[mikl_plkcc]

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Lead was ♥7 from 3-0 break. I played the second round of ♥ and tried to establish the ♠ suit, by repeatedly ruffing small ♠ and cross-ruff back in minors, until the ♠A appeared, but it never appeared.

By the end I had 3 small minors in hand which all became losers, as I couldn't establish the ♠ to discard them.

I got 9 tricks only at the end (drew 2 round of trumps, ruffed in dummy 3 times, ruffed in hand 3 times, and the ♦A) and lost 10.67 IMPs. How could I make 10 tricks here?

[smerriman]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-May-09, 17:25, said:

I played the second round of ♥

Why? Ruffs are your source of tricks, so you don't want to waste 2 on the same trick.

Even if everything is misplaced, in the worst case scenario, the opponents are powerless to stop you taking the trump at trick 1, the diamond ace, and 8 more trump tricks = 10.

[mikeh]

They made a good lead but that didn’t beat you. You beat yourself by not thinking at trick one.

You have 5 hearts in hand and the diamond ace. That’s 6 tricks. You need 4 more. Obviously you could win in hand, ruff a spade, diamond Ace, diamond ruff low, spade ruff, diamond ruff low…but now you’re risking an overruff. If this survives, ruff a third spade, ruff dummy’s last diamond…having ruffed low twice you’re now ruffing high so there’s no risk…and lead another spade. That’s 5 trump in hand, 4 ruffs in dummy plus the diamond ace.

However, this isn’t the way to play the hand. Win the lead in hand and play a club.

If north pops with the ace, he can play a second trump, but now you win in dummy, cash the diamond and club winners and go about your cross ruff. This is safer since you are less exposed to the risk of an overruff. You only get three ruffs in dummy but the club king compensates for the loss of a spade ruff.

What if south has the club ace? Ok…big deal…he takes the king with his ace, and then what? He can’t play trumps so you revert to the first line of play, again slightly safer now because you can ruff clubs or diamonds, reducing the risk of an overruff. Note that if you play a second trump first, then even having the club ace onside isn’t enough…North pops the ace and plays a third trump!

Does this seem complicated? You need to learn how to think at the table. As declarer, take your time before playing a card from dummy at trick one.

On this hand, I’d be annoyed at the trump lead because it’s clearly the best start for them. I’d be thinking….i need to ruff spades. I can hope the spade ace comes down… but do I need it? No…5 trump in hand, diamond ace plus 4 ruffs in dummy. How do I get four ruffs? Clearly I cannot if anyone plays a second round of trump…so that means that the one thing I CANNOT do is to commit suicide by taking out another trump.

So…with that in mind, and knowing that I have limited entries to my hand, I duck in dummy. I’m then very happy indeed that trump are 3-0, because it gives me the extra chance in clubs. It’s now safe to lead a club to the king.

When declarer at trick one, the hands will fall into one of several categories.

Some authors recommend counting winners n some contracts and losers in others…I keep forgetting whether it’s supposed to be winners in notrump and losers in suits or vice versa. That’s because I think it’s silly. I count winners and losers in every contract.

Here, you should be thinking….i have one club loser and no obvious losers anywhere else, so I can stop worrying about losers. How about winners? See my analysis above.

Once you’ve figured out how to get 10 tricks (you may get 11 but who cares?) you’ve solved this hand. It’s actually relatively easy once you know how to think.

On other hands, there is no clear route to your required trick total. These are more complex because, if you’re trying to make rather than, as in a sacrifice, trying not to go down too many tricks, you have to start thinking about what possibilities exist and how can you choose between them. That’s when you need to know about basic bridge probabilities. What are the odds of particular suit breaking as you want it to break? How does that compare, for example, to taking a finesse or maybe a double finesse….say you have AK10x opposite xxx. If you need 3 tricks, do you play for QJx(x)(x) onside by leading to the 10 or do you play AK and then lead towards the 10x, winning whenever the suit is 3=3 or either the Q or Jack is doubleton or stiff offside?

That’s not a serious example because, unless the bidding has given you a strong clue, it’s clearly wrong to double hook….that works only 25% of the time while the AK and low towards the 10 works far more often…the 3=3 break by itself is 35.5%, but you can see how useful it is to know basic odds.

You’ve found BBF, so you know about BBO. Go on BBO and look under ‘practice’. Find BridgeMaster and play all of them….I’d suggest starting at the first level.

You could look at, say, level 4 but I’m guessing that you will struggle. If level one is too easy, do level 2. And really, really focus. Don’t just go through the motions and then look at the answers. That won’t help you.

If you get to be competent, say at level three, you’re now likely to be at least as good as most players in your club. Able to do level 4? You’ll be a threat to win tournaments…not a WC or a National title, but you’ll be in the top 10% of declarers. Able to solve most level 5? You’re now a bona vide strong expert declarer.

Also, once you’re at level 3, there are some really good expert level card play books available.

Have fun. Believe me, it’s worth it. Bringing home a difficult contract is immensely satisfying

[smerriman]

Mike - I think you mixed up dummy / declarer. North can't overruff diamonds and South will play a second trump if the club finesse loses.

[mikeh]

smerriman, on 2025-May-09, 19:19, said:

Mike - I think you mixed up dummy / declarer. North can't overruff diamonds and South will play a second trump if the club finesse loses.

You’re correct. Sorry about that. So forget playing a club. Otherwise my advice stands

[Huibertus]

mikeh, on 2025-May-09, 19:38, said:

So forget playing a club.

No. Don't forget about that at all. On the contrary!

The cross ruff obviously is the best line, and you need to prepare for it in the best possible way. You need 4 ruffs in dummy so that includes a ♣ ruff, or if THEY (not declarer) are able to play a second round of ♥ you need the ♦ finesse for an extra trick and 3 ruffs in dummy, still requiring a ♣ ruff.

So take trick 1 in hand and play ♣ KING trick 2 (or play towards it from dummy, for a possible overtrick). That ensures ONLY the hand holding ♣ Ace can gain the lead. If that is North they can not play a second round of ♥ and you've made your contract. If south has ♣ Ace, nothing you can do to prevent a 2nd ♥, then count tricks and see that you need to take the ♦ finesse later on. Before taking it you still can cross ruff ♣♠ a few times to see if ♠ Ace comes down on time.

[smerriman]

Huibertus, on 2025-May-10, 03:25, said:

You need 4 ruffs in dummy so that includes a ♣ ruff, or if THEY (not declarer) are able to play a second round of ♥ you need the ♦ finesse for an extra trick and 3 ruffs in dummy, still requiring a ♣ ruff.

? No, you don't; you take three ruffs in dummy, 4 ruffs in hand, and your last trump in dummy is high. It's a 100% line barring an 8-0 diamond split.

[mikl_plkcc]

 smerriman, on 2025-May-09, 17:51, said:

Why? Ruffs are your source of tricks, so you don't want to waste 2 on the same trick.

Even if everything is misplaced, in the worst case scenario, the opponents are powerless to stop you taking the trump at trick 1, the diamond ace, and 8 more trump tricks = 10.

I was afraid someone may overruff when I was ruffing, when I try to establish my spade suit.

[smerriman]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-May-10, 03:37, said:

I was afraid someone may overruff when I was ruffing, when I try to establish my spade suit.

You know where every trump is, and that all of yours are higher.. drawing an extra one doesn't help in any way even if setting up spades was correct.

[Huibertus]

smerriman, on 2025-May-10, 03:34, said:

? No, you don't; you take three ruffs in dummy, 4 ruffs in hand, and your last trump in dummy is high. It's a 100% line barring an 8-0 diamond split.

Count tricks. 5 ♥ in your hand, 3 ruffs in dummy, ♦ Ace = 9. You either need a 4th ruff in dummy or ♣ K or ♦ Q for the tenth trick. You are double counting ruffs.

You could also count from dummy. 5 ♥ in dummy, 3 ruffs in hand, ♦ Ace = 9. You either need a 4th ruff in hand or ♣ K or ♦ Q for the tenth trick.

That however DOES make your suggestion of play correct, you always HAVE 4 ruffs in hand, as those are high enough. So you're right but the wording of the explanation is confusing.

[mikeh]

Huibertus, on 2025-May-10, 06:21, said:

Count tricks. 5 ♥ in your hand, 3 ruffs in dummy, ♦ Ace = 9. You either need a 4th ruff in dummy or ♣ K or ♦ Q for the tenth trick. You are double counting ruffs.

You could also count from dummy. 5 ♥ in dummy, 3 ruffs in hand, ♦ Ace = 9. You either need a 4th ruff in hand or ♣ K or ♦ Q for the tenth trick.

That however DOES make your suggestion of play correct, you always HAVE 4 ruffs in hand, as those are high enough. So you're right but the wording of the explanation is confusing.

You were corrected once on your faulty analysis and yet you repeat it. This is a classic dummy reversal hand. You don’t need either the club ace onside or a diamond finesse.

Win the trump lead in dummy…ruff a spade. Cash the diamond ace. Ruff a diamond, ruff a spade, ruff a diamond, ruff a spade, ruff a diamond, ruff a spade. One diamond trick, 4 spade ruffs, three diamond ruffs and two top hearts in dummy. There is virtually no chance of failing.