ª © ¨ § BRIDGE FOR BEGINNERS : LESSON 3 ª © ¨ §
Bidding and Playing Notrump Hands
In each deal, imagine you are the declarer. Count your sure tricks. Decide where you might look for extras. Plan your order of play before following to the first trick.
And as a slight change from the previous 'How's My
Progress?' format,
¨ some rather testing questions are inserted in the text
Board 1 Dlr N, Nil
NORTH
WEST EAST
ª QT6 ª KJ92
© QJ98 © T62
¨ 87632 ¨ 5
§ 9 § QJT84
SOUTH
ª 87
© 543
¨ AQJ9
§ 763
With a balanced 21 HCP North opens 2NT. And South, holding a balanced 7-count, raises to 3NT because the partnership has the combined 25-32 HCP usually needed to make game, but not slam.
East leads clubs, the longer suit, selecting the top card in the sequence, §Q, to show
partner the jack and ten (or on a bad day the nine instead).
As North, the declarer, you can count ten top tricks - easy stuff. You have one spade, two hearts, five diamonds and two clubs.
What could go wrong?
Nothing, as long as you are careful when playing the diamond suit.
It is vital to cash a winner first in the North hand (say, the king, putting dummy's four on it) and next overtake the other honour (the ten) with any higher one in dummy. If you fail to take this essential second step, you will make two diamond tricks instead of five because there is no other way to reach dummy's diamond winners. They will be marooned and you will no longer have enough tricks for your contract.
In bridge jargon, the only 'entry' to dummy's diamond winners is in the diamond suit itself.
Well done if you made an overtrick for a score of 4x30 + 10 + 300 = 430.
¨ If spades had been East's choice of opening lead (not especially recommended), which card would she select from that holding of KJ92?
Board 2 Dlr E NS Vul
NORTH
© 92
¨ KT7
WEST EAST
ª J63 ª AK4
© K64 © A83
¨ Q6 ¨ A5432
§ KJT73 § Q4
SOUTH
ª 8
© QJT75
¨ J9
East opens 1NT with a balanced 17 HCP and is raised to game by West with a balanced 10HCP. South has an automatic heart lead with such a good sequence, and selects the top card, ©Q.
¨ Which card would South lead from QT752?
As declarer you can count only five immediate
tricks - two in each of the majors and one diamond. However, the clubs are very likely to produce
four tricks once the ace is driven
out. And they must be tackled immediately while you still hold 'stoppers' (protective high cards) in all the other suits. Do your losing early when there is a profit in it and when the opponents cannot defeat you at once. Losing one to gain four looks like a profitable strategy, doesn't it?
Win ©A 'in hand'
(a bridge term meaning in the declaring hand, not in the dummy). Why not win with dummy's ©K, you might ask. Does it matter? Since dummy has fewer high cards it is, on
general green principles, better to conserve dummy's ©K. And on this
deal, it is essential (as will be explained in a minute).
How do you tackle the club suit? The correct way is to play honour(s) first from the short hand as you learned in the very first lesson. Play §Q from hand. South should 'duck' (= play a low one). When the queen wins, play the four towards the high honours in dummy. South should play §A (and dummy §7).
Now, whatever South does, declarer can reach dummy's club winners via ©K. Lucky you didn't play ©K on the first trick! The useful principle to remember here is: conserve the entries to the hand with the long suit you are trying to develop.
For making your non-vulnerable game exactly, you score 3x30 + 10 + 300 = 400.
¨
Here are two rather tricky questions:
Imagine you do make the mistake of winning ©K at trick one. What mistake can the defenders make later that will still allow you to reach dummy's winners?
What unpleasant distribution of the enemy clubs would always prevent you from making four tricks?
Board 3 Dlr S EW Vul
Contract 3NT.
NORTH
© 62
¨ QJT95
§ AQ4
WEST EAST
© Q5 © JT983
§ JT985 § 73
© AK74
¨ 732
§ K62
South opens 1NT as dealer. North has a 'good 9' (because of the decent 5-card diamond suit). Knowing their total assets are 24-26, right on the partscore/game cusp, North may boldly bid 3NT at once or invite game with a raise to 2NT. South, with a maximum, is happy to accept the invitation and bids 3NT.
On §J lead from West, you can count as declarer seven top tricks. The only possible source of extra tricks is the 8-card diamond holding. You have strong secondary honours and can easily develop three winners, but only after first losing two tricks to the defenders' ace and king.
Again, you must do your losing early. Win the club lead in hand (conserving dummy's high clubs as later entries to dummy). You still have two stoppers in your three shorter holdings and can quite safely lose the lead twice. Play a low diamond from hand - West should duck this. You play the queen (or any but the five) and East wins with the king.
Rather than continue partner's club suit, East will sensibly prefer to switch to his good spade suit, playing ªQ. But whatever is led you will win and play another diamond. Whether West wins this trick with the ace, or the next (for you will play another round if he ducks again), you now have an easy road to ten tricks for a score of 4x30 + 10 + 300 = 430.
Board 4: Dlr W All Vul
NORTH
© 985
¨ A94
§ T87
© QJT3
¨ 85
West opens 1NT. East might choose to bid a terminal 2¨, but decides here to tough it out.
Against 1NT North leads ªK, the top card of an excellent sequence.
Declarer counts four top tricks, with four more available from the strong diamond suit after the opponents' ace has been removed. And that you will try to lose immediately.
Don't be too worried about the fact that you have no more spade stoppers. You are only in 1NT this time. And if North holds the ace of diamonds and enough spades to defeat you, he most likely would not have passed 1NT.
¨ How many spades would North need to have been dealt in order to defeat you?
Win the spade ace in hand and play ¨K (honour from the short hand). North should win this and play four winning spades from the top.
Make sure you don't 'discard' (a term meaning 'play, throw away, when you can't follow suit') any of dummy's diamond winners on the run of the enemy spades. You can easily throw one heart and two clubs. And from your hand you can throw a heart and a club.
Eventually, after taking four tricks, the opponents will have to lead a suit you can win. Now play your ¨Q (the remaining honour in the short diamond hand) and cross to dummy's diamond winners and a total of eight tricks. Your score will be 2x30 + 10 = 120.
¨ If you accidentally block the diamonds (by playing the jack or ten on the first round), what enemy holding in diamonds might save you from disaster and still enable you to make 4 diamond tricks? (We aren’t always punished for our errors!)
Board 5 Dlr N NS Vul
NORTH
© Q64
¨ AK76
§ 862
ª KQJT9 ª 63
© JT3 © 852
¨ 84 ¨ JT9
§ 973 § KQJ54
SOUTH
© AK97
¨ Q532
South opens 1NT 'in third seat' (= after two passes). North invites game with 9 HCP via 2NT and South accepts with a maximum 17, bidding 3NT. West leads ªK, top of an excellent sequence.
As declarer you can count only eight top tricks. There are two possibilities for an extra trick, in each of your long suits.
You have a combined holding of eight diamonds and seven hearts. If the opponents' five diamonds 'break' (= are divided) 3-2 and their six hearts break 3-3, then the red suits will each provide an extra trick. But you will of course have to watch exactly what the opponents play.
As it happens, both suits break well for an overtrick and you make ten tricks in your vulnerable game, scoring 4x30 + 10 + 500 = 630.
Board 6 Dlr E EW Vul
NORTH
WEST
EAST
ª Q4 ª AK5
© T842 © KQJ7
¨ AKJ ¨ Q4
§ AK32 § Q864
SOUTH
East opens 1NT. Using fingers and toes, West calculates that the partnership holds 32-34 HCP, right on the game/slam cusp. Slam looks good as long as opener is not a dead minimum 15 HCP. The way to find out is to invite small slam with a bid of 4NT. East, with a maximum 17 HCP, happily bids the slam, 6NT.
South leads ªJ, top of at least a 3-card sequence, and as declarer you can count nine top tricks (three each in spades, diamonds and clubs) with three more easily able to be 'established' (= developed) in hearts after the ace is driven out.
Start on the hearts at once, and with a little care in 'cashing' (= playing out) your winners in the other suits (honour from the short hand in both spades and diamonds), you will soon have twelve tricks in your vulnerable slam for a score of 6x30 + 10 + 500 + 750 = 1440.
Board 7 Dlr S All Vul
NORTH
SOUTH
Holding a balanced 19-count West opens 1¨ in second seat (with 4-4 in the minors open 1¨, with 3-3 1§). With silent opposition, East responds 1ª and West's rebid must be a jump to 2NT to show 18-19 HCP. A simple rebid of 1NT, remember, shows a minimum balanced opening hand of 12-14 HCP. East knows there should be enough for game but not slam and closes the bidding with 3NT.
Despite declarer's opening bid of 1¨, North's superb sequence makes ¨K an obvious choice.
As declarer you can count nine top tricks. Any possibility of extras in your long suit(s)? You hold seven cards in each minor, and the opponents thus hold six. Given the diamond lead, the diamonds are very unlikely to be breaking 3-3. North probably holds three or four diamond winners after your ¨A is played. Clubs, it is true, may break 3-3. But you will first have to lose the lead twice in order to score an extra trick. And by that time the opponents will then have enough tricks to defeat you.
And so discretion is the better part of valour on this deal. Take the money and run. And don't forget honour from the short hand in spades, or else the suit will be fatally blocked.
Nine tricks in your vulnerable game for a score of 3x30 + 10 + 500 = 600.
Board 8 Dlr W Nil Vul
NORTH
© AQ7
SOUTH
ª Q962
© K94
¨ Q5
§ KQ83
North opens 2NT in second seat, promising a balanced 20-21. South's arithmetic skills put the partnership assets on the game/slam cusp at 32-33. It's worth giving slam a whirl if opener is a maximum 21. Find this out by inviting small slam with a bid of 4NT. North is delighted to accept and bids 6NT.
East probably leads ¨J, distinctly unhappy at possessing ¨JT8 rather than ¨JT9.
¨
Try this tester:
Imagine dummy holds ¨Q95 and declarer AK62. Explain how declarer can now comfortably make 4 diamond tricks when you lead ¨J from JT874.
Luckily the lead does not cost on this deal since partner holds ¨9.
As declarer, you can count only nine top tricks - three each in hearts, diamonds and clubs. DON'T PANIC. By using one of your high honours to drive out ªA you can certainly make two more tricks with the two other honours. That brings the total to eleven.
What about a twelfth trick? The most likely source (mathematically) is your 8-card club holding. It should provide one more if the opponents' five cards are divided 3-2 (about 68% of the time). And if that likely possibility doesn't eventuate, there is always the additional 36% chance that your 7-card spade holding will produce an extra trick if the opponents' six cards break 3-3.
As you can see from the diagram of the deal, neither of these pleasant possibilities exists. Clubs are 4-1 and spades 4-2. Unkind.
But the contract succeeds in another way. The possession of ª9 adds the additional possibility of a twelfth trick. If the ªT is singleton or doubleton, then ª9 will give you a third spade trick and the slam.
So, win ¨Q in dummy - honour from the short hand. Note that West might encourage partner's diamond lead by playing a low ¨3 (you’re yet to learn about modern attitude signals, where low=like and high=hate).
Next play a low spade to the king. East wins with the ace and continues with ¨T - nothing looks any better since partner cannot hold more than 2 HCP.
¨ How do you know this?
What now for declarer?
Win ¨A (or king) and 'test the clubs' by playing a club to the king and another back to the ace. Alas, East shows out, discarding a low heart. You can thus score only three club tricks, not the hoped-for four tricks.
Now the last string to your bow - the spade suit. You have already played one round, the king losing to the ace. Cash ªJ (honour from the short hand). And what do you notice? The ªT appears from West! Now you can score not only a second spade trick with the queen but a third with the nine.
A non-vulnerable small slam bid and made with 3 tricks
in every suit for a score of 6x30 + 10 + 300 + 500 = 990.
Board 9 Dlr N EW Vul
NORTH
ª Q93 ª KJ52
© JT94 © Q62
¨ 82 ¨ AK4
§ AQ53 § K62
SOUTH
ª T4
© A83
¨ QJ953
§ J97
East opens 1NT in second seat. West, holding a balanced 9-count, invites game via 2NT. With better than a minimum 15, East accepts and bids 3NT. (You will learn later that West would choose to use the 2§ Stayman convention to check whether East holds four hearts, in which case 4© might be a better contract.)
South leads ¨Q (promising either QJT… or QJ9…) and you can count as declarer five immediate tricks - three clubs and two diamonds. At least four more are needed.
¨ Which diamond should North play on the opening lead? Why?
You are confident now about some of the ways to look for extras. You can establish two certain tricks with your secondary spade honours. That brings the total to seven. What else?
The bad news is that you will have to lose the lead to the opponents' ªA to win two spade tricks. And if they sensibly plug away at diamonds they will knock out your last diamond stopper. Now you need to make two more tricks without losing the lead because the opponents may have enough diamond winners to defeat you (if the diamonds break 5-3, as they do, rather than a friendlier 4-4).
How might this be possible? The only chances are a 3-3 break in clubs for one extra trick and another with your newly discovered friend, ª9, if spades are 3-3 or if ªT is short.
Note that you will need to try for the drop of the ªT first, before playing clubs, because the §K is the only entry back to your last spade winner.
And, lucky you, it all happens, and you win nine tricks and score 3x30 + 10 + 500 = 600 for your vulnerable game.
Board 10 Dlr E All Vul
NORTH
South opens 2NT, showing a balanced 20-21. North, after re-checking the arithmetic,
knows that they hold 33-34 HCP, enough for slam, and so jumps immediately to
6NT.
West has a clearcut spade lead, ªJ, top of the sequence.
¨ Which spade should East play on the opening lead? Why?
As declarer you count nine top tricks with two more easily established in hearts by driving out the defenders' ©A and promoting your secondary honours to winning rank. That makes a sure eleven.
What about a twelfth? With seven clubs there is a chance the opponents' six clubs will break 3-3. Or the hearts may break 3-3. Or ©T may be singleton or doubleton so that ©9 is a winner.
As you can see from the deal diagram, not one of these 3 possibilities works on the actual deal. Instead, the twelfth trick will come because, although clubs fail to break 3-3, the opponents' §JT is doubleton, enabling 4 club tricks with AK9 and Q.
And so there is light at the end of the tunnel. Explore each possibility in hearts and clubs, preferring not to play your short suits (diamonds and spades) except as useful steppingstones from one hand to the other.
One precise order of play (many slight variations are possible) might be to win ªQ in hand (as there are more entries there) and play a low heart to the king. East wins with ©A and returns a spade. Win ªK and play ¨T to dummy's ¨J. Lead ©3 to ©Q. No ©T has appeared. But maybe they are breaking 3-3. No, because when you play ©J West discards a diamond.
Now try the clubs. You are in hand. Play §AK - hooray, §JT appear on your right. Cash your winning §9, cross to dummy with ¨Q overtaken by ¨K, cash §Q, ªA and a diamond back to the ace makes twelve tricks for a score of 6x30 + 10 500 + 750 = 1440 in your vulnerable small slam.
Board 11 Dlr S Nil Vul
NORTH
© QJ83
¨ KQT95
§ 9
WEST EAST
West opens 1NT in second seat and boldly accepts East's 9-point 2NT invitation to game by bidding 3NT. East might have chosen 3NT at once with such a good 9.
¨ When West opens 1NT does she have a 'good' or 'bad' 16? Explain.
North leads ¨K, promising KQJ or KQT. As declarer, you count nine top tricks, with no prospect of any more.
If it looks worryingly too easy, sometimes it is! Worrying, that is. The only possible problem is in the play of the club suit.
Win the diamond lead with dummy's ¨A. Play a low club to §K (or §Q) in your hand. Play the other high club and overtake with dummy's §A. If you fail to do this, you have marooned your winners. In bridge jargon you are said to have 'blocked' the club suit (= prevented the smooth running of all the winners in the suit). The §A is the only possible entry to enable you to cash dummy's club winners. And you must use it at just the right moment in order to make your nine tricks and a score of 3x30 + 10 + 300 = 400.
¨ If you had received a heart lead and then proceeded to block the clubs, you would still survive. Why?
Board 12 Dlr W NS Vul
NORTH
North opens 1NT in second seat and is raised to 3NT by South with a balanced 11-count. (The 2§ Stayman convention might be employed here, as on Board 9, to locate a possible 8-card heart fit.) East leads §Q, here showing QJ9, since the ten is in dummy.
¨ Which club should West play on the opening lead? Why?
As declarer, you can again count nine sure tricks - four in each of the majors and §A. You cannot afford to try for any extra trick in diamonds: you would have to lose the lead 2- 3 times to establish any extra(s) in diamonds and the defence will have at least three club winners to cash as well.
And so prudence is the watchword. And a little care will be needed in cashing your major suit winners. You don't want to block a suit or compress your number of winners.
Win §A in hand and 'unblock' the spade suit by first playing ªK and ªJ. Now play a low heart from dummy to your ©K. Cash your remaining spade winners, the ace and queen. Now play ©J and overtake it with the ace or queen so that you can cash two more heart winners for nine tricks and 3x30 + 10 + 500 = 600 for your vulnerable game.
¨ Could you explain the following bridge expressions to someone who has not read this lesson?
two spade stoppers
hearts are blocked
take it in hand
duck it
I overcalled
promoted a spade
cashed her spades
your club discard
test the diamonds
Where are my
entries?
an encouraging two
How did they
break?
What is your
rebid?
she invited me to
game
established two
hearts
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