Tag Archives: Visualizing the Opponents’ Hands

Rectifying the Count

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What’s usually referred to as “counting the hand” might better be termed visualizing the unseen hands. Experts don’t count. They rectify hand patterns from clues during bidding and play. Once they have done that, they have “gotten a count on the hand” or “rectified the count”, meaning they have deduced shapes of unseen hands.

Here is a nice declarer play exercise in visualizing hand patterns by Eddie Kantar*.

kantar1

Follow the first eight tricks:

  1. West cashes the ace of hearts, East playing the nine
  2. West cashes the king of hearts, East playing the five
  3. West play the nine of clubs, East playing low, you win the queen
  4. You cash the king of spades, West discarding a heart
  5. You cash the ace of spades, another heart from West
  6. You cash the queen of spades, another heart from West
  7. You go to the king of clubs, West following low
  8. You cash the ace of clubs, West discarding a heart while you discard a low diamond

Tell me the hand pattern West started with? How many diamonds did East start with? How are you going to play the diamonds?

Were you able to “rectify the count” after trick eight?

*https://www.amazon.com/Test-Your-Bridge-Play-2/dp/1554947758

Scroll down for the answer if you need help:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At trick 3 you know that West started with 7 hearts, East with 2 hearts.

At trick 4 you discover that West started with zero spades, East with 4 spades.

At trick 8 you discover that West started with 2 clubs, East with 6 clubs.

Now you can rectify the count: West started with zero spades, 7 hearts, ?? diamonds, and 2 clubs. How many diamonds did West start with? How many diamonds did East start with? Hint: All four hands contain a total of 13 diamonds.

Now you know how to play the diamonds.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , ,

Opening Lead decision?

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Here is a chance to practice your visualization skills during the auction:

MikeL12

 

Auction suggests that opponents are likely to make 3NT. Perhaps they will, but you should still endeavor to prevent overtricks.

In a recent pairs game on BBO I was the unfortunate declarer when West made a well thought out opening lead. Decide on West’s lead and then scroll down to appreciate West’s thought process:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Follow West’s thought process in visualizing opponents’ hands during the auction:

  1.  South has 15-17 HCP and balanced hand.
  2.  North has invitational or better hand with at least one four-card major (2 Clubs is Stayman inquiry).
  3.  South has four hearts and possibly four spades (answering the Stayman inquiry).
  4. North signs off in 3NT, saying “I have four spades, partner, please decide on 3NT or four spades”.
  5. South holds fewer than four spades (took preference for 3NT by passing).
  6.  I only have three queens. Partner may have as much as 8 HCP and should have at least 5 spades (Stayman sequence indicates North has 4 spades and South has at most three). Declarer doesn’t know about our shapes and strength. If I lead the queen of spades through dummy’s “bid” suit, it will be deceptive and will not likely hurt our side. Out goes my queen of spades!
Category: Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: , ,

Recommendations to help you think like a bridge player

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When it comes to solving the mystery of visualizing unseen hands, World Champion Mike Lawrence’s books and software provide the best guidance I have encountered. Here is Mike’s website: http://michaelslawrence.com/

Here is a fine example one of his books:

http://michaelslawrence.com/product/how-to-read-your-opponents-cards/

I benefited immensely from this software back in the late 90s: http://michaelslawrence.com/product/counting-at-bridge-2-cd-for-pc-only/

Mike gives us daily puzzles to help improve our game. Go to his BridgeClues site: https://www.bridgeclues2.com/ to enjoy and learn.

 

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play, Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: , , ,

Think like a bridge player

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 What would Mike Lawrence do?

You are South on lead against 2NT. What clues does the auction give you?

MikeL5

Here is what Mike Lawrence might be thinking:

  • It looks like East has two heart stoppers and fewer than four spades. His shape is probably something like 3-4-3-3.
  • After my rebid of two hearts, West is still inviting game. He probably has about 17 HCP with shortness in hearts.
  • East has nothing extra, probably no more than six HCP.
  • Leading a heart does not look like a good idea. How best for me to go passive with this holding?
  • It looks like the opponents have a maximum of 7 spades between them – four with West and 3 with East. Partner should have at least five spades. The unusual lead of a singleton spade should not hurt the defense.
  • I lead the six of spades.
Category: Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: , , , , ,

Counting your tricks in no trump

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Here is a hand I observed recently on BBO:

Counting in NT

Put yourself in the South seat. It looks like you have two fast tricks in spades, two in hearts, one in diamonds (your singleton king wins at trick one), and two in clubs. You need to set up two additional tricks. It looks like diamonds are splitting 4-4, and that you will lose three diamond tricks. You have seven card fits in each of the other suits. What’s the best way to set up a ninth trick? Give it some thought and scroll down for my recommended plan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can hope for a 3-3 split in spades, hearts, or clubs. But clubs offer your best chance. Look at those nice intermediates that you posess in clubs: 10, 9, 8, 7 . Win the ace of clubs and return the nine, planning to overtake if West plays an honor. That will work whenever clubs break 3-3 or you catch West with a doubleton honor. It’s the doubleton honor that gives you a slight extra chance in clubs. Also, you will hold your loss to down one when clubs don’t behave.

Here was the entire hand:

counting in NT too

 

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , , ,

Think before you play to trick one

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This is a recent hand on BBO where I let my instincts takeover. I made the common mistake of failing to think at trick one, and I went down in a cold contract. Opening lead is the five of hearts. What do you think I should have done?

MikeL1

Put yourself in my shoes and decide. Then scroll down to make sure you got it right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I managed to go down because I overlooked the almost certain location of the king of hearts. I should win the ace of hearts at trick one, club to the ace, ruff a club, and lead the queen of hearts. If RHO ducks I pitch my last club and likely make 11 tricks. If RHO plays the king, I ruff high and lead a top trump, losing only one club and ace of diamonds.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , , , ,

How to Visualize a Hand

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I am dipping into How to Play Card Combinations by Mike Lawrence. There is a nice lesson in visualizing possibilities from his 1st hand:

MikeL7

MikeL8

The play looks easy if West is leading from a 4-card suit. You will drive out the two top clubs and make nine tricks.

But what if West is leading from a 5-card suit? That would mean East started with two spades. If so, what is the danger and how should you play the spades? You have two sure spade stoppers (right?), and you don’t want West to get in once they are exhausted. Say you win the opening lead in dummy and start the clubs. East wins and returns a spade to West’s queen. West then plays another spade, setting up his two remaining spades. You are safe if East started with the ace, king of clubs, but you are going down if West has one top club honor. How about the possibility that West started with the two top club honors? West would have opened the bidding with A,K of clubs the K,Q five times of spades. Your worry is the real possibility that West started with one of the top club honors.

If you duck the opening lead, you will still have two spades stoppers. After the second spade, East will not be able to hurt you when he gets in with a top club. When you work all that out you duck the opening lead!

 

Here is the entire hand:

 

MikeL11

 

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , , ,

Play Bridge with Mike Lawrence*

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*Title is same as that of book by Mike Lawrence

Here is an interesting hand in which Mike Lawrence shares his thinking. Mike is sitting South.

MikeL17

The transfer did not get accepted after the lead directing double because (by partnership agreement) North held fewer than three spades. Mike decided to bid game with the known 8-card fit.

 

Opening lead was the seven of diamonds, and East won with the ace. What diamond did Mike play from hand at trick one and why does it matter?

Tackle this question first in the comments, and I then will have more insights from Mike Lawrence on this particular hand.

 

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , ,

It’s Your Call

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You hold this hand in second seat (favorable vulnerability):

your call1

Your right-hand opponent opens the bidding one diamond. You pass with your ugly hand. Left-hand opponent responds one heart. Now your partner comes in with a preemptive overcall of two spades. Right-hand opponent doubles to show exactly three hearts. Summary of the auction so far:

your call2

*Support double showing exactly three hearts.

You know that partner is weak and opponents have game and possibly slam.

It’s your call. What do you do now? Let me know what you think in the comments.

 

 

 

Category: Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: , , ,

A Sure Ten Tricks?

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Here is a somewhat contrived example of “sure tricks” by George S. Coffin. (Contrived because the bidding is unrealistic given the unbalanced nature of the hands.) It nonetheless gives you an interesting and counterintuitive declarer play puzzle to solve. How are you going to bring home 10 tricks?

coffin4

South opened the bidding one heart, and West overcalled two clubs. Partner and right-hand opponent both passed. South bid four hearts, ending the auction.

The play started with West cashing the Ace and King of clubs, East discarding a low spade on the second club. At trick three West led the 10 of hearts on which East discarded another spade! Where is that certain 10th trick coming from? Over to you:

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , ,

One More Opening Lead Problem

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Here is your hand as North on opening lead against four hearts after the auction shown:

open lead problem2

Rank the following possible opening leads from first to worst:

  • Ace of spades
  • Jack of hearts
  • Ace of diamonds
  • Deuce of clubs

What is your rationale for the rankings?

Category: Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: , ,

Opening Lead Problem

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You are North on opening lead against four spades after the auction shown:

open lead problem

Rank the following possible opening leads from first to worst:

  • Nine of spades
  • Ace of hearts
  • Five of diamonds
  • Ace of clubs

What is your rationale for the rankings?

Category: Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: , ,

Play for the Overtrick

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From a recent hand on BBO: You are South in four spades. West leads the queen of clubs. Here is your hand and dummy:

overtrick6

It looks like you will make at least five spades. But you are playing a pairs game (which means matchpoint scoring), so it would be nice to make six. How are you going to play for 12 tricks? Hint: Note that West overcalled 2 ♥ in direct seat.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , ,

Good Bridge Puzzles from Long Ago

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I have been dipping into an old book by George S. Coffin, Sure Tricks (2nd edition, 1950). Our copy once belonged to H. Kunimura (any of you recall that name?). Somehow the club obtained it over the years. I googled and was surprised to find the book listed at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sure-tricks-George-S-COFFIN/dp/B000M8HNSC

It contains lots of fun double dummy puzzles. Also play problems in which you are challenged to make your contract by visualizing the worst possible lie of opponents’ cards (thus the title of the book: Sure Tricks).

Here is a sample of his double dummy puzzles:

coffin1

You are South in 6NT.  Lead is the queen of Hearts*. How are you going to make your contract against any defense?

*Typo: Lead corrected to queen of hearts rather than queen of diamonds 6/9/20.

Here is the solution if you give up: Coffin1 Solution

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play, Interesting Hands | Tags: , , ,

A Bidding Judgment Problem

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See update below

Here is a bidding problem that I got wrong recently:

MikeL16

What would you do after the auction shown? I failed to exercise my visualization skill. What is partner doing? Why is she bidding hearts after making the negative double? How big is her hand? Can you you make a better decision than I did? Let me know in the comments.

Update 6/2/2020:

Partner would have responded 3 hearts rather than making the negative double at her 1st turn. The negative double should have told me she is near to a game forcing hand or better. The three heart bid at 2nd turn suggests she has game forcing values and is looking for me to bid 3NT with a club stopper. Having none, I should bid out my pattern by making the rebid of four diamonds. Parter’s strengh must be in diamonds and hearts, and she she should have fewer than three spades with an honor. Here is the entire hand:

neg dbl5

Category: Exercises: It's Your Call | Tags: , ,

What Would Mike Lawrence Think at Trick One?

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Here is a good visualization exercise for you. I recently saw this hand played in a BBO tournament, and no declarers seemed to put on their Mike Lawrence thinking cap. See if you can do better:

MikeL14

I win the ace of diamonds, East playing the three. What do I make of the opening lead? Opponents started with seven diamonds:  Hierarchy of honors K Q J 10 9 as well as the deuce and trey. From what holding would West lead a little diamond when North has made a 2/1 diamond response?

Give this some Mike Lawrence kine thought, and let me know in comments or by email what you conclude.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , , , ,

One More Puzzle from Victor Mollo*

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You are South in 3NT. How are you going to make the contract after East plays the jack of hearts at trick one and you win the queen?

Mollo1

*From I Challenge You by Victor Mollo

Count your sure winners: one spade, two hearts, one diamond, and one club. You need to develop five more winners to get to nine tricks. The diamond suit should set up for four or five of the additional tricks. That gets you to eight or nine tricks. By driving out the king of spades you will have at least nine tricks.

But there is a danger that the opponents will get five tricks before you can get nine! How are you going to avoid that danger and what card do you play at trick two?

This is a common dilemma for declarer, so it would benefit you to work it out before scrolling down for the solution:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It looks like West started with five hearts and East with three. The danger is that West may cash three heart tricks if she has an entry with the king of spades. And East is certain to continue the heart attack when she gets in with the king of diamonds. To prevent this, you must keep East off lead while West still has an entry with the king of spades. Play the queen of spades at trick two. No matter who wins that trick, you have a sure nine tricks when East gets in with the king of diamonds: two spades, two hearts, four diamonds, and one club. And you will make an overtrick if West has the king of diamonds. If East happens to get in with the king of spades at trick two, you can safely duck her heart return and take your ace when she continues hearts at trick four.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , , , ,

A Challenge from Victor Mollo

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Steve Bartholomew recently emailed me some declarer play puzzles from Victor Mollo’s book I Challenge You. (Thanks, Steve.)  Mollo’s challenge is to use readily available clues to guide your declarer play. Mollo says at the outset, “there’s nothing up my sleeve, no traps for the unwary, and above all, no abstruse conventions in the bidding to obscure the clarity of the play”.

Here, for example, is the first puzzle:

Mollo

 

West leads out the ace, king, queen of spades. You ruff the 3rd spade in hand. How are you going to play from here to make the contract?

Scroll down for the solution:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a near certainty that East has the ace of clubs and King of diamonds (West did not open the bidding). Lead your singleton club and put in the 10. If it loses to the jack, there is nothing East can do to hurt you. When you get to dummy again you will take ruffing finesses against East’s ace of clubs to discard your two losing diamonds.

Did I say, “when you get to dummy again”? You did not lazily ruff that third spade with the heart seven, did you? Of course not, you saw the need to preserve the eight of hearts as an entry to dummy. The eight is equal to the ace in its trick taking power against opponents holding of deuce through six of hearts.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play, Keeping the Dangerous Opponent off Lead | Tags: , , , ,

Think before You Play to Trick One

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In our game it’s often hard to avoid playing by instinct. I recently made an instinctual misplay at trick one when West led the seven of hearts on this hand:

trick1

 

My instinct was “oh, goodie – a free finesse!” I played low from dummy. Only as I was about to lead to trick two did I contemplate how to play trumps should they break 4-1. It was too late. I needed to win trick one in dummy and cash the queen of spades. Then I can come to hand in hearts at trick two and draw trumps.

BTW, assuming I had played correctly at trick one, how are you going to play the minor suits? You know where the heart queen is, right? Yes, right!

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , , ,

Bad Trump Break

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You are in three diamonds (both vul) as South. North had a difficult decision after West’s preempt and reasonably chose to respond three diamonds. That’s where the bidding ended:

bad trump break1

West led the ace of spades, South playing the Jack and you the six (trying to hide the spade situation from West). West continued with a low spade and East ruffed with the six of diamonds.

 

At trick 3 East shifts to the nine of hearts. You play the jack and it wins as West follows with the deuce.

 

At trick 4 you lead the deuce of diamonds, West discards a low spade, you play the king and East plays a low diamond. How many diamonds did East start with? It does not look like you will make the contract. What do you do now?

 

When I observed the hand, declarer did not get flummoxed. She reasoned that she needed to do as well or better than the other NS pairs. After all, diamonds were going to break 5-0 for all declarers. She managed to hold it to down one. Do you see how?

 

She had lost one spade, one spade ruff, and was sure to lose two more diamonds. If she could hold her club losers to one, she would get out for down 1. It was likely that East held the club ace, so if she could endplay East, the ace would be her only club loser.

 

At tricks five and six she cashed her two top hearts ending in hand. Then she led a low spade ruffed with dummy’s and overruffed with East’s nine. At trick eight East led the diamond queen taken with declarer’s ace. At trick nine she led the king of spades, but East could see the endplay coming and refused to ruff. Declarer then led a trump to East’s winner and the endplay was complete, resulting in 75 percent of the matchpoints for NS.

Here is the entire hand:

bad trump break2

 

You may want to lay out the hand with cards on the table to make sure you follow it all.

BTW, West erred in leading the ace of spades. Any other lead and South will go down two. Some declarers went down three, failing to make the endplay.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: , , ,
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