Main Lesson 4C by Richard Pavlicek
Notrump contracts generally involve a race between the defenders and declarer to establish a suit. This lesson explains the proper planning and strategy as the declarer.
In notrump play you will be confronted with a variety of situations. To be skillful it is essential to have a general strategy that will get you off to a good start on every deal. I recommend these steps:
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Count Your Top Tricks
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Count the number of tricks that you could immediately cash “off the top.” Then you will know how many additional tricks you need.
Look for Additional Tricks
Examine each suit for sources of additional tricks. These may be in the form of honors or long cards that can be established. It is important to note all the possibilities.
Analyze the Opening Lead
Does the lead appear to be fourth-best from a long suit? Or top-of-nothing from a short suit? Or an honor sequence? Does it threaten your contract?
Develop a Plan
It is important to have a specific, overall plan of attack. Playing a contract “one card at a time” will not work. Below are some things to consider in making your plan:
Which card will you play from dummy at trick one?
Will you use the holdup play?
Is it desirable to prevent one defender from gaining the lead?
Which suit will you attack first?
What is the best way to play the suit you plan to attack?
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The Holdup Play
The purpose of the holdup play is to break up the enemy communication. Then if you must give up the lead, the defender who wins may have no more cards in the suit originally led. The holdup play is most useful at the first trick.
Guess what, dear! I just learned the holdup play.
Just learned my foot! You’re so pokey you hold up every game we play in.
Consider the holdup play if you have only one stopper (usually the ace) or two stoppers (usually the ace-king) in the suit led.
1. 3 NT | Q 2 J 7 4 A K 3 9 6 5 3 2 | ||
J 7 6 5 3 Q 8 6 7 6 Q 10 8 | K 10 8 A 9 5 3 2 9 8 2 J 4 | ||
Lead: 5 | A 9 4 K 10 Q J 10 5 4 A K 7 |
You have 8 top tricks and there are three chances to gain additional tricks: spades, hearts and clubs. West’s lead looks like fourth-best from a four- or five-card suit.
Your best play on the opening lead is the Q from dummy but East produces the king. A holdup play is in order so play the 4; duck the spade return and win the ace on the third round.
Choosing between clubs and hearts is based on this logic: You cannot establish the clubs without losing the lead, in which case you will be set if West has either a club entry or the A. By playing on hearts you will be set only if West has the A. Hence the proper play is to cross to dummy with a diamond and lead a heart to the king.
The ideal time to win the lead is on the trick that exhausts one opponent of his cards in that suit.
2. 3 NT | 7 6 2 A 4 3 A K Q J 10 5 4 | ||
10 5 Q 8 7 5 10 4 2 Q J 6 2 | K Q J 4 3 J 10 9 9 7 6 K 3 | ||
Lead: 10 | A 9 8 K 6 2 8 5 3 A 9 8 7 |
Assume East overcalled 1 (showing five) and West leads the 10. You have 8 top tricks and your only chance for nine is in clubs. You should win the A on the second round, then play clubs by finessing into West who has no more spades.
Observe that if you held up twice in spades East could defeat you by switching to a heart. Don’t give him that chance.
Avoid using the holdup play at trick one if a shift to a different suit would be dangerous.
3. 3 NT | A 6 4 9 K Q 10 8 6 K 6 4 3 | ||
Q J 8 2 K 5 3 2 J 7 3 9 5 | K 7 5 Q J 10 8 A 9 5 4 10 2 | ||
Lead: 2 | 10 9 3 A 7 6 4 2 A Q J 8 7 |
West’s lead of the 2 indicates a four-card suit (with five he would hold a card below the card led) so the enemy can win only three spade tricks — not enough to set you when you lose the A. Win the A quickly before East shifts to a heart.
Next cross to your hand with a club and lead the 2. Since you need two diamond tricks and can lead the suit only once from your hand, you should finesse the 10.
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Avoidance Finesse
An avoidance play is an attempt to avoid losing the lead to the dangerous defender — the one who has a long suit to cash or who can make a damaging lead. This kind of play is easy when you take a normal finesse (as in Example 2). In some cases the standard finesse will not achieve the objective, so you have to improvise a different play.
If a normal finessing play would lose to the dangerous defender, consider a backward finesse in the same suit.
4. 3 NT | Q 3 K 8 7 3 K 9 5 2 A 3 2 | ||
J 9 7 5 2 Q 10 2 J 3 Q 8 7 | K 10 6 J 9 6 5 Q 10 8 6 10 6 | ||
Lead: 5 | A 8 4 A 4 A 7 4 K J 9 5 4 |
You count 7 top tricks, and the club suit is your best chance for two more. West’s lead looks like fourth-best from a four- or five-card suit.
At trick one you hopefully play the Q, but East covers with the king and you hold up the ace until the third round. The normal play in clubs would be to cash the ace and finesse the jack; but in this case it would be poor because West would gain the lead whenever he had the queen.
A much better play is to lead the jack from your hand, letting it ride if West does not cover. In the actual layout this not only keeps West off lead, but you are rewarded with an overtrick. Note that if East held the Q you would still make your bid.
Suppose West covered the J with the queen, and when you next led a low club from dummy East did not play the 10. The proper play then would be to win the king to guard against Q-10 doubleton in West. Download joker slot android game. Observe that if West held Q-10-x, there is no way to succeed with any play.
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Avoidance Duck
Occasionally your holding in the suit you want to establish does not contain a finessing combination, or it contains only a finesse that would lose to the dangerous defender. One possibility is just to cash your top cards and lead another, hoping the dangerous opponent does not win. But this method can be improved upon with this strategy:
If you cannot finesse through the dangerous defender, try to force his partner to win by ducking at a safe opportunity.
5. 3 NT | Q 3 K 8 3 A K 10 8 2 J 4 3 | ||
A J 9 6 2 10 5 2 Q 3 Q 8 7 | 10 7 5 J 9 7 6 J 6 5 K 10 6 | ||
Lead: 6 | K 8 4 A Q 4 9 7 4 A 9 5 2 |
You count 6 top tricks and obviously will get one more in spades. The diamond suit is the only hope for two additional tricks. West’s lead appears to be fourth-best.
You correctly win the Q at trick one. Clearly West has the A so, in order to protect your K, you must avoid losing the lead to East. The normal play in diamonds would be to finesse through West — not good, as this puts East on lead.
The correct play is to return to your hand with a heart and lead a diamond to the king assuming West plays low. Return to your hand with another heart and lead a second diamond. This time West must play the queen and you duck to force him to win.
Observe that you had to lead diamonds twice from your hand. If you carelessly led a high diamond from dummy, West could defeat you by unblocking the queen.
If West held Q-x-x and followed low on both diamond leads, you should win the ace and lead a third diamond hoping West is the defender with three.
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Establishing Two Suits
Sometimes your contract will depend on establishing two suits — not an either-or situation but a case in which you need additional tricks from both suits. The order in which you attack the two suits may be important. In general, you should work on the weaker suit first as this will give you greater control of the play later on.
If you may need to establish two suits to make your contract, lead the suit in which you have less control first.
6. 3 NT | 9 5 A K 7 2 K 9 6 2 Q J 2 | ||
K 10 8 4 3 J 8 J 8 5 A 7 6 | J 7 2 Q 10 9 5 Q 4 10 9 5 4 | ||
Lead: 4 | A Q 6 6 4 3 A 10 7 3 K 8 3 |
Counting the free finesse offered by the spade lead you have 6 top tricks. Two of the three additional tricks you need will come from clubs, and the other will come from diamonds. (The heart suit also is a possibility but it is clearly inferior.) You must establish both the clubs and the diamonds to succeed.
Players who always work on their longest suit would go astray here. You should first attack clubs — the suit in which you have less control — to force out the A. If West ducks his ace, lead another club.
Assume West takes the second club lead and returns a spade. You will hold up your A until the third round. Next lead the 3 and finesse the nine as an avoidance play to keep West off lead. (If East held a fourth spade you would still succeed as the spade suit would divide 4-4.)
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Be sure to observe that you would fail if you worked on diamonds first. You cannot control the play of the club suit and West would gain the lead to run his spades.
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© 1990 Richard Pavlicek
In the card game of contract bridge, to hold up means to play low to a trick led by the opponents, losing it intentionally in order to sever their communication. The primary purpose is to give as many tricks to opponents as needed to exhaust all the cards in the suit from one of their hands. If that hand regains the lead, it will not be able to put the partner on lead to cash its tricks. Hold up is one of basic techniques in play.
While mechanically identical,[1] a hold up is in a suit played by the opponents while a duck (or ducking) is a manoeuver in one's own suit.[2] Nevertheless, the terms are used interchangeably[3] with duck or ducking more common.
Examples[edit]
Denying an entry (declarer play)[edit]
10 8 7 | ||
9 2 | W N↑ S↓ E | K Q 3 |
A J 6 5 4 |
West leads the top of a doubleton against a suit contract, and East plays the queen. Suppose South wins the first trick with the ace and West gets in before trumps are drawn (with the ace of trumps, for example). Now West can lead his remaining card in the suit to East's king, and East can return the suit for West to ruff.
Proper procedure is for South to hold up on the first trick, and win the ace on the second round of the suit. Now, when West gets in, he is void in his short suit and cannot lead that suit to get to East's hand.
Denying an entry (defender play)[edit]
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K Q J 2 | ||
10 9 8 7 | W N↑ S↓ E | A 6 5 |
4 3 |
The declarer (South) plays toward dummy's long suit. Assuming there are no side entries, on the distribution shown East must duck once to prevent declarer from running the suit.
Note that West must give a proper count signal in this situation. In the distribution shown, West signals an even count; East assumes it shows four and ducks once. (If West has only two, then South has four and ducking neither helps nor hurts.) If West signals an odd count, East will have to decide (possibly from the bidding or previous play in other suits) whether it shows three or five, and win the first or third trick accordingly.
Rectifying the count[edit]
Often, to set up a squeeze, one or more tricks must be lost in advance. This is known as 'rectifying the count', but it is actually just another instance of ducking.
Endplay[edit]
Here is a simple endplay situation:
♠ | -- | ||||
♥ | -- | ||||
♦ | 4 3 2 | ||||
♣ | -- | ||||
♠ | K 2 | N W E S | ♠ | -- | |
♥ | A | ♥ | -- | ||
♦ | -- | ♦ | 7 6 5 | ||
♣ | -- | ♣ | -- | ||
South to lead | ♠ | A Q | |||
♥ | 2 | ||||
♦ | -- | ||||
♣ | -- |
At no trump, South is on lead with three cards left to play. South ducks the ♥2 to West, who must now lead spades into South's ace-queen tenace and South wins two tricks. If South plays spades first, he wins only one of the last three tricks.This play is not really a duck, because it does not surrender a trick that could be won.
South in 3NT | ♠ | J 10 7 | |||
♥ | 10 8 3 2 | ||||
♦ | A 5 3 | ||||
♣ | K J 10 | ||||
♠ | Q 9 6 | N W E S | ♠ | 5 4 3 2 | |
♥ | 7 5 4 | ♥ | Q J 6 | ||
♦ | K Q J 10 9 | ♦ | 7 4 2 | ||
♣ | 8 3 | ♣ | A 7 4 | ||
Lead:♦K | ♠ | A K 8 | |||
♥ | A K 9 | ||||
♦ | 8 6 | ||||
♣ | Q 9 6 5 2 |
South is playing a contract of three notrump, and West leads the king of diamonds. There are nine needed tricks: two spades, two hearts, one diamond and four clubs. However, if the declarer wins the ace of diamonds at trick one and drives out the ace of clubs, the defenders will cash four diamond tricks to set the contract.
South can assure the contract (provided the ace of clubs is with East) by holding up the ace of diamonds: he plays low to the first two diamond tricks (known as ducking) and wins the ace of diamonds on the third trick. Now, when East wins the ace of clubs, he has no diamonds left to play. If West holds the ace of clubs, the contract is impossible to make. If, on the other hand, East had a diamond, that would mean that diamonds were originally split 4-4 and defenders could only cash three tricks in the suit, so the contract was not in danger.
Deception[edit]
K 10 8 2 | ||
A 5 3 | W N↑ S↓ E | J 6 |
Q 9 7 4 |
A defender can deceive the declarer by ducking a trick he could win, inducing him to place the defender's cards wrongly and adopt a losing line of play. In the position shown, declarer leads a small card from dummy to the queen in trump suit. If West takes the ace, the declarer could easily play the king in second round, dropping East's jack. However, if West ducks, the declarer will place the ace with East, and finesse the dummy's ten in second round, losing to East's now singleton jack.
This kind of duck requires perfect reading of cards and nerve, especially if the suit involved is a side suit in a trump contract. West must duck smoothly, without hesitation, otherwise the declarer could infer the actual layout.
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Rule of seven[edit]
The rule assumes play in a 3NT contract and is as follows:
- Subtract from seven the total number of cards that declarer and dummy hold in the defenders' suit and duck their lead of the suit that many times.[4]
The rule can be generalized for all notrump contracts as follows:
- In a notrump contract, subtract from 'n' the total number of cards that declarer and dummy hold in the defenders' suit and duck their lead of the suit that many times; 'n' is equal to four plus the level of the contract.
In the hand above, there are five diamonds in the combined North-South hands, and declarer must duck two tricks (winning the third).
If there were an additional diamond in either the North or South hand, for a total of six, then declarer need only duck one trick (winning the second). This is because if West has five diamonds (and North-South six), then East will have only two and will be out of diamonds after two rounds of the suit. If East does have three diamonds, then West will have only four and the defenders can cash only two additional diamond tricks (for a total of three) upon winning the ace of clubs.
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^Francis et al (2001), p. 128
- ^Levé (2007), p. 100.
- ^Reese and Trézel (1978), p. 7.
- ^Francis et al (2001), p. 401
References[edit]
- Francis, Henry G.; Truscott, Alan F.; Francis, eds. (2001). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (6th ed.). Memphis, TN: American Contract Bridge League. ISBN0-943855-44-6. OCLC49606900.
- Levé, Guy (2007). The Encyclopedia of Card Play Techniques at Bridge. Toronto: Master Point Press. ISBN978-1-897106-25-9.
- Reese, Terence; Trézel, Roger (1978). When to Duck when to Win in Bridge. Master Bridge Series. New York: Frederick Fell Publishers, Inc. ISBN0-88391-078-0. LCCN77-23677.
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