The Times Beginner’s Guide to Bridge: All you need to play the game. Andrew Robson

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       must know

       Bidding occurs before trick-taking. It establishes:

      • which (if any) suit is trumps;

      • the trick target for each partnership;

      • which player within the highest-bidding partnership is ‘the declarer’ and which is ‘the dummy’. The declarer controls both his hand and dummy’s.

      Which order to take (‘cash’) the tricks

      In the examples on p. 14, it doesn’t matter which hand is the declarer or the dummy, or from which you lead first. However, in many real-life cases, the order in which you play the cards is important if you want to make the maximum number of tricks available.

      In (a), where there’s an unequal number of cards in the two hands, there are three available tricks to be made, one after the other, but only if you cash them in the correct order. If you play ♦A first (or ♦4 to ♦A), you will then have to lead ♦2 to ♦K – because the hand winning the previous trick always leads to the next trick – and will be stuck in the wrong hand, unable to win ♦Q. To avoid being ‘blocked’ in this way, lead ♦K (or ♦2 to ♦K) first, then follow with ♦4 to ♦AQ.

      In (b), you should play ♦Q and ♦5 on the first round, then ♦3 to ♦AKJ. Only in this way can you make four consecutive diamond tricks.

      In (c), lead ♦2 to ♦K (or ♦K to ♦2). Follow with ♦J and ♦5, then ♦6 over to ♦AQ.

      Note that these examples assume your opponents do not have a trump card that would win the trick (more on the use of trump cards on pp. 18–19).

      must know

      The Unblocking Rule (a guideline for cashing winners in the right order):

      • If leading from the hand with the shorter length, lead the highest card.

      • If leading from the hand with the longer length, lead the lowest card.

      • You may find it helpful to remember ‘L’ for ‘Lead Longest Lowest’.

      Extra tricks by force

      So far you have cashed your ‘top’ tricks and your opponents have not had a look-in. Now consider the next three examples. In each case you are missing a high, winning card (or cards), and in order to make tricks in the suit you must ‘force’ out that card from the opposition partnership.

      In (a), you are missing ♠A and need to force it out from the opposition. You can use any high card in the suit to do this, then go on to win the other two high cards when you regain the lead. In this way you promote two tricks by ‘force’. Note that if your opponent withholds their ♠A on the first round, you’ll win the trick anyway, effectively ‘promoting’ the high card you use to lead. You can then sacrifice a second high card in order to promote the third. Both scenarios give you your two tricks.

      Example (b) contains the same high cards but in this case it’s better to start specifically with ♠Q (or ♠7 to ♠Q) to force out ♠A. You’ll then hold ♠2 in one hand and ♠KJ in the other, which avoids ‘blockage’.

      In (c), you need to force out ♠A and ♠K. To do this, sacrifice two of your sequential cards ♠Q, ♠J, ♠10, ♠9 (note that sequential cards between your hand and dummy’s are worth the same). Then you have promoted the two cards that remain into two force winners.

      Useful tip

      Don’t be overly concerned about losing the lead, particularly early in the play. You have to lose to win in bridge.

      Extra tricks by length

      If you can exhaust your opponents of all of their cards in a suit, then your remaining cards, however small, will be promoted into ‘length’ winners. Assuming your opponents have no outstanding trumps, these remaining cards will be extra tricks.

      must know

      Length before strength – a general rule to follow in bridge: having more cards in a suit is often more important than a higher point count.

      In (a), you have four ‘top’ tricks (tricks made consecutively, with high ranking cards), but it would be very unlucky if you didn’t also score ♥2. Your opponents hold five hearts between them. Unless they are all in one hand, they’ll all fall when you win ♥AKQJ. ♥2 will then be a fifth-round winner – by virtue of its length. This scenario depends on how the five missing hearts are split between the opposition. If they’re split 3-2 (most likely), or 4-1, you’ll achieve your extra trick by length. The only problem will be the much less likely 5-0 split.

      In (b) start with ♥Q (or ♥2 to ♥Q), as it’s the highest card from the shorter length. Then lead ♥3 back to ♥J, and cash ♥A and ♥K. The six missing cards in the suit will go in these four rounds if the cards are split 3-3 or 4-2. Assuming they are (you’ll develop a habit of counting missing cards as they’re played), you can enjoy a length winner with ♥4. A 5-1 split, however, would prevent this. Fortunately, this is much less likely.

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