Unblocking

Tag Archives: Unblocking

Third Hand Play?

Posted on March 29, 2020 by Harry • 0 comment

You are East defending 3NT, and your partner’s opening lead is the 10 of diamonds. You see this dummy and recollect the bidding shown:

Which card to you play and what is your plan? (See below)

Things are looking good. You have a sure entry with the ace of spades, and partner must have about seven HCP (why?). Since partner is surely leading from a perfect or almost perfect sequence, you should unblock with the jack.

Assuming declarer wins the 1st trick with the king or queen, which diamond will you play later when you are in with the ace of spades? This is something that comes up a lot, and many players get it wrong. East should play the four of diamonds, giving declarer remaining count. High-low shows an even number of diamonds remaining. Partner will know how many diamonds declarer started with and whether she can cash her remaining diamonds.

Category: Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: Remaining Count, Unblocking

Unblocking Partners Long Suit

Posted on March 12, 2020 by Harry • 0 comment

Category: Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: Remaining Count, Unblocking

Quote of the Day

Posted on January 28, 2020 by Harry • 0 comment

When reading about suit combinations, I strongly suggest dealing out the suit in question.

That’s from Marty Bergen in Bridge Bulletin, January 2020, p, 57.

It’s often hard to see what’s really going on when looking at a hand diagram. Put those cards on the table!

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play, Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: Finesse or Drop?, Rule of 11, Squeeze, Unblocking, Watch your entries

Where’s that other trick?

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Harry • 0 comment

Update below

Update:

Category: Interesting Hands | Tags: Hold up, Unblocking

How many cards does partner hold in your suit?

Posted on November 3, 2019 by Harry • 0 comment

As I watched our Swiss Teams last week, I noticed that intermediate players are not routinely giving partner count on defense. Here is one such situation when you are defending a notrump contract:

Partner has made the typical opening lead from a long suit that she would obviously like to set up. Subsequently you are in and are ready to return her suit. As you do so you would like partner to know the number of cards you presently hold in her suit. Why does that matter, and which card do you play when returning her suit?

It matters because partner wants to discern if the suit is ready to run and if there are any remaining impediments to getting all your available tricks. You can convey that information by the card you choose.

This example from a recent hand should clarify. I was in 3NT and West gets the defense off to a great start by leading the four of hearts:

I can see right away that I am going down. EW know from the bidding that I hold two or three hearts, and I know they are going to continue the suit. I know hearts are 5-4, although I cannot tell whether it is West or East who started with five hearts. EW are going to cash four hearts and the ace of clubs. My only hope is that somehow they manage to block the heart suit.

East wins the ace and is ready to return a heart. Do you see why it’s important for West to know how many hearts East has? It’s important because, as the card lie, West will need to play an honor under my king or else the heart suit it blocked. If West can discern that East is returning a heart from a present holding of four hearts, she will know it’s necessary to hold onto the seven. Otherwise she cannot get back to East’s hand, so that East can cash the last heart.

Which card should East play, so that West knows to unblock an honor? Playing a low card from you present holding shows an odd number, and playing the highest card you can reasonably afford (not the eight!) shows an even number. In this case East should return the six of hearts to let partner know she presently holds four hearts.

What happened in real life? West played the seven under my king and the hearts were blocked. I made an underserved 3NT.

Category: Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: Counting the hand, Giving count on defense, Unblocking

Double Dummy Puzzle for Halloween

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Harry • 0 comment

Here’s another one for you double dummy aficionados.

You are South in a contract of five spades. West leads the ace of hearts. That is the last error the defense will make, and they are not happy about it. It looks particularly ominous for you on Halloween Night: The ace, queen, jack, and 10 of clubs have your king trapped should West obtain the lead. Maybe you can somehow dig up an 11^th trick in the graveyard.

First club member with fewer than 1,000 MPs to send me the solution wins a free play and recognition in our Double Dummy Solvers’ Honor Roll.

Category: Exercises: Declarer Play | Tags: Counting Losers in a suit contract, Double Dummy, Unblocking

One more on defense

Posted on September 16, 2019 by Harry • 0 comment

Here is one I did not concentrate well enough on yesterday (I will get to the bidding and declarer play posts tomorrow).It’s board 20.

Here is the entire hand:

I lead a low spade against East’s 1NT contract. Partner plays the king and declarer wins the ace. Declarer starts the clubs and I hold off until the second round, partner showing out. I was worried about getting our tricks before declarer used his ace of hearts as an entry to the good clubs. But I wasn’t paying attention. I should be able to “see” that declarer has the clubs blocked. I need to remove the ace of hearts entry immediately to prevent him from taking that 4th club trick. I sure failed to use calories on this one!

Category: Exercises: Defensive Play | Tags: Unblocking

Posted on August 30, 2019 by Harry • 0 comment

Wednesday’s lesson’s emphasis was unblocking on defense. Most players have no problem unblocking as declarer, because in that case they can see the dummy with their own eyes. Unblocking on defense requres you to “see” partner’s suit holding based on clues from the bidding and lead. Here are some examples from the lesson. In each exercise what card would you play and what is your plan from there?

Exercise 1. Defense against 3NT:

You are the South defending West’s 3NT contract. Your partner (North) leads the K of diamonds. Declarer calls for the diamond 3 from East. Here is the layout that you can see with your own eyes in the diamond suit:

Opponents have reached 3NT effortlessly, so you can assume that partner is pretty weak in the other three suits. Your plan?

Exercise 2. Defense against 3NT:

You are the South defending West’s 3NT contract. Your partner (North) leads the Q of clubs. Declarer calls for the club 2 from East. Here is the layout that you can see with your own eyes in the club suit:

Opponents have reached 3NT effortlessly, and you only have the three points you can see. That means your partner may have an entry outside of the club suit. Your plan?

Exercise 3. Defense against 3NT:

North and South are defending East’s 3NT contract. North opened the bidding with two spades. East overcalled 2NT, and South raised partner to three spades. West bid 3NT, and that ended the bidding.