamond and cashes 8 tricks quickly (4 Spades, 2 Hearts, and 2 Clubs).
Things to remember:
- Count points when playing defense, using your hand, dummy, and the range promised by the declarer. That will help you know what to expect.
- Third hand rules:
- In general, third hand plays high if first and second hand play low.
- With a high sequence, play the LOWEST card of that sequence (unlike first hand, which generally plays top of sequence).
- Dummy completes the sequence (and you generally need to keep your honor over dummy's honor). Examples:
As East, which card do you play as third hand?
Play the K. Third hand plays high. (Note that against notrump, partner could hold the ace while declarer has the queen, so playing the K is the only way to win all the tricks in the suit.)
Which card do you play as third hand?
Play the Q. Third hand plays high, but the lowest card from a touching sequence.
Which card do you play as third hand if dummy plays low?
Play the 10. Third hand plays high, but since dummy has the Q and third hand plays the lowest of a touching sequence, you play the 10. That is high enough to win the trick if partner has the ace, or to draw out declarer's ace if they hold it.
Which card do you play as third hand?
Play the 10. There is a good chance partner has the Q (especially if they led low). Switch to another suit (assuming your 10 wins) and wait with your ace over dummy's K, ready to capture it when it's played.
- Use attitude leads during play as well. When you lead a high card you suggest a switch (if partner wins this trick, you don't want them to continue with that suit). If you play a low card, you encourage partner to continue. So here, playing the ♣8 suggested to partner to switch after winning the ♣A. The obvious switch is a Heart, the suit you led, playing through declarer's hand. In other situations, if you held ♣KJ82, you would lead the ♣2, encouraging partner to continue the suit.
- Say your Heart holding was A10xxx and declarer wins partner's J with the K:
How can you tell where the Q is? Partner could have it, playing J from QJx and not holding the ♣A, in which case a Heart return sets the contract. But if partner doesn't have the Q and does have the ♣A, you need to play a Club to their ace and get a Heart return from them.
The solution is the SMITH signal. At trick 2, either partner can use this signal to encourage or discourage continuation of the suit led, unless giving count on that trick takes priority. A LOW card (like the ♦2 given here by East) denies the Q (discouraging West from playing Heart), while a high Diamond encourages the suit.
Hand 2
Against 6♥, West led the ♠4. You may not like partner's "scientific" 6♦ bid, but that was the bid they found. East covered your ♠9 with the ♠J.
- Will you win with the ♠A or should you hold up?
- You won the ♠A. What next?
- You played ♥AK and luckily the ♥J dropped second from East. You played 2 more Heart rounds. Where is the ♦A?
- You have 11 sure tricks. Where is the 12th coming from?
- What is the obstacle to getting there?
- How will you play to solve the problem?
Solution
- Will you win with the ♠A or should you hold up?
West's lead is clearly a singleton. With a doubleton they would have led high to low, and the bidding places 7 Spades with East. Win the ♠A immediately to prevent a ruff.
- You won the ♠A. What next?
Draw trumps and hope the ♥J drops.
- You played ♥AK and luckily the ♥J dropped second from East. You played 2 more Heart rounds. Where is the ♦A?
East's preemptive bid shows 6 to 10 points. East has shown ♠KQJ and ♥J. With the ♦A as well, they would have opened 1♠. Therefore, the ♦A is with West.
- You have 11 sure tricks. Where is the 12th coming from?
You need to develop a Diamond trick.
- What is the obstacle to getting there?
You have only 1 entry to dummy. If you use that entry to play the ♦K, discarding a Spade on it, and lose to the ♦A, there is no way back to dummy for the promoted ♦Q.
- How will you play to solve the problem?
Play the ♣A, then follow with a low Club to dummy's ♣J. Continue with the ♦K and throw your ♣K from hand on it. West will win the ♦A but is now left with minor cards only and must play a Club or Diamond to one of dummy's queens. Throw your 2 Spade losers on the ♣Q and ♦Q and claim 12 tricks.
Things to remember:
- There could be an argument about the North-South bids. However, there's no clear scientific answer after East's 3♠ preemptive. South is too strong for any direct bid. A 4♠ cue bid (which normally shows a two-suiter) isn't helpful either, so a double seems the right choice.
A standard double shows tolerance for all other suits (at least 3 cards each), so what should North bid? A cue bid is again not too helpful and will only raise the bidding, and may cause misunderstandings (if North bids 4♠ over South's Double and South bids 5♥, what would 6♦ mean?). North can also settle for 5♦ instead of 6♦.
- West's lead is clearly a singleton from both the bidding and the card led. With a doubleton, West would have led high to low, so the ♠4 is clearly their lowest card.
- The range of preemptive bids can be agreed upon. Some play more aggressively when not vulnerable versus vulnerable, and more conservatively when vulnerable. Either way, a first-hand preemptive should not exceed 10 points; with 11 or more, open at the one level.
However, I recommend a wide range preemptive in third seat, which could be anything from very weak (not vulnerable) to opening values, since partner is a passed hand and there is nothing to lose by not bidding game. That puts pressure on the fourth-hand opponent, who is likely to hold some values.
- A blockage occurs when the higher cards are in the shorter hand. When entries are lacking, the solution is to discard the blocking card. In the hand above, you threw your ♣K to ensure that a Club return would be won in dummy. Other examples:
If you play ♦AKQ, your fourth card in hand will block the suit. Try to discard a Diamond from hand on another suit to overcome the blockage.
You play 3NT on a Spade lead. That lead kills your only entry to hand, and since the Heart suit is blocked, you can get only 2 Heart tricks. Unless you find a creative solution: play ♠AKQ and throw your ♥AK from dummy to unblock the suit. Now you are still in hand and can make your ♥QJ109.
- Sometimes, when there is no communication with dummy, you use the opponents as a bridge ("stepping stone"): lose a trick to them and force them to play a suit you lack, letting dummy win. This hand is slightly different: you played from dummy and unblocked so that the return would be won in dummy.
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.
