Counting Losers in a suit contract

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Think Before You Play to Trick 1

Posted on April 22, 2022 by Harry • 0 comment

10 tricks are easy on this one. But you are in five hearts. Where are you going to find the 11^th winner? Here is the hand, auction, and opening lead.

Your thoughts at trick one:

What can I infer from the opening lead?
What can I infer about opponents’ spade holdings from the bidding?
If my inferences from opening lead and bidding are correct, then how many cards does East have in the red suits?
Now that I can picture East’s hand, how am I going to hold my losers to two?

Give it a try and then scroll down for the solution.

Your thoughts at trick one:

What did you infer from the opening lead? I bet it’s a singleton!
What can you infer from the bidding? Looks like West must have four spades for the preemptive jump raise. East must have 5 spades to the ace from opening bid.
If your inferences from opening lead and bidding are correct, then how many cards does East have in the red suits? East has five spades and five clubs. Therefore, East holds three red cards.

Now that you can picture East’s hand, you know to go up with the ace of clubs immediately. Otherwise, East will win the trick and give West a club ruff. When a spade comes back through king in dummy you will be down two after first four tricks.

The idea is to end play East in one of the black suits. Run your seven hearts. By doing so, East must protect the black suits. So, East will be left with 5 black cards:

Now when you cash your ace of diamonds, pitching a low club from dummy, East must discard a club or the queen of spades.

If it’s a low club, you will lead a club to the king and throw East in with a club. East will have to lead a spade from A,Q into your K3.
If it’s the spade queen, you will lead a low spade and play low from dummy, throwing East in with the ace of spades. Now you will make 12 tricks, since East must lead into your K, J of clubs!

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: Counting Losers in a suit contract, End Play, opening leads, Remember the bidding, Think before you play to trick one, Visualizing the Opponents' Hands

What’s your plan?

Posted on January 22, 2022 by Harry • 0 comment

You are South in a contract of four spades. Opening lead is the queen of clubs. How should you plan to play the hand given the bidding shown below?

Play of the hand: Start by counting losers: no spade losers, no heart losers (if you are careful to use dummy to ruff hearts at the right time), two diamond losers, and one club loser. It looks like you should bring this contract home. How do you give yourself the best chance to succeed?

There is a good chance (92%) that missing diamonds will behave (splitting no worse than 4-2).
Also, there is a good chance (95%) that spades will split no worse than 3-1.
That means your chance for favorable splits of both suits is better than 80%.

See below for my recommended line:

It’s probably best to draw two rounds of trumps before starting the diamonds. You need to make sure a trump is left to provide an entry to dummy’s diamonds in case opponents attack hearts. Notice that the only spade honor missing in your combined holding is the ten.

Comment on the bidding: North’s 3D bid is a Bergen raise. It tells partner that North has 4-card support and less than a limit raise in spades. Marty Bergen is famous for recent innovations in bidding, and this is an example. Do you like South’s raise to game?

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: Bergen Raise, Counting Losers in a suit contract, Hand evaluation, Setting up a long suit

A Counting Puzzle for Declarer

Posted on January 7, 2022 by Harry • 0 comment

Here is a declarer play problem. You are South in a contract of six spades on the bidding shown. North leads the ten of clubs and this is what you see:

You assume that West would not lead the club 10 when holding the king, so you play the ace of clubs and draw trumps in 2 rounds. As you do so you observe the following from opponents:

At trick 2 West plays the singleton queen of spades, East following low.
At trick 3 West discards a low heart and East follows low.
At trick 4 you lead a club, East winning the king and West following with the seven.
At trick 5 East continues with a low club, West discards another low heart, and you win the trick while discarding a low diamond from hand.

Your 12^th trick will have to come via a successful finesse. Are you counting the opponents’ hands? Which red suit finesse offers the better likelihood of success? Give it some thought and then scroll down for my decision rationale:

West showed up with a singleton spade and doubleton club. That means West started with 10 red cards and East with five. After West discards two hearts you know that West now holds 8 red cards and East 5 red cards. Odds are 8 to 5 that West holds the king of hearts. Probability that West holds the heart king is 8/13 (61.5%). It’s the same for West holding the diamond queen. I decide to go with the odds and finesse West for the heart king.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Visualizing the Opponents' Hands

Fun Hand from our Restart Yesterday

Posted on July 8, 2021 by Harry • 0 comment

Yesterday was the first real face-to-face game Hilo Bridge Club has run since March 2020. It was a joy to see everyone again.

North had fun with a big, freak hand in the red suits on Board 10. NS can easily make five diamonds, but it’s hard to get there when East competes in spades. And the only way for EW to defeat four hearts is if East underleads the ace of spades at trick one and West gives East a diamond ruff (highly unlikely). Here is the hand:

One EW pair was allowed to play three spades doubled, making for plus 730 for a top board.

How would you bid the North hand? Do you open two clubs. Or do you open one diamond, giving yourself room for exploration at the bidding proceeds?

Category: Bridge News | Tags: Bidding Exercise, Counting Losers in a suit contract

Take Advantage of Opponents’ Errors

Posted on June 9, 2021 by Harry • 0 comment

When opponents make an error, you need to make them pay. Can you make them pay on this hand? You are declarer in a contract of one spade. Here is the auction and what you see on opening lead of the 10 of diamonds:

The play goes as follows. At trick one you put in the queen without much hope, East covers with the king, and you win the ace.

At trick two you lead the jack of spades, won by East’s king with West following low.

At trick three East shifts to the eight of hearts, won in your hand with the ace.

At trick four you lead the 10 of spades, West following low and East showing out with the deuce of clubs.

At trick five you lead the three of clubs to dummy’s queen with both opponents following low.

At trick six you lead a low heart to your king, East following with the jack and West the four.

At trick seven you lead the nine of hearts, won by East’s queen with West following low.

At trick eight East leads the 10 of clubs and you win the ace with West playing the eight. The opponents have still not cashed their winning diamond! And you still must lose a trick to the ace of spades.

Here is the situation from your perspective with you on lead from hand at trick nine. How will you take advantage of opponents’ failure to cash their diamond winner?

I hope you did not get mesmerized by that king of clubs.

BTW, that was a risky vulnerable third hand opening bid by East. It worked out well for EW. West knew what to lead as a result. Here was East’s hand:

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Remember the bidding

Another on Counting your Losers

Posted on May 23, 2021 by Harry • 0 comment

You opened one heart in 2^nd seat and West overcalled two diamonds. Partner had enough strength to make a negative double at the two level. Having 5-5 in the rounded suits increased the value of your hand. So, you were willing to go to three clubs for your rebid. Partner took the suit preference for hearts and you bid game. Opening lead was the king of diamonds.

Here is what you saw summary of the bidding:

You were in a good contract. How would you play to make four hearts? Your thoughts on opening lead:

West should have the ace of hearts.
Other than that you have the remaining high hearts.
You have the top three clubs, and there is a good chance they will split no worse than 4-2 (84%).
You should lose no more than two spades and the ace of hearts.
Hearts should split no worse than 4-2 (84%).

Do those clues shed light on how you should play? Please let me know by email or in comments if you are unclear on what to do at trick two.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Negative Double, Plan your rebid, Remember the bidding, Setting up a long suit, Trump Management, Watch intermedates in hierarchy of each suit

Counting your losers in a suit contract

Posted on May 21, 2021 by Harry • 0 comment

You are South in a contract of three hearts doubled. Here is the auction and what you see when West leads the queen of clubs:

East overtakes with the club king and continues with the ace at trick two. Counting losers, you have two hearts, one diamond, and one club. The problem is you may lose trump control as defenders force you to ruff clubs. The good new is you are reasonably sure that East has the ace and queen of hearts. The bad news is that you need to get to dummy twice to finess of the ace and queen of hearts. Also, East may well have four hearts.

It looks like you will need the king of diamonds to be onside. So, you might as well make that assumption.

What card do you play at trick 3? (Remember that your are worried about losing trump control.)

I recommend discarding a diamond at trick two. That makes life difficult for East. She cannot continue clubs because dummy is now void. If she shifts to a spade you let it ride to dummy’s king. Now you can lead the 8 of hearts, expecting to to win or drive out one of East’s honors. Either way you are in control.

Similarly if she shifts to a diamond you will let that ride to dummy and play as before. You may even make an overtrick: three spades, four hearts, and three diamonds.

Here was the entire hand:

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Remember the bidding, Visualizing the Opponents' Hands

Using clues from the bidding to guide your play

Posted on May 17, 2021 by Harry • 0 comment

You are South declaring three diamonds after West makes a preemptive jump to two spades over your opening bid. West leads the three of spades. Here is what you see with a summary of the auction:

Trick 1: You win the king of spades, East playing the jack.

Trick 2: Then you cash the ace of clubs, both following.

Trick 3: You then lead the eight of clubs, ruffing low in dummy.

Trick 4: Next comes the three of hearts from dummy and you put in the eight, losing to West’s jack.

At trick 5 West shifts to the four of spades. What spade do you play from hand? Scroll down for the answer.

Solution: Play the nine of spades, knowing it will get ruffed. West started with six spades for the preemtive overcall. You and dummy started with a combined total of six spades. East’s jack at trick one had to be a singleton. Don’t let your ace of spades get ruffed!

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Counting the hand, Preempts, Remember the bidding, Visualizing the Opponents' Hands

Visualizing the unseen hands

Posted on May 15, 2021 by Harry • 0 comment

You are South, having ended up in a contract of three hearts. East opened the bidding in 1st seat with one spade, and you overcalled two hearts. From there it was an interesting competitive auction, during which West and North indicated weak hands by their reluctance to bid. West leads the king of spades. Here is what you see, including details of the auction:

Trick 1: You won the ace of spades.

Trick 2: You cashed the ace of hearts.

Trick 3 you gave up a spade to East.

Trick 4 East then cashed the king of hearts, West discarding the deuce of diamonds. (See details of 1^st 4 tricks above.)

At trick 5 East shifts to the three of clubs. It’s your turn: Use clues from the bidding and play to decide which card to play from hand. Scroll down to see the solution.

Solution: You know from the auction that East has the ace of clubs. Play the queen of clubs and it wins. Once you get to dummy again you will lead another club, putting in the king if East follows low. You are assured of two club tricks, knowing that the ace of clubs is onside.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: Counting Losers in a suit contract, opening leads, Remember the bidding, Visualizing the Opponents' Hands

Watch those Spots!

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Harry • 0 comment

The play by South seemed pretty routine on this one. It looks like South will lose one heart, two diamonds, and perhaps two clubs and one spade.

The ace of hearts was led by West, and South ruffed the next heart. Then South led a spade to the king and another back to hand, revealing a 2-2 break. At trick 5 South led a low club toward dummy, 10 from West, queen from dummy and won by East’s ace.

At trick 6 East continued with the king of hearts and North ruffed. At trick 7 declarer led a low club toward dummy’s king, West playing the jack and East the nine!

I watched in horror as declarer led a low club to seven in hand. To declarer’s surprise it won the trick. Declarer had not been watching the club spots. Cashing the eight of clubs and the remaining two clubs would bring in 11 tricks for a top board.

East erred by playing the nine of clubs when also holding the six.

South and East were not paying attention to the hierarchy of cards in the club suit. It’s hard to get newer players out of the mindset that any card lower than a 10 is “x” and inconsequential. It’s the hierarchy itself that facilitates remembering which card has risen to the top in trick taking power. After two rounds of clubs in this hand the eight had risen to boss club.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Watch intermedates in hierarchy of each suit

Think before you play to trick one

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Harry • 0 comment

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?

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: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Counting the hand, Remember the bidding, Think before you play to trick one, Visualizing the Opponents' Hands

Visualizing declarer’s hand

Posted on January 23, 2021 by Harry • 0 comment

Try this from Mike Lawrence’s article “Trick one quandry” on page 56 of the April 2020 issue of Bridge Bulletin*. You are East and must decide what to do at trick one:

Time to practice visualizing declarer’s hand. Try answering the following questions:

How many spades does declarer have?
How many losers does declarer have? Or, conversely, how many winners does your side have?
What was your partner’s opening bid?
With clues from your answers, what card do you play at trick one and what is your plan for the defense?

How did you do?

*Bridge Bulletin is a great source for learning. I recommend you join the ACBL if you have not already done so.

Category: Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Counting the hand, Remember the bidding, Think before you play to trick one, Timing is everything

Play Bridge with Mike Lawrence*

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Harry • 0 comment

*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.

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: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Think before you play to trick one, Visualizing the Opponents' Hands

Declarer Play Fundamentals

Posted on November 25, 2020 by Harry • 0 comment

You are South in a contract of three hearts. Here is the auction and what you see after opening lead of the queen of diamonds:

Counting losers like a good declarer, you see two spades, two hearts, and one diamond. You can hold your spade losers to one if ace of spades is onside. How about the diamond loser? East has gotten off to a good lead.

Noticing your combined holding in clubs, you win the ace of diamonds. Then cash the king of clubs and low club, finessing the jack. If the finesse wins, you have a parking place for your diamond loser on the ace of clubs. If the finesse loses, your spade king is protected from attack. Also, you can win any diamond lead and still park your remaining diamond on the ace of clubs.

BTW, I don’t recommend opening two hearts vulnerable with the South hand. South does not have the necessary five playing tricks (within three tricks of making contract when vulnerable). South was lucky to find North with an opening hand and queen-nine third of hearts.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Keeping the Dangerous Opponent off Lead, opening leads, Preempts

A Sure Ten Tricks?

Posted on June 10, 2020 by Harry • 0 comment

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?

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: Counting Losers in a suit contract, End Play, Visualizing the Opponents' Hands

Play for the Overtrick

Posted on June 7, 2020 by Harry • 0 comment

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

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: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Remember the bidding, Visualizing the Opponents' Hands

A Challenge from Victor Mollo

Posted on May 22, 2020 by Harry • 1 comment

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:

West leads out the ace, king, queen of spades. You ruff the 3^rd 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: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Remember the bidding, Ruffing Finesse, Visualizing the Opponents' Hands, Watch your entries

How Do You Handle the Trump Suit?

Posted on May 21, 2020 by Harry • 0 comment

Here is a somewhat difficult declarer problem from a recent hand I observed on BBO. You are South with the hand and bidding shown:

Opening lead is the eight of diamonds. How many losers do you have and how are you going to handle the trump suit?

You have one or two losers in clubs. After you take the ace and king of diamonds you may be able to ruff a diamond loser or two. After you win the ace of hearts you may be able to ruff a heart loser or two. Spades look like they can come in with no losers if you get the likely 3-2 break.

Since it looks like you are going to have to do some ruffing of red suit cards, maybe you should not get in a rush to draw trump.

Say you draw two rounds of trump. Now you can ruff two heart losers in hand. That would get you to 10 tricks as long as the ace of clubs is onside.

It looks best to ignore trumps from the get go. Cash the ace of hearts at trick two. Ruff a heart. Cash the king of diamonds. Ruff a diamond. Ruff a heart. Ruff a diamond. You are almost assured of 10 tricks.

The hand will make five spades against perfect defense. It’s a nice double dummy problem. Here is the entire hand if you would like to give it a try:

Declarers who drew three round of trump went down one.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: Counting Losers in a suit contract, cross ruff, Double Dummy, Setting up a long suit, Think before you play to trick one, Watch your entries

Think before You Play to Trick One

Posted on May 19, 2020 by Harry • 0 comment

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:

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: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Remember the bidding, Think before you play to trick one, Visualizing the Opponents' Hands

Bad Trump Break

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Harry • 0 comment

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:

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:

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: Counting Losers in a suit contract, End Play, Remember the bidding, Visualizing the Opponents' Hands