BASIC BRIDGE TECHNIQUES
By Steve Turner
In this session we are going
to examine some concepts with which the successful player needs to be
familiar. There is nothing particularly
difficult here yet many people have failed when tested at the table.
1. The Holdup
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West leads his fourth best spade. Plan your play.
SOLUTION: You have only eight tricks so you must
develop a club trick. First, you must
duck the first two spade leads and win the third, in case West started with 5
spades. Then you must hope that East holds the Ace of
clubs. If East holds a fourth spade, the
suit is divided 4-4 and you make the hand.
If the club Ace is in the West hand, you cannot make the contract.
NOTE: The small doubleton spade should not deter
you from opening 1NT. If you open 1
,
you have no good rebid.
2. Count Your Tricks
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West leads his fourth best spade. Play your play.
SOLUTION: Although the spade Deuce suggests a four-card
suit, there is no reason not to holdup and win the second spade. This is just good technique (vs. sneaky
opponents). A quick tally of your tricks shows only seven: 1 spade, 1 heart,
and 5 diamonds. Although the heart suit
is attractive, unless the King is doubleton in the East hand, taking a winning
heart finesse will only give you one more trick and, if it loses, there is a
fifth trick for the defense . Playing on
clubs will give you the two extra tricks you need. Notice that, in this example, if declarer
takes the losing heart finesse, the contract will fail in an ice cold contract.
3. The Safety Play
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West leads his fourth best club.
Plan your play.
SOLUTION: The only thing that can defeat this hand is a
4-0 spade break. Since you cannot pick
up the suit if West has four spades, your first play must be the Ace of spades. Now you can pick up East’s trumps. A low spade to your hand will quickly put North busy looking for a new partner. Actually this shouldn’t be titled “Safety
Play”; rather it is the ONLY play.
Hint: Look for a potential problem before you play
to trick one.
- Ignore the Minor - Go for 3NT
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At duplicate, it is rarely correct to head for a minor suit
game. It just doesn’t score as
well. This hand is a typical example. Those in 5C will make four or five depending
upon the opening lead and the diamond guess.
Even those successful in 5C will only score +400. Assuming a heart lead in 3NT, those declarers
have an easy eleven tricks for +460.
Without a heart lead there are still ten certain tricks for +430. Hint:
Be certain there is a wide-open suit before bypassing game in NT. Even then the opponents may not be able to
cash five tricks before you have nine.
5. Open 1NT and 2NT
with Semi-balanced Hands
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One reason for opening 1NT is to show partner the strength
of your hand immediately. Another plus
is that it eliminates rebid problems. If you open the South hand 1
, you don’t
have a good rebid after North’s 1
response. You have the values for 3 but your
suit is not good enough for a jump rebid. Also, it’s usually right for the stronger
hand to declarer the contract.
Hint: Looking
again at the comparison of 3NT and five of a minor, those in Notrump will likely score +460 while those in 5
will be +400. Note: Avoid this action with 2 bad doubletons.
6. Avoid Finesses
When Possible
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West leads the Queen of diamonds. It appears you have a diamond loser so you
must not lose a heart. How do you
continue? SOLUTION: It doesn’t matter who holds the heart Queen. Win the diamond in your hand, unblock the
club Ace, and play a trump to dummy, followed by a club ruff. Another trump to dummy allows you to ruff
dummy’s last club. Next you simply play Ace
and another diamond. They must now
either lead a heart or allow you to discard a heart as you ruff in the other
hand. Note: This is called a standard ELIMINATION play. Guessing is for the young and the very
lucky.
7. Prevent the
Holdup
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West leads the heart ten: what should East play at trick
one?
Solution: East knows from the opening lead and bidding
that South holds the AJX of hearts. If
he plays the Queen (or King) at trick one, South will
duck and win the second heart. This will
leave West with no heart to lead when he is in with the club Ace. Therefore, East must encourage with the nine
and force South to win the first heart. When West wins the club Ace, he returns his
remaining heart so that, when East wins the club King, he can cash his clubs to
defeat the contract. Hint:
This is a good example of why you must stop and think about the entire hand
before you play to trick one. Look at
the opening lead and remember the bidding.
8. Listen to the
Bidding
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Before West made his opening lead, he reflected on the
auction. It seemed likely that declarer
would have to trump spades in dummy, so he led a low trump. South won in dummy and led a low spade to his
Queen. West won and played Ace and
another heart. This left declarer with
only one trump in dummy and he eventually lost three spades and one heart. Note that if any other suit is led, declarer
can manage to ruff two spades in dummy and make the contract. Also notice the importance of the seven of
spades. It ended up being the setting
trick.
9. Don’t Sell
Out…Balance!
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This is a typical auction in a matchpoint
pairs event. It
is almost ALWAYS correct for West to balance in this auction. The “rules” are 1) the opponents have a fit,
and 2) they have stopped below game. Letting
them play at the two-level with a fit will usually give you a bad
result.
In this example, you will go down one trick for –50. The opponents can make +110 or +140,
depending upon the club guess. Even if
you get doubled, your –100 is a good result.
West knows East is marked with points because the opponents stopped
short of game and, if the opponents bid on to the three-level, East should not
bid again. The goal is to push the
opponents to the next level. They may
make it,but it’s better than
allowing them to play at the two-level.