Declarer Play

Play Towards Honours

When you are missing some high cards in a suit, you may well be able to make extra tricks, depending on which of your opponents holds those cards, but only if you play in a particular way.

Try some hands

Hand 1

You are playing in NT here, aiming to make nine tricks (3NT). You are missing both ace and king in the suit that you need to establish (diamonds). Think about which hand you want to be in to set about this task before you decide where to win the first trick.

Hand 2

Here, hearts are trumps, and you need to make ten tricks (4♥ ). You are missing the ace, jack, and ten amongst the five trumps held by the defence. How might you be able to stop yourself losing tricks to the jack and ten?

Hand 3

Back in NT, with a target of nine tricks (3NT). You’re going to have to get to the dummy to play towards your spade honours. See if you can find the best suit in which to do that. Hint: Don’t forget to count the clubs – there’s a nice little bonus to be had in this suit.

Hand 4

And one more hand in NT. Hopefully, you are getting the hang of the technique now, and can see how to take advantage of your honours in two suits.

Back

Play Towards Honours

Discover how to work some card play magic, creating extra tricks by thinking about which of your opponents might hold missing high cards.

Question 1/6

Which opponent would Hermia prefer to have the ace of spades?

If the ♠A is in the West hand, Hermia can always make two spade tricks as long as she plays the suit in the best way. If Demetrius has the ace, Hermia can only make one spade trick, as the ♠A will capture one of her honour cards.

Talking of playing the suit in the best way….what is the best way for Hermia to play the spades?

Because the honour cards are in dummy, it is better to lead a small card from declarer's hand towards the big cards. That way, whenever the ace is in the West hand declarer can generate an extra trick by playing towards the honours twice, and the ace cannot capture a big card because that hand has to play before the dummy. If the ace is in the East hand, declarer can only make one trick, because they will play an honour from dummy, which will be captured by the ace, leaving only the second honour as a winner.

What about here? What is the best approach to the club suit?

Because the declaring side hold all of the high cards apart from the ace, they are bound to lose a trick to the ace, but then all of their other cards will be winners, so it makes no difference which hand they lead from. The difference between these hands and those in the previous question is having the jack and ten as well as the ace. The suit is 'solid' apart from the missing top honour.

If Hermia plays a small spade from her hand, should Helena play the ace?

Because the hand with the ace (Helena's) is sitting under the dummy, that is they have to play before the dummy, declarer can always make two tricks with this holding as long as they lead small cards towards the dummy twice. If Helena plays the ace first time, Hermia will play the small spade from dummy and her king and queen are now winners. If Helena plays a small card first time, Hermia will play the king from dummy and it will win. She will then wait until the lead is back in her hand and play another small card towards the remaining ♠Q, creating the same problem for Helena.

Here, Hermia is missing both the ace and the king. How should she tackle the suit?

When we are missing two honours in a suit, it is statistically more likely that there is one in each of the defender's hands than that both are in the same hand. So you should start by leading a small card towards the Dummy's queen and jack. If West hops up with an honour, you play small, or if West plays a small card then you play the jack and probably lose to the ace or king in East's hand. Then you come back to your hand again and lead another small card towards the remaining honour in dummy. This will work if Helena has at least one of the top cards in spades.

Which suits is it important for Hermia to lead from dummy?

In hearts, Hermia has king, queen and two small cards in her hand, and only small cards in dummy, If she leads that suit from the dummy towards the honours in her hand, she will make tricks with both honours any time the ace is in the East hand. If she leads an honour from her hand, it won’t matter which opponent has the ace, they will beat her honour and now she will only have one winner. The same is true in clubs, so these are the two suits she should lead from the dummy in order to maximise her tricks.

These links will take you to Bridge Training, where you can have a go at playing some hands to practice this principle of card play. You won’t need to bid – the trick target and trump suit/NT are displayed in the top left corner, so just have a go and see how many tricks you can make.