If you enjoyed Part 1 of this test, lets go ahead
with more hands. And remember! After you see the dummy, before you play
to the first trick....
STOP!!!
Count your tricks and your losers.
Plan your play.
Plan your entries.
Ask your opponents about their leads and carding system.
And only then start to play.
Try to make your
decision before you look at the solution. No peeking!
The following hands are your test. Give yourself 10 point for each time
you made the contract, and 0 for making the wrong decision. Be honest!
Did you score well?
For the purpose of this test we'll assume, about the leads:
4th best against NT always promises an honor, denies
sequence (3cards sequence, full or broken vs NT, and 2 card sequence vs
trump).
Low lead in Partner's suit promises honor.
2nd best from a suit without honor.
10 and 9 leads are either top of nothing (1098x,
987x) or 2 higher (KJ10xx,
Q109xx)
Start the test now!
11. You are defending 4♠ after you opened 1♦ and partner supported
with 2♦ (declarer
overcalled 1♠ and after his partner supported with 2♠ he bid 4♠).
Partner leads the ♦Q.
What do you do?
Overtake with the ♦K
and switch to the ♥K.
Getting a Heart ruff is the only way to set, as declarer has surely at most one diamond card. There is room for your Partner to have one ace and you
must hope it is the ♥A.
If you play the ♥K now, defense will get the ♦K, ♥AK and a Heart ruff.
If partner has ♣A you cannot set: defense will get ♣AK and one diamond trick. Declarer will successfully finesse your ♥K
after pulling trumps.
12. You play 6♠ on a Club lead. What do you do?
Ruff with the ♠A (!) at trick 1 and play spades. That way you manage to
pull out trumps without losing control. You make 4 Spades, 1 Club
ruffed, 5 Diamonds, 1 Club and 1 Heart = 12 tricks.
If you ruff low, cash the ♠A, play club to Ace and then another spade – East will win the K, and cash ♣KQ. If you try ♥A and a heart ruff to return to hand and play spade – East will get the ♠K and play another heart. You would need to ruff again and lose control over the hand.
13. You opened 1♠ and opponents reached 3NT after South bid Club
twice (6 cards) and showed a Spade stopper. Partner lead the 2♠.What
do you do?
It is likely that declarer has 8 top tricks + a Spade stopper, so if you
continue spades, and declarer takes his trick, he might get 9 tricks. Also, Partner's lead suggest he has a Spade honor and you need to
hope it is the ♠K. So, win the ♠A, play the ♥K
and then continue with the ♠9. Partner will take the ♠K, play the ♥J, and defense will get 2
Spades and 3 Hearts tricks.
14. You play 6♥
and West leads a trump. What do you do?
Beware! If you win the first trick in dummy, and try the Club finesse - West
will win and you will go down. Club ruff will not help you now because
you need to ruff high and this promotes a trump trick for the opponents.
Your best chance is to ruff Club in hand. Having entry problems, you
need to win trick one in hand and play ♣AQ, giving up the Club finesse.
North will win the ♣K and return another Heart, but you win in hand
again, play Diamond to the ♦J,
ruff a Club with your low Heart, return to dummy with the ♦Q, and play the ♥Q to draw opponents' last
trump. Your Spade loser will go on the 4th Diamond.
Don't try to to win in hand and play Diamond to ♦J for a Club finesse.
North will win and play Hearts and you will take in hand, play ♣A,
Diamond to ♦Q,
Club ruff. But now you don't have entry to dummy and North will get to
ruff the 3rd Diamond.
15. South plays 3NT after the auction shown below. Partner leads the ♠5 and declarer plays low from dummy. What do you do?
From the bidding, it's clear that South can't have more than 2 Spades, which means Partner has at least 5 cards. Therefore, win the ♠A (!) and continue with the
♠J. Partner should overtake with the ♠K and play the ♠8. That way
defense can get 4 Spades tricks + the ♥A.
If you play the ♠J at trick one you will win it cheap, but you will
block the suit and defense will get only 3 Spade tricks.
16. You reached an ambitious 3NT and you got a Spade lead. What
do you do?
Careful! The Diamond suit is blocked and you must get 6 Diamonds tricks!
Take the first Spade with the ♠Q and continue with the ♠2 (!) throwing
Diamonds from dummy. If opponents win and continue Spades, take the
♠A, throwing another Diamond. You have now 6 Diamonds tricks, 1 Heart
and 2 Spade tricks. IF opponents play Heart or Diamond, win in dummy,
play ♦AK, throw
last Diamond on ♠A and your Diamonds are good.
17. South plays 3NT (bidding went 1NT-3NT) and Partner leads
the ♥J. What do
you do?
As South opened 1NT, it is obvious that the ♥J
is partner's only point... So, the only way to beat the contract is
to kill dummy. Win the ♥A
and play the ♠J, dummy will win with the ♠Q (else you continue Spades)
but when he tries Diamonds, you hold up twice. Declarer has now only 1
Spade, 2 Hearts, 3 Clubs, and 2 Diamonds.
18. You play 3NT and West leads a low Spade to East's ♠Q. What
do you do?
If you win it with the ♠K and the Diamond finesse fails, East will return
Spade and you will lose another 4 Spade tricks.
You must therefore let the ♠Q win at trick 1 and also play low at trick
2! If you cover the ♠J at trick 2, West will let you win (!) to
preserve a 3rd Spade in East's hand. Then, when East gets the hand with
the ♦K, he plays back his 3rd Spade and defense will get 3 more Spade tricks.
When you hold up twice, keeping ♠KJ, you manage to cut communication in
case East gets the lead. That way defense wins just 3 Spades and the ♦K. It would be safe to
take ♠K at trick one if Diamond finesse would be to West's direction as
the ♠J would protect you from Spade continuation then (coming from
West's hand).
19. You are in 6♠. West, who opened the bidding with 1♥, lead the ♠J. Obviously,
all the missing points are with West, so finesses are useless. What do
you do?
This is an entry-planning problem. Win the lead with the ♠Q and keep the
♠2 in hand! Play ♦AQ,
and throw 2 Clubs from hand. West wins with the ♦K and plays a third round of diamonds.
Win the ♦J and
throw the ♣Q from hand. Play Club to the ♣A, ♠10 to dummy's ♠A, Club
ruff, ♠7 to dummy's ♠8, a 3rd Club ruff, and finally the ♠2 to dummy's ♠4
to win the promoted ♣9, throwing the ♥Q
from hand.
20. You play 3NT on a ♦9
lead (top of sequence or 2 higher cards). What do you do?
If you play the ♦10,
East will cover, you win the ♦A
and try the Spade finesse. East wins the ♠K, switch to Heart and West takes
the ♥K, continue
the ♦8, and
defense takes 3 Diamond tricks.
It is important to play a low diamond from dummy at trick one! Win the ♦A, try Spade and Heart
finesses, but when they both fail and West continues Diamonds, you can
cover now with the ♦10. That way you will not lose 3 Diamond tricks.
Notice! You don't need 2 Diamond tricks to make
the contract. But, you cannot afford to lose 3.
How many times you said this sentence two seconds after you saw dummy?
It seems natural to run the trick to your hand, but before you do so:
STOP!!!
Count your tricks and your losers.
Plan your play.
Plan your entries.
Ask your opponents about their leads and carding system.
And only then start to play.
Here are some hands where making the right decision will determine
whether you make or go down in a makeable contract. Try to make your
decision before you look at the solution.
No peeking!
The following hands are your test. Give yourself 10 point for each time
you made the contract, and 0 for making the wrong decision. Be honest!
Did you score well?
For the purpose of this test we'll assume, about the leads:
4th best against NT always promises an honor, denies
sequence (3
cards sequence, full or broken vs NT, and 2 card sequence vs trump).
Low lead in Partner's suit promises honor.
2nd best from a suit without honor.
10 and 9 leads are either top of nothing (1098x,
987x) or 2 higher (KJ10xx
, Q109xx)
Start the test now!
You play 3NT and West lead the ♥7
(4th best). What do you
do?
The lead suggests that West doesn't have ♥KQJ.
Play the Ace! If Hearts are 5-2, that play with block the suit for your
opponents: Either East will have no small heart to play back, or, if
West tries to overtake East's high heart - you will also score your ♥10.
If you play low at trick one, West will win with the ♥Q, return a heart, and
defense will get 4 hearts and the ♦A
You play 3NT and West leads the ♦6. What do you do?
Win the ace and finesse clubs. You can still play a diamond to the ♦Q or try to make a spade
trick if club finesse fails, but you cannot survive a spade switch at
trick 2. On this example hand, after East wins the trick with ♦K, he will play spade back
while the club
finesse works and you can make 10 tricks.
Against 3NT West leads the ♥5
(he also made a 1♥
overcall). What do you do?
Same as hand 1: With KQ10 West would surely lead the ♥K. That means that East
has at least one of the missing honors. Win the ♥A
and play a club. That move blocks opponents' Hearts and
if they continue that suit, you will score your ♥9.
If you play low at trick one, West will win with the ♥Q, return a heart, and
defense will get 4 hearts and the ♣A
You play 7♠ and W chose to lead a club. What do you do?
STOP! Count tricks! if spades are not 5-0, you already have 13 tricks.
So if you automatically take the free finesse for the 14th trick – you
will go down as you have no quick entry to hand to finish pulling out
the trumps. If you try to overtake or ruff a Diamond - you will
promote a trump trick for West.
Win the ♣A, cash ♠AQ, return to
hand on the ♣K, pull the rest of the trumps and claim.
You play 6♥
on a spade lead. What do you do?
Free finesse for the 13th trick? Not so fast! If the ♠K is with East
and diamonds split 4-1 you go down on this line of play.
Win the ♠A,
draw trumps, and play ♦AK.
Even though diamonds are 4-1, you are still 100% to make. Play ♣AK ,
ruff a club and play the ♠Q. No matter which of your opps wins the
trick, they will be endplayed:
If East wins (as it happens here), he has to play a black suit and give
you a ruff/sluff.
If West has the ♠K he is still endplayed. He has to play a diamond away
from his ♦J,
helping you to make your ♦10
(or give you ruff/sluff in the blacks).
You play 6♥
and West leads the ♦7.
What do you do?
As you have a sure club loser, you must hope trumps are 3-2. You also
have another club loser. You can try the spade finesse (or take a
ruffing finesse), it's a 50% guess. The best chance is to ruff a Club
in dummy - but you need
to be careful with your entries. Win the ♦A
and play the ♣K. Opponents take their Ace now or later and you win the
Diamond return
with the ♦K (or,
if they play back a
Heart, take it with the ♥Q
and return to hand on your ♦K).
Ruff club, cash the ♥Q
and return to hand on the ♠A and a spade ruff to pull out the rest of
the trumps.
You play 3NT and West leads the ♠5. What do you do?
You need to hold up against a possible 5-2 split in spade. If you win
and play clubs - East will take the ♣K and continue spades and you
cannot avoid losing 3 spades and 2 clubs. But if you hold up and win
the 2nd spade - East has no more spades to play.
You play 3NT and West leads the ♠2 (4th best).
You must win the trick and try the Diamond finesse. The lead means
spades are 4-4
and you can afford to lose 3 spades and 1 Diamond. If you hold up – You
will not survive a Heart switch: East will win the spade, switch to the
♥K and you will
go down (if
you duck Hearts twice - opponents will continue spades).
You play 6♥
on a ♣J lead. What do you do?
The best chance is to win the trick with your ♣K and finesse spade to
♠Q. If the finesse
loses to West, come back to dummy on the ♠J to try Heart finesse. If
the finesse wins,
play ♦AK and
continue with the ♥Q.
When West wins his ♥K
(this round or the next), you will have the 10♥ as entry to dummy in
order to throw the spade loser on the ♦Q.
You play 4♠ on a ♣J lead. What do you do?
Best chance to make is to win the first trick in hand with the ♣K and
play a low
heart to the ♥Q.
If the ♥K
is with West, he will win it and continue clubs, but you can take the
trick with the ♣A, cash ♥Q,
come back to hand on the ♠A and throw your club loser on the ♥A. That way you will lose
a spade, a diamond and a heart.
If you win the first trick with dummy's Ace and try the spade finesse,
you will go down if the finesse fails: West will continue clubs and you
lose a club, a diamond, a heart and a spade.
What if the ♥K
is in East? He will take your ♥Q
at trick 2 and continue clubs. You will still have a chance to make if
the spade finesse works. That way you have about 75% chance to make the
contract, and you go down only if East has the ♥K and West has the ♠K.
