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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