If you enjoyed Part 1; Part 2; Part 3 and Part 4 of this test, lets go ahead
with more hands. But remember! After you see the dummy, before to run
the trick to your hand...
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!
Against 6♠ West leads the ♥8.
What do you do?
The Heart lead suggests that the ♥K
is with East. Your best chance for a 12th trick is to promote the 5th
club. However, for that, you need 3 entries, in case clubs are 4-2.
So... Play LOW at trick 1, using the ♥9
in hand to force East win the trick. East wins with the ♥10 but can't afford to
return a Heart (else you score the ♥Q)
so he plays back a Diamond. Win with the ♦A.
Play ♠A, ♣AK, club ruff, spade to ♠J and a 4th club ruff. Pull the
remaining trumps, and use the ♥A
as entry to play the 5th club, throwing the Diamond loser from hand.
If you try the ♥Q
at trick 1, East will get the ♥K,
return a Heart and destroy your entry to the 5th club.
You play 4♥
and West leads the ♠7 (East was a passed hand and then overcalled 2♠).
What do you do?
Win the 1st trick with the ♠K! Why? Because if you run it automatically
to your ♠A, play ♣AK, ruff club and play Heart to the ♥J – West can hold up. You
continue with the ♥Q
but now West wins with the ♥A,
plays his 2nd spade and now you are locked in dummy with the ♠K. You
try Diamond, but East wins, continues spade, and West's ♥10 is promoted (no use to
throw a Diamond instead of ruffing since East will continue with
another Spade.)
So, win the ♠K at trick 1, play ♣AK, ruff club and continue with a
Heart. Holding up will not save West now, as you have the ♠A to enter
your hand and pull out his ♥10.
You play 7♠. West bid 2♠ (Michaels, showing ♥ + minor) and East bid 4NT
(= asks West to bid his minor at the 5th level). West leads the ♦K. What do you do?
Don't blow this! If you automatically throw a Heart loser, you will not
be able to avoid losing a club, no matter how you try to tackle this
suit. Instead, throw a club from hand! Pull trumps, play ♣AKQ, ruff a
4th club in hand, go back to dummy with the ♥A (or trump) and throw
your Heart loser on the 5th club. 100% success!
You play 3NT. West leads the ♠7 (4th best). Which card do
you play from dummy? East wins the ♠A and continues with another Spade.
What do you do?
You have 6 top tricks. To make 3 more, you need the Diamond finesse to
work, and if East has ♦Kxxx,
you would need to finesse 3 times. For that – you need 3 entries. So,
try the ♠10 at trick 1 in case W has ♠AQ. When East takes the ♠A (which
means the ♠Q is surely with West) drop your ♠K!! That move will create
your 3rd entry via the ♠J. If you play low on the ♠A, East will
continue with spade. If you play low again – West wins, plays a 3rd
spade and your ♠K wins in hand leaving you without any more entries for
the for 3rd Diamond finesse.
South plays 3NT doubled. What do you lead?
Note! Partner's double is a lead directing, asking you to lead the suit
bid by dummy. If you ignore it and lead a Diamond – declarer will win
in hand and play on clubs, scoring 9 tricks (4 Clubs, 2 Diamonds, 3
Hearts).
However, if you lead a spade, as Partner asked, Partner will win trick
1 cheap and play back a Diamond. You win the trick cheap over
declarer's card and play another Spade to Partner's hand. A 2nd Diamond
will be played from Partner's hand and you take declarer's ♦Q with your ♦K and play back a 3rd
Spade. Partner wins again, cashes his 4th spade and plays a 3rd Diamond
to declarer's ♦A.
When declarer plays on clubs now - defense wins the ♣A and cashes 2
more Diamonds: 5 down!! (4 Diamonds, 4 Spades and 1 Club for defense).
What a swing! Instead of -600 you get +1400!
South plays 4♠. Partner leads the ♥10 and declarer plays the ♥K from dummy. What do you
do?
Duck (encourage with the ♥7)!
Partner's lead is clearly from a doubleton (♥10x).
Why can't it be a singleton? Because South opened 1♠ and rebid 2NT = he
has NO 4 carder Hearts. If Partner had a singleton Heart then declarer
would have rebid 2♥.
Partner has around 7 points. You need to hope he has a trick in trumps
and a Diamond trick. Still, you need another trick to set, which needs
to be a Heart ruff. Since the ♥A
is your only entry to hand, you must duck at trick 1. When Partner gets
the hand with his ♠A, he plays his 2nd Heart to your ♥A and you let him ruff a
Heart. The ♦K will
be the setting trick.
Against 3NT West leads the ♠5. What do you do?
Partner's lead is 4th best of his long suit. That means he has an honor
(the ♠J).
How many Spades does he have? Five. Why? Because declarer's 2♦ bid denies a 4 card
major. So Partner must have ♠Jxx5x.
If declarer plays a low spade at trick 1 – Take it with the ♠Q and
continue with the ♠K at trick 2 (!) to save your ♠2 as entry to
Partner's ♠J. When you get the hand with the ♣K, you play your 3rd
spade and defense gets 4 spade tricks and the ♣K.
What if declarer plays the ♠A at trick 1? Then you must unblock the ♠K
(!) to keep the real important card in hand: the ♠2. When you get the
hand with the ♣K, you continue with ♠Q and the ♠2 to Partner's ♠J and
his remaining spades.
Against 4♥
Partner leads the ♠K. What do you do?
You can easily count P to have 5 points (15 for declarer, 11 in dummy
and you have 9 = 35 together) which are the ♠KQ. So, 3 sure tricks for
defense: 2 in spades and 1 in Heart. The setting trick must be a
Diamond ruff, but you need to show Partner the way: Overtake with the
♠A at trick 1 and play your singleton Diamond. When you win the ♥A later, play a Spade to
Partner's marked ♠Q and he will let you ruff Diamond for 1 down.
You play 4♥
and West, who bid 2♥
Michaels (showing 5 Spades + 5 cards in a minor), lead the ♣K. What do
you do?
Play low from dummy! Why? To avoid East later on (the dangerous hand).
If you take with the ♣A at trick 1, pull trumps and try to develop
Diamonds – East will win the 3rd Diamond, switch to the ♠Q and defense
gets 3 Spades and 1 Diamond.
But if you let West hold the 1st trick, your ♠K will protect you from a
spade continuation. You win whatever West continues, pull out ♥AQ, play ♦AK, throw your 3rd Diamond
from hand on the ♣A. Ruff a 3rd Diamond, go back to dummy with the ♥K, and throw 2 spade
losers on the 2 remaining Diamonds = Making 11 tricks!
You play 3NT and West leads the ♥6. What do you do?
If you win the trick in dummy or win in hand cheap with the ♥J (East plays low at trick
1) – You will crash! When you try to develop clubs – West holds up,
winning the ♣A on the 2nd round, and then switches to Diamond the next
trick. You try the ♦J
but East covers with the ♦Q.
So you win in hand with the ♦K
and play spade to the ♠K, trying to enter dummy. But East takes the ♠A
(if you try to run your ♠10 – East will play low, waiting with his ♠A
to your ♠K) and returns a Heart. You can try to play low – But West
will win his ♥K,
play a 3rd Heart and defense will get 3 Hearts, 2 Spades, 1 Club and a
Diamond trick = 3 down!
So, play safe. Make sure you keep an entry to the dummy by winning
trick 1 with the ♥A.
Play your Clubs now. West will hold up once, get the ♣A next and play
Diamond but you win the ♦K
and play a low Heart to the ♥10.
West must win this trick with his ♥K
(or your ♥10 makes
the trick), but now you have a sure Heart entry to dummy to your
remaining long Clubs.
If you enjoyed Part 1; Part 2 and Part 3 of this test, lets go ahead
with more hands. But remember! After you see the dummy, before to run
the trick to your hand....
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!
Against 4♠, West leads the ♥A. West
overcalled 2♥ and
East bid 4♥. What
do you do?
You have a 100% line if you play safe. Throw a club from hand
at trick 1 and let West win the trick! Ruff the Heart continuation (or
win the ♣A if he switches), pull trumps, then play the ♣A and the ♣Q to
take a ruffing finesse. That way you avoid losing the hand to East,
since a Diamond switch from East is most unwelcome.
If the ♣K is with West – you lose it and lose 1 Diamond trick, then you
can throw 2 Diamonds later on the promoted clubs. As cards lay – you
make 11 tricks, losing the ♥A
and ♦A: Since the
♣K is with East – you ruff it, use trumps to reenter dummy, and throw 2
Diamond losers on the good clubs. If you ruff at trick 1 – you go down:
After pulling trumps, you need to try the club finesse. East wins,
switches to Diamonds – and the defense wins 1 club and 3 Diamonds
tricks.
You play 6♠ and West leads the ♥2.
What do you do?
Finesse or not finesse the ♥Q?
Do not finesse! Why? Because even if the Heart finesse works, you still
need a successful club finesse, as you have a sure Diamond loser.
However, if the Heart finesse fails – you are down for sure, losing a
Heart and a Diamond.
In other words: this Heart finesse is useless! To make your contract
you need a successful club finesse. Win the ♥A, pull trumps, then play
the ♣K and a club to the ♣10. When the finesse succeeds, return to hand
with a trump, and finesse again to the ♣J. Throw your Heart loser on
the ♣A and claim 12 tricks, losing 1 Diamond and ruffing your last
Diamond in dummy.
You play 4♠ and West, who overcalled 2♦, lead the ♥6. What do you do?
West has no reason to underlead the ♥K.
He does lead a Diamond as he is most likely to hold ♦AQ.
The danger of playing a low Heart is that West could have 6 Diamonds:
In that case, East will win the ♥K,
switch to Diamonds and you are 2 down: ♥K,
Diamond to ♦A, low Diamond ruff,
Club to ♣A, and another Diamond ruff.
So... Win the ♥A,
pull trumps and play the ♥Q.
Opponents will win a trick, but you manage 1 Diamond discard + score
your ♦K by playing
a Diamond to the ♦K.
You lose 1 Club, 1 Diamond and 1 Heart.
You play 3NT after East opened the bidding with 1♠. West
leads the ♥5. What
do you do?
East's lead shows an honor – his only honor is, most likely, Qxx5x.
Therefore you play low and East plays the ♥K.
Now what? You can win the ♥A
and make sure of another Heart trick... But if you do so, the moment
East wins the lead with one of his aces, he will play another Heart, on
which West ducks.
You win it cheap with the ♥J
but when East wins his second ace, he plays another Heart to West's
remaining ♥Qxx.
So... Hold up the ♥K
and hold up a 2nd Heart too. Win the ♥A
on the 3rd round of hearts and West's hand is dead. You lose 2 Hearts
and 2 aces.
You play 3NT and West leads the ♣5. What do you do?
If you automatically take the free finesse, East will cover with the
♣Q. When you take the ♣A, West can hold up 1st Diamond and you are down
as your hand is dead. In addition, holding up your ♣A will not save
you, as opponents can duck spade now and you lose the ♦K and 3 spade tricks
later. So, Wake Up! Count your tricks! 4 diamond tricks will do the
job. Win the ♣K at trick 1 and run the ♦J.
West can win the ♦K
at the 2nd round but you still have the ♣A to enter your hand and enjoy
your Diamonds.
South plays 3NT. Partner leads the ♥10 to the suit you
overcalled. What do you do?
Duck (and encourage with the ♥9)!
Partner's lead is clearly from a doubleton (♥10x).
South opened 1♣ (which means he has no 5 card major) and his 1NT rebid
is showing a Heart stopper (♥Jxxx).
Since you have no other entry to hand, you need to play low (but show
partner that you like his lead), and when Partner wins a Diamond trick,
he has a 2nd Heart to play to your remaining ♥AKQx. Defense will score 1
Diamond and 4 Heart tricks.
If you cash all your top Hearts right away, you will score only 3 Heart
tricks.
Against 4♥
West leads the ♦2.
What do you do?
If you try the finesse (50%) and it fails – East will switch to spades
and you cannot avoid losing 1 Diamond, 2 Spades and 1 Club.
Your best chance is to play to promote the 5th club (approx 84%). You
manage if clubs are either 3-3 (36%) or 4-2 (48%): Win ♦A, play ♥A and duck a club.
Opponents win, cash their ♦K
and switch to spades. Win the ♠A, play a club to the ♣A, ruff the 3rd
club high, play Heart to ♥J,
ruff a 4th club, and use dummy's ♥K
to enjoy your 5th club, throwing spade from hand, and thus you are
making 10 tricks (you score 11 tricks if clubs are 3-3 , discarding 2
Spades on the last 2 high clubs).
You play 5♦
and West, who opened 3♥
(preemptive) as dealer, lead the 2♠. What do you do?
If you play low to enjoy the free finesse – you will regret it later.
East will play the ♠Q and when you play on Diamonds or Clubs – East
will get the hand and give West a Spade ruff for 1 down: 2 aces and 1
Spade ruff for the defense.
You must realize that the lead indicates a singleton. Win in dummy with
the ♠K at trick 1 and play the ♥A
at trick 2, discarding your ♠A from hand! Continue with Diamond next
but when East gets the hand with the ♦A
and plays back a spade – You ruff high in hand, cash trumps and lose
just 2 aces.
You play 3NT and West leads the ♥4 (4th best, promises
honor). What do you do?
Play low from dummy and when East plays the ♥9 – play LOW again! That
play does not cost you a trick as you still have 2 sure Heart tricks.
If you win the 1st trick with the ♥J
and run the ♦10,
East will win the ♦Q
and return a heart. You are doomed to fail now as West will knock out
your Heart stopper if you hold up and use his ♦A to cash his remaining
Hearts.
If you hold up and East continues Heart you will win this trick, play
spade to hand, run the ♦Q,
and now East has no more Hearts to play. He will to try to play a Club
– but you should play the ♣A and continue with Diamonds. You manage to
score 1 Club, 3 Diamonds, 2 Hearts and 3 Spade tricks.
South is playing 3NT and partner leads the ♣4 (4th best,
promise honor). Declarer plays low from dummy. What do you do?
Stop! Think! Which honor can partner have?
If partner has the ♣J and declarer has the ♣A (♣Ax or ♣Axx), declarer
will surely
play the ♣Q from dummy, trying to score it, with the hope your partner
underlead the ♣K. Also, if partner has the ♣J and the ♣A, and declarer
has no honor – he will also try the ♣Q, hoping your
partner lead from ♣AK.
BUT, declarer played low. That means he has the ♣J and partner has the
♣A. Play the ♣K at trick 1 and continue with the ♣10 to avoid blocking
the suit. Partner wins the ♣A, continues with a club to your ♣9, you
continue with the ♣7 to his ♣8 and he cashes his last club for 1 down.
If you play the ♣9 at trick 1 – declarer makes at least 10 tricks (it
would be correct to play the ♣9 if dummy has ♣Qxx because jumping with
the ♣K risks to promote the ♣Q and maybe then declarer also has the ♣A)
If you enjoyed Part 1 and Part 2 of this test, lets go ahead with more hands. And remember! After you see the dummy, before to run the trick to your hand...
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!
21. Partner leads the ♠4 against 3NT (South opened 1NT and on North's stayman he bid 2♦). What do you do?
Partner is very weak, having max 2 points, 1 of them is the ♠J. He therefore has Jxx4x in spade as South denied majors in the bidding. If you win the Ace and continue with the ♠Q, declarer will hold up, win the ♠K next, and West has no entry to his hand. Play the ♠Q(!) at trick 1. South must win, as from his point of view West has AJx4 and if he doesn't take the ♠K now he will not take it at all (he must hope spades break 4-4). After winning the ♥A you can continue with ♠A and a 3rd spade to Partner's ♠J and the rest of the spades sets the contract.
22. South plays 3NT and West leads the ♠9, after you overcalled 1♠ (North opened 1♦ and South bid 3NT). What do you do?
Play low too (best to encourage with the ♠7), as South surely has ♠Qxx, promising a spade stopper for his 3NT bid. If you win and play another spade, you will not have enough entries to develops the spade suit. If you play low, South will win the ♠J and play on diamonds. West will take the ♦K and play another spade, and now you have the ♦A as entry to the good spades.
23. North opened the bidding with 3♦ and South bid 3NT. What do you lead?
South plays 3NT. If the bidding goes 1NT-3NT, you naturally lead the ♣J. But when it's clear that opponents are planning on taking their 9 tricks off the top (like here, where the bidding went 3♦ - 3NT, or against a 3NT gambling opening), basing their bid on a long suit, it's important to make an active opening lead. Lead one of your aces, say ♥A. Partner will discourage with the ♥2 and you will try the ♠A. When Partner encourages, continue with another spade and defense takes 6 tricks right away.
A naive club lead will allow declarer to cash their 9 tricks. Notice that by bidding 3NT, declarer must have a good Diamond holding, normally 3 cards, or 2 with a top honor. He would mostly be exposed in 1 suit, and it is important for the defense to find quickly his weakness and take their tricks fast.
24. South opened 1♥, North bid 1♠, South rebid 2♣ and North passed. What do you lead?
North has longer clubs and short Hearts. That sequence of bidding demands a trump lead, to prevent declarer from ruffing hearts in the short hand. Lead a low Club. Defender should play 3 rounds of clubs (♣AK and a 3rd club) and declarer cannot avoid losing 3 Hearts tricks. Any other lead and declarer makes overtricks via cross ruff.
25. South plays 4♥. What do you lead?
You have a weak trump suit and a singleton. Lead the singleton Diamond. Good chance that Partner might be able to win the lead at some point and give you some Diamond ruff(s). On this hand Partner will get the hand with the ♥A and return a LOW Diamond (= suit preference for club). You will ruff, return a club and Partner will give you another Diamond ruff. Any other lead and declarer ends up with an overtrick, losing just 2 aces.
26. South plays 4♥. What do you lead?
This time you have a good trump suit so lead the ♣K! That will force declarer to ruff the 2nd club and when you get the hand again with the ♥A you continue with another club, forcing him to ruff again. Now you have more trumps than declarer and you have control over the hand. If you lead a Diamond, you manage to ruff 1 Diamond later but you ruff with a natural trump trick and it is not enough to set. Defense wins 2 aces and 1 ruff only).
27. South plays 4♠ after the above bidding. What do you lead?
60 points in the pack? No. Opponents bid game with around 20 points, as they are short in your suits. Lead the ♠A and another spade (a low spade also sets). If you lead Diamond or Heart, declarer will win 3 aces and cross ruff the remaining 7 tricks. However, on a trump lead declarer cannot ruff all 3 Hearts losers.
28. Against 4♠ your Partner leads the ♥K. What do you do?
Overtake with the ♥A and play the ♣J. The Diamond suit is too threatening, so you must attack clubs before declarer's club losers will disappear on the good Diamond suit (notice that if West has the ♦K, it will still be bad for the defense as declarer can finesse it and still likely score 5 Diamonds tricks.
29. You play 5♦ and West leads the ♥Q. What do you do?
Ruff in hand (you need to keep the ♥A), pull trumps and play a club to the ♣10. If the ♣J is with West – you limit yourself to just 1 club loser and you can throw a spade loser on the ♥A. If East wins the ♣J and returns a spade – you win the ♠A and play a club to the ♣A. As cards lay – the ♣K drops. You manage to hold the suit to only one club loser and again, you throw a spade loser on the ♥A. If the ♣K doesn't drop when you win the ♣A – Throw the ♣Q on the ♥A, ruff a 3rd club and this promotes the 4th club if clubs are 3-3 (thus you throw the spade loser on the 4th club).
30. You play 6♣ and West leads the ♠2. What do you do?
There is no point to try the double finesse as you can always throw a spade loser on the ♥Q. Win ♠A and play ♣AK. If any opponent has ♣QX – you cash the 3rd club, throw a spade on the 3rd round of hearts, give a spade trick and claim. If the ♣Q doesn't drop – play ♥Q and another Heart to the ♥10! On the ♥AK throw your 2 spade losers (you make also if the 4th Heart get ruffed, losing just to the ♣Q). This line bring success whenever the ♣Q drops or the ♥J is with West.
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.
