The Complete Book of Bridge Hands: Volume 2 Second Edition 2019

By Ken Casey

This book is meant to be a comprehensive book on all the various types of bridge hands. Each type of hand is categorized in a separate chapter. Volume 1 contains a partial compilation of my three books on tournament bridge. These three books are Tournament Bridge for Beginning Players, Tournament Bridge for Intermediate Players, and Tournament Bridge for Advanced Players. All three of these books were revised in 2018.

Volume 2 contains a partial compilation of my two books on playing notrump hands and on playing defense. These two books are entitled Playing the Notrump Hand in Bridge and Tips on Bridge Defense. Both of these books were also revised in 2018.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796033540

Ken Casey

Ken served as a Russian interpreter during the Vietnam War and then spent over 30 years practicing as a tax attorney. Ken also has an MBA in accounting and a CPA.

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Copyright © 2019 by Ken Casey.

ISBN:   Softcover     978-1-7960-3355-7

             eBook         978-1-7960-3354-0

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Rev. date: 06/19/2019

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Contents

Dedication

Introduction

Playing The Notrump Hand

Holding Up At Notrump

1:  HOLD OFF UNTIL 2ND ROUND WITH 6-CARD SUIT OR 3RD ROUND WITH 5 CARDS

2:  DON’T HOLD UP WITH VULNERABLE SIDE SUIT

3:  DON’T HOLD UP IF YOU WILL FINESSE INTO W

4:  DON’T HOLD UP WITH ACE IN DUMMY & 6-CARD SUIT

Finessing Up To Lone Honor

5:  LEAD TO LONE JACK

6:  LEAD TO LONE QUEEN

7:  LEAD TO LONE KING

Finessing With Honor Combinations

8:  FINESSING WITH A-K COMBINATION

9:  FINESSING WITH KING COMBINATION

10: FINESSING WITH A-Q COMBINATION

11: FINESSING WITH JACK COMBINATION

FINESSING

12: FINESSE INTO W 1ST, THEN INTO E

13: CHECK TO SEE IF YOUR 4-3 (OR 5-2) SUIT SPLITS 3-3 BEFORE TAKING FINESSE

14: WITH 4 OF TOP 6 HONORS, FINESSE MEDIUM HONOR

15: USE REVERSE FINESSE WITH 4 HONORS

16: PLAY FOR DROP OF Ax(x), Kx(x) or Qx(x)

17: GET A COUNT OF DISTRIBUTION AT SLAM

18: USE THE RULE OF 11 TO DETERMINE HOW MANY HIGH CARDS E HAS

19: INFERENCES FROM DEFENDERS’ BID & PLAY

20: ENDPLAY DEFENDER: HE WILL FINESSE FOR YOU

Spurning A Finesse

21: SPURN FINESSE WITH ONLY ONE ENTRY

22: SPURN UNNECESSARY FINESSES

Handling A 4-1 Split At Notrump

23: WITH 2 SUITS TO MAKE CONTRACT, SEE IF 1ST IS 4-1 (or 5-0)

24: PLAN ON 4-1 SPLIT WITH 4 OF 6 TOP HONORS AND TAKE DEEP FINESSE

25: CONCEDE TRICK IN YOUR LONG SUIT IF SIDE SUIT CONTAINS AK&Q WITH SINGLETON AK OR Q

With Split K&Q, Lead Through Ace

26: WITH SPLIT K&Q, LEAD THROUGH ACE & HOPE FOR Ax(x) DROP

27: WITH K-Q OR KQ, LEAD THROUGH ACE & HOPE TO STEAL THE 9TH TRICK

Protect Against Qx Or Kx

28: WITH AJxx-Kxx (or AKJx-xxxx), PLAY A&K 1ST TO PROTECT AGAINST Qx

29: WITH xxx-AQxx, PLAY ACE, CONCEDE TRICK & LEAD TO Q TO PROTECT AGAINST Kx

30: WITH Jxxx-Axx(x); LEAD ACE & DUCK, HOPING Kx OR Qx DROPS

Ducking

31: DUCK W’s LOW CARD INTO E, THE SAFE HAND, IF W’s SUIT IS CLEARED

32: DUCK E’s LOW CARD INTO W, THE SAFE HAND, IF E CAN CLEAR W’s SUIT

33: DUCK TO PREVENT LOSS OF 2 TRICKS IN SUIT

Avoidance Play

34: FINESSE INTO SAFE HAND WITH A VULNERABLE SUIT, e.g. Kxx

35: CONCEDE DEFENDER’s PLAY OF HIGH CARD TO SAFE HAND

Notrump Endplay

36: LET W RUN HIS SUIT AFTER STRIP WITH TENACE

37: CONCEDE 4TH CARD IN SUIT TO OPPONENT FOR ENDPLAY

Squeeze Play

38: SQUEEZE OPPONENTS BY PLAYING OUT YOUR SOLID SUITS

39: LEAD OUT SOLID SUITS FOR A COUNT AT GAME OR SLAM

40: RECTIFY THE COUNT

41: THE ENDPLAY SQUEEZE

Notrump Transportation

42: CREATE EXTRA ENTRIES

43: PRESERVE LOW SPOT CARD

44: OVERTAKE HONORS WHEN SHORT OF ENTRIES

45: TO GET ENTRY TO N, TAKE UNNECESSARY ACE

46: TO GET ENTRY TO N, DROP HONOR UNDER E’s ACE

47: WITH LONG SUIT IN N & xx IN S, CONCEDE 1ST TRICK

48: WITH Qx-AJxx, TEMPT DEFENDER TO TAKE JACK TO REACH DUMMY

Deception

49: TEMPT DEFENDER TO PLAY 2ND HAND LOW

50: FALSECARD HIGH TO MAKE E’s MEDIUM DISCARD LOOK LIKE A SIGNAL

51: FEIGN WEAKNESS

Unblocking

52: UNBLOCK

53: DUCK TO JETTISON BLOCKING CARDS

54: USE N’s LONG SUIT TO JETTISON YOUR BLOCKING CARDS

Safety Play

55: IF DEFENDERS CAN’T BE LET IN, TRY TO DROP Qx BEFORE FINESSING

Tips On Bridge Defense

Long Suit Defense

56: KILL DUMMY’s ENTRY BY SACRIFICING YOUR HONOR

57: KILL DUMMY’s ENTRY BY LEADING LONG SUIT BEFORE TRUMPS ARE PULLED

58: KILL DUMMY’s ENTRY BY REMOVING ENTRY

59: DUCK TO PREVENT S FROM GETTING TO DUMMY

60: KNOCK OUT S’s WINNERS BEFORE S SETS UP SIDE SUIT

Ruffing Defense

61: LEAD TRUMPS TO CUT DOWN ON S’s RUFFS IN DUMMY

62: SET UP LATER RUFF

63: REFUSE TO OVERRUFF WITH 4-CARD TRUMP SUIT

64: CASH SIDE ACE (OR K) BEFORE GIVING PARTNER RUFF

65: WITH TRUMP ACE, SET UP TRICK BEFORE GIVING PARTNER RUFF

66: AGAINST RUFFING FINESSE, TAKE 1ST TRICK

67: DO NOT RUFF WITH NATURAL TRUMP WINNER UNLESS S’s TRUMPS ARE WEAK

Forcing Defense: Risk Ruff-Sluff

68: FORCE N TO RUFF TO PREVENT SET UP OF N’s LONG SUIT OR FINESSE OF E’s TRUMP HONOR

69: FORCE S TO RUFF TO MAKE S LOSE TRUMP CONTROL

70: DUCK S’s TRUMP LEADS UNTIL N IS VOID

71: E SHOULD PLAY LONG SUIT TO PROMOTE W’s TRUMP

72: W SHOULD PLAY LONG SUIT TO ALLOW E TO UPPERCUT TO PROMOTE W’s MEDIUM TRUMP

73: W SHOULD PLAY LONG SUIT TO ALLOW E TO DISCARD SIDE SUIT FOR LATER RUFF

74: REFUSE TO RUFF AIR

Squeeze Play Defense

75: HOLD UP AT NOTRUMP

76: ATTACK DUMMY’s ENTRY

Endplay Defense

77: DROP TOP OR MIDDLE CARD TO AVOID BEING ENDPLAYED

78: PLAY TOP HONOR TO PREVENT ENDPLAY AFTER STRIP

Ducking

79: DUCK TO PRESERVE TENACE

80: TAKE 2ND TO LAST TRUMP TO PREVENT S’s RUFF

81: DUCK PARTNER’S DOUBLETON WITH ACE AND NO OTHER ENTRY

82: REFUSE TO SPLIT HONORS

2Nd Hand Low Exception

83: PLAY 2ND HAND HIGH TO PREVENT S FROM STEALING TRICK OR TO LET W RUN HIS SUIT

3Rd Hand High Exception For E

84: E SHOULD PRESERVE COVER CARD TO KILL ENTRY TO DUMMY

Playing From East

85: IF E SURROUNDS N’s HONOR, E SHOULD LEAD CARD ABOVE IT

86: DUCK DUMMY’s SINGLETON LEAD HOLDING ACE

87: OVERTAKE W’s LEAD TO KNOCK OUT S’s HONOR OR LEAD x

88: DON’T RETURN W’s SUIT IF IT CAN’T SET UP

89: DON’T COVER HONOR WITH HONOR IF IT WON’T PROMOTE TRICK

Underleading An Ace Or K From E

90: UNDERLEAD FROM ACE OR K IF DUMMY HAS A RUNNABLE SUIT

91: UNDERLEAD AN ACE OR K IF S HAS A RUNNABLE SUIT

92: PLAY PASSIVELY IF DUMMY HAS NO RUNNABLE SUIT

Helping Partner Out Of A Quandary

93: SIGNAL PARTNER OR OVERTAKE

Discarding

94: KEEP PARITY (SAME LENGTH) WITH DUMMY’s (OR S’s) LONG SUIT

95: DUCK TO GET SIGNAL

96: IN A SQUEEZE, DISCARD DUMMY’s SHORT SUIT IF S IS NOT RUFFING

Deception

97: FALSECARD

98: DUCK REPEATABLE FINESSE

Notrump Defense

99: TO PREVENT S’s HOLDUP, E SHOULD PLAY Q OR J

100: E MUST RISE WITH HONOR TO PRESERVE ENTRY TO W’s SUIT

101: UNBLOCK YOUR HONOR

102: DISCARD YOUR HONOR TO GET PARTNER IN LEAD

103: DUCK TO PRESERVE COMMUNICATION

104: SWITCH SUITS IF W’s SUIT WILL NOT SET UP

Getting A Count On The Hand

105: PLAY PARTNER FOR THE CARD THAT WILL SET THE CONTRACT

Signals

106: ATTITUDE: HIGH ENCOURAGES, LOW DISCOURAGES (HELD)

107: COUNT SIGNALS: A LOW DISCARD SHOWS 1, 3 or 5; A HIGH DISCARD SHOWS 2 or 4

108: SUIT PREFERENCE SIGNALS: LOW CARD IS PREFERENCE FOR LOWER SIDE SUIT

109: UPSIDE-DOWN COUNT & ATTITUDE (UDCA): LOW ENCOURAGES, HIGH DISCOURAGES

Leading

110: LEADING AGAINST SUIT CONTRACTS: LEAD x, P’s SUIT, HHH, Axxxxx, xx, HHxx, HHx, Trump, Hxxx, xxxx or Hxx

111: LEADING AGAINST NOTRUMP CONTRACTS: LEAD MAJOR

Dedication

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Issac Newton

Normally I try to avoid showering praise on a single individual since most projects are a group effort. Nevertheless, I will make an exception here. Frank Stewart, a world-renowned bridge columnist has done more than anyone I know to advance the science of bridge and to inspire others. A large part of my learning has come from Frank even though we have never met nor even know each other. My books are infused with his teachings. There is no one to whom I owe more. Thank you Frank; I can never repay you for all you’ve taught me. Frank is the champion of counting points and distributions. My two favorite books of his are called Who Has the Queen? and Play Bridge With Me. Other award winning books published by Frank are Winning Defense for the Advancing Bridge Player, Frank Stewart’s Bridge Club and Frank’s World of Bridge.

My second hero is Eddie Kantar. No one comes up with more interesting hands in the Bridge Bulletin. I avidly read his Chalk Talk and his Test Your Play in every edition. I love his books, Take All Your Chances at Bridge, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2. Some of his other great books are Eddie Kantar Teaches Modern Bridge Defense, Eddie Kantar Teaches Advanced Bridge Defense, and Eddie Kantar Teaches Topics in Declarer Play at Bridge. When it comes to defense, you will always find yourself immersed in Eddie Kantar’s hands. He is a genius at all aspects of bridge, not just defense.

My third hero is David Bird. He is the king at giving tips. His 3 books, 52 Great Bridge Tips, Another 52 Great Bridge Tips, and 52 Great Bridge Tips on Declarer Play are 3 books that must be included in any expert’s bridge book collection. These 3 books alone would make David one of the greatest bridge authors. Then David published Winning Suit Contract Leads, and Winning Notrump Leads, two books which destroyed all previous thinking on leading. David would be my first to be included in any Bridge Hall of Fame for bridge authors. David has also written several other award winning books including Notrump Contracts, Miracles of Card Play, Win at Bridge in 30 Days, Secrets of Expert Card Play, Secrets of Expert Defense, and Defensive Signaling at Bridge. Two other excellent books are Squeezes for Everone, Yes, Even You and Bridge Endplays for Everyone, Yes, Even You.

William Root is another favorite author of mine. Reading William Root’s books is like dancing with a fine dancer. He anticipates your every move. He anticipates your questions before the question even arises in your mind. His explanations are always succinct and to the point. At one point, bridge players wanting to learn how to play bridge would read Louis Watson’s book, Watson’s the Play of the Hand. Today that honor goes to William Root for his book, How to Play a Bridge Hand. He has also written three other fine award winning books: Modern Bridge Conventions, Commonsense Bidding, and How to Defend a Bridge Hand."

My favorite books on bidding are Betty Starzec’s Bidding in the 21st Century, Audrey Grant’s Better Bridge Bidding, and Audrey Grant’s Opening the Bidding.

My favorite books on conventions are Barbara Seagram & Marc Smith’s, 25 Bridge Conventions You Should Know, William Root & Richard Pavlicek’s Modern Bridge Conventions, and Audrey Grant’s Popular Conventions.

My favorite books on the 2/1 System are Audrey Grant and Eric Rodwell’s 2 Over 1 Game Force, Mike Lawrence’s Workbook on the Two-Over-One System, Max Hardy’s Two-Over-One Game Force, Max Hardy’s Standard Bridge Bidding for the 21st Century, Paul Thurston’s 25 Steps to Learning 2/1, and Marty Bergen’s Understanding 1NT Forcing.

My favorite books on slam bidding are Marty Bergen’s Slam Bidding Made Easier, Ron Klinger & Andrew Kambites’ Understanding Slam Bidding, and Eddie Kantar’s Roman Keycard Blackwood. If you buy Marty Bergen’s book on Slam bidding, you also get a full explanation of the Bergen point count system, which I find to be the best point count system.

Some other favorite books of mine are Ned Downey & Ellen Pomer’s Standard Bidding with SAYC, David Berkowitz & Brent Manley’s Precision Today, Andy Stark’s The Weak Notrump, Ron Andersen’s The Lebensohl Convention Complete, and Ruth Harrison’s The Player’s Guide to the Rules of Duplicate Bridge.

Introduction

In playing a tournament, be aware that the hands are designed to thwart the average player. You cannot depend on a finesse working 50% of the time. In most cases, the finesse will fail. For example, if dummy has the ♥AQxx and you, as declarer, have 4 hearts, your best bet is to concede the 1st trick in the suit, expecting E to have a doubleton ♥Kx. If you can win the contract without depending on a favorable split, go with that approach. If the contract looks too easy, plan on trumps splitting 4-1. If you have a two-way finesse, the average person will lead up to the hand with the longer suit. It is best to lead up to the shorter hand. Sometimes, you will simply have to make a reverse finesse.

You should be alert to inferences. If W bid a major suit, he probably has two honors in that suit as well as a 5-card suit. Knowing W has points can point you to endplaying W. You may also want to take a deep finesse of dummy’s suit if W has bid. Or you may wish to try for a drop of W’s doubleton honor. If W fails to open and shows 11p, you can be sure E has the missing Ace. If W preempts, he is probably short in trumps so finesse E for the trump Queen.

You can also draw a lot of inferences from W’s opening lead. If W leads a weak suit or leads trumps, it means W may have the missing Ace. If W must have a particular Ace for you to make the contract, then plan your play accordingly. If you and dummy have 8 combined cards in a suit and W leads that suit, assume that W has led a singleton. If W has two singletons, finesse him for length in the other suit. If W leads a poor suit and E shows several honors, plan for W to have the missing Queen. If W leads a long suit at Notrump, he probably has an entry in another suit.

If E starts discarding cards in a suit, it probably means that E is not protecting the Q of that suit. If E discards a card in a suit on S’s trumps, it probably means that E is discarding from a long suit. If W could get a ruff from E but fails to take that approach, it means E has a high trump. If you want more information on inferences, see Chapters 57-60 of my book, Playing Intermediate Bridge.

You should be mindful not only of points but also of distribution. If a defender shows out, stop for a moment to recalculate the distribution. Try to concentrate just on W’s distribution; it will make it easier for you. If one defender shows more than 7 points at a game contract, assume that the other defender has the remaining top outstanding honors.

The researchers who make up the hands, prearrange the hands based on the average player’s habits. For example, most players play 2nd hand low and 3rd hand high. Most players also cover an honor with an honor. There are exceptions for all these rules and you should be aware of those exceptions. For example, if dummy leads a suit from a sequence, you should not cover the 1st card. Everyone has rules of thumb. If you need to speed up your game or you are feeling tired after playing both the morning and afternoon sessions, you will find yourself relying on rules of thumb. This is sometimes referred to as the heuristic approach to bridge. Here are some common rules of thumb.

With respect to ruffing, always throw a loser instead of ruffing. The same is true for overruffing; throw a loser instead. With no loser to throw in dummy and a sure loser in your suit, e.g. AKxx-xxx, concede loser if split is 3-2 and hope that the defender with the 3 trumps also has 4 cards in the key suit; this assumes you have no boss trump in dummy. This will allow you to ruff the 4th card in the suit.

With respect to setting up a long suit, if you have just one entry in the dummy, concede 1st card in the long suit. If you have a 4-card runnable suit and the A&K of trumps, take out the A&K of trumps and hope the Q drops; then run the suit, throwing off a loser.

With respect to finessing, always finesse up to a lone Jack, lone Queen or lone King. With a split A-Q combination or a frozen suit, try to endplay opponents. With a split K-Q combination, take finesse of 10 if you have to break the suit yourself. If you can finesse in either direction, finesse into the safe hand with a tenace or Kxx. If you have 4 of the top 6 honors in a suit, plan on a backward finesse. With a singleton, always use a ruffing finesse. With 9 trumps, finesse into safe hand; otherwise go for the drop. If W leads a suit, hope E’s Q will drop as Qxx or hope E’s Ace will drop as Axx. With a singleton in your hand, always use the dummy reversal.

If you have 6 cards in a suit and W leads high, assume it is a doubleton. If you have 7+ cards in the suit, assume W’s lead is a singleton. Spurn trump finesse, e.g. AQxx, if ruff is threatened. Also spurn trump finesse if you have a vulnerable Kxx and can set up a long suit.

With respect to ducking, if you have a sure loser in your doubleton, duck W’s lead; it will cut communication between the defenders. If W leads his King or Queen, duck if you have a tenace in S. Similarly, if W plays a low card, duck the trick to E if you have a tenace in N. If you have a 5-3 suit, always duck lead with singleton or void in your hand; you may be able to set up the suit.

If you lack the trump Ace, always lead out your singleton or dummy’s singleton right away. If W has led from an apparent doubleton, let E take the 1st trick to deprive E of a later entry. If W leads from an apparent singleton and you have the A-K split, take the Ace in your hand; don’t take dummy’s King.

If you have a blocked suit, always duck W’s first lead. If the blocked card is in dummy, run your trumps and unblock the key card with your 3rd or 4th trump. If the blocked card is in your hand and dummy has a longer suit than you have, use dummy’s suit to unblock your card.

With respect to transportation to a dummy with few entries, always preserve your lowest card in the trump suit. If trumps split, you will be able to get over to dummy with your preserved low trump. If you can’t reach dummy and dummy has some winners, consider using trumps as an entry by conceding a trump. If you have a singleton, play it early. You may need that suit for later transportation.

At a makeable game, you will normally find you have 4 potential losers. Your first hope is that you can ruff a potential loser or set up a long suit to discard the loser. Your 2nd hope is that a finesse may establish an extra trick. A finesse may constitute leading up to a lone Jack, Queen or King or KQ combination. If these options are not available, your next best bet is to look for an endplay. If that is unavailable, then you have to fall back on the squeeze play, especially if you have a 6-card suit.

Many teachers will not even bother to teach advanced techniques such as endplays and squeeze plays. If you use rules of thumb, you can play these techniques without even knowing it. You will win an extra trick and wonder how you did it. Typically, you will endplay the opponents without knowing you did that. If you have a hand with 9 trumps, such as 5 trumps in your hand and 4 trumps in the dummy, start stripping right away.

Try to eliminate at least two cards in each suit with a 9-card trump suit. In other words, assume the player who is endplayed will have two cards in that suit. For example, if you have Axx-xxx, you will want to concede one trick in the suit and then take your Ace. If you have the A&K of trumps, draw both of them hoping to drop the Queen. If you have a triple tenace, such as AQ9, AJ10 or K108, play that suit last and take a deep finesse. If you have a frozen suit and a suit with AK&J, play the A&K and concede the Jack. If dummy has 4 cards in W’s led suit, strip 3 of these cards and concede the last. With loser in doubleton or tripleton suit, concede last card.

With respect to squeeze plays, always squeeze with a 6-card trump suit; opponents often throw a key card. Assume W will be the guard and plan on winning a card in your 4-card suit, e.g. AKxx-Qxx. If you have a suit with a tenace, plan on conceding the other threat card to W.

With respect to a forcing defense (one in which the opponents have a solid suit), throw losers instead of ruffing. If you have to ruff in your hand, concede one trump keeping at least one trump in dummy. Then start running your long solid suit, letting the defender ruff. The defender who ruffs will have the long trump suit, so you will be safe. If you are faced with a 4-1 trump split with 4 trumps in E, play a dummy reversal.

In playing a Notrump hand, take W’s 2nd lead with 6 cards in the suit or take W’s 3rd lead with only 5 cards in the suit. Take your finesse into W first. If you have a suit with K-Q split, play that suit 1st if you have no finesse into W. If you need a 9th trick and you have a suit with K-Q split, play through the defender with the Ace in that suit. With stoppers in W’s suit and a suit with AQxx, concede a trick 1st. If you have a suit with AJxx-Kxx or KJxx-Axxx, play A&K and lead up to J (it must be in a suit with 4+ cards). With an 8-card suit and Jxxx-Axxx, lead Ace and hope Qx or Kx drops. If you have a solid suit, play it out; you may squeeze the opponents. If W leads from a 4-card suit and you have a tenace, throw W into the lead with his led suit. After considering the above rules, try to set up your long suit as soon as possible.

When I discuss a hand, I try to present the hand with more than one way to play it. Being a good player means you have to make good choices. Some of these choices are based on lots of experience or lots of hard work reading books on how to play hands. When you start making mistakes, you will often feel frustrated. You may want to blame your partner. Try to avoid that scenario. Oftentimes a partner can help you from making mistakes, so be good to your partner.

When in doubt as to how to play a hand, let the opponents take your sure losers. It is amazing how often an opponent will lead into your strength or make a mistake such as allowing you a ruff and sluff. If you have a long, solid suit, lead it out. It may squeeze the opponents. If you are in a possible endplay situation, lead out the A&K of a suit, hoping that this strips the defender of that suit.

When you first look at your hand, count sure losers and potential losers. Always treat a suit with AKx, as being a potential loser, not a sure loser; you may be able to endplay the opponents. The same is true of a suit with Axxx-xxxx. If there is a long suit to set up, start there, rather than ruffing, if you have to ruff more than 2 times. If you have too many losers, look for a long suit, i.e. any suit with 4-3 or longer distribution (an unbalanced long suit). If you are playing at slam, count both losers and winners. If you have decided to set up dummy’s long suit, check to see whether it might be blocked, e.g. AK5432.

Playing The Notrump Hand

Holding Up At Notrump

CHAPTER 1

HOLD OFF UNTIL 2ND ROUND WITH 6-CARD SUIT OR 3RD ROUND WITH 5 CARDS

With ♠xx-Qxxx, hold up 1 round

Here the contract is 3NT (E having opened 1♠) and W leads a small spade. If E inserts the ♠10, do not rise to the bait but rather let it ride. In the actual case, S took E’s ♠10 with his ♠Q. S now led clubs and when W took his ♣Ace, W led a spade and E reeled off his spade winners setting the contract. If S holds up, he always makes the contract because W will be out of spades. Here you have 6 combined spades and therefore 7-6 = 1 which is the number of times you should hold up under the Rule of 7. This rule is based on the fact that W has 5 cards in his suit; if W has only 4 cards in the suit then you need not worry about the suit. If you have 6 combined cards in W’s suit and W has 5 cards in the suit, then E has only 2 cards in the suit. Therefore you need hold up only 1 round.

With ♠10xx-Axx, hold up 1 round, but not 2 rounds

Here the contract is 3NT and W leads the ♠4. E takes his ♠Q and leads a low spade. Do you hold off? If you do, you go down. With 6 cards in the suit, you should take the 2nd trick if you have a vulnerable suit. Here S held up on the 2nd round and W took his ♠J and switched to clubs, leading the ♣J. S put up dummy’s ♣Q, which was taken by E’s ♣K. E then returned his ♣9 and S took his ♣Ace. S next finessed his ♦Q, losing to E’s ♦K. E then proceeded to take 4 club tricks. Down two. It is evident that S had a vulnerable club suit and that S could have prevented this disaster by taking the 2nd spade and finessing in diamonds.

With ♠xxx-AJ9, duck E’s ♠K; when you later finesse in ♥s, E is out of ♠s

Here the contract is 3NT and W leads the ♠5. E plays the ♠K. Do you take it with your ♠Ace? If you do, you will go down. E will take your heart finesse and lead through your ♠J9 into W’s ♠Q10. Down one. The solution when you have 6 cards in W’s lead is to duck the 1st trick and take the 2nd trick. Then when you finesse in hearts, E will be out of spades. If W started with 4 spades, then E will be able to lead a spade but the opponents will get only 3 spades and 1 heart so you still make your contract.

With ♥10xxx-Qx, duck W’s lead of the ♥J. You are protected by N’s ♥10

Here the contract is 3NT (E having overcalled 1♥) and W leads the ♥J. You have 3♠s, 1♥ & 2♦s. You need 3 clubs. If you take the 1st trick with your ♥Q, you cannot finesse into W’s clubs since W will win and then mow down dummy’s ♥10. The opponents will get 4 heart tricks to go along with W’s ♣K. Down one. With 6 combined cards in W’s suit, try to hold up on the 1st play. Yes, you will lose your ♥Q but dummy’s ♥10 will provide a stopper. If you hold up, W will continue hearts and you can then finesse into W knowing that W will be out of hearts. You end up losing 3 hearts and the ♣K, making the contract.

With ♥Axx-QJx, duck E’s ♥10 on the 1st trick. You can then knock out both the ♠Ace and ♦Ace safely

Here the contract is 3NT and W leads the ♥4, covered by E’s ♥10. Do you take the 1st trick? If you do, you go down. Suppose you next play a diamond and E takes his ♦Ace. E will return W’s heart suit. If you play your ♥Q, W will play his ♥K and dummy will play the ♥Ace. The suit is cleared but you still have to drive out the ♠Ace to bring home the contract. You should almost always duck the 1st trick with 6 or fewer combined cards in the suit. If you duck E’s ♥10, you are safe. E will return a heart at trick two, covered by the ♥Q, ♥K and ♥Ace. You still have a stopper with your ♥J so if you next try to knock out the ♠Ace, you are safe. Furthermore, E is now out of hearts after the 2nd round so if you lose to E’s ♦Ace, he cannot hurt you. You still have time to knock out W’s ♠Ace.

With ♥xx-Qxx, duck E’s ♥J on the 2nd trick. You have to hope that E will be blocked with the ♥KJ10

Here the contract is 3NT and W leads the ♥4 (4th best), which is taken by E’s ♥K. E then returns the ♥J. Normally, when you have a 5-card combined suit in the suit led, you hold up until the 3rd card is played. This is to insure that E will be void in the suit when you take your finesse into E. Here, your only hope is that E is blocked either because the suit is splitting 6-2 or because E has the ♥KJ10. You have to guess whether E has a doubleton or a tripleton; if E has a doubleton, you play low. The likelihood is that E has a tripleton. The reason is that W’s lead of the ♥4 suggests that W has a 5-card suit. Also, the Rule of 11 tells you the number of higher cards in E’s hand (after subtracting the number of higher cards in dummy and your hand). Here E has 3 cards higher than the ♥4. It does you no good if E holds the ♥KJx. The chance that E holds the ♥KJ10 is small but that is your only hope. Therefore, you cover E’s ♥J with your ♥Q. W takes his ♥Ace but the suit is blocked due to E’s ♥10. You eventually win 5 clubs, 2 diamonds and 2 spades for the contract.

With ♠xx-AJx, duck E’s ♠s for 2 rounds; when you later finesse in ♥s, W is out of ♠s

Here the contract is 3NT (E having opened 1♠) and W leads the ♠10. Do you hold up when E plays his ♠K? The actual S did not hold up and went down. S took a finesse up to dummy’s ♣K, which E took. E then led a low spade, which S took with his ♠J. S went to dummy’s ♦K and tried the heart finesse. If that finesse had won, S would have had 3 spades, two hearts, one diamond and 3 clubs for the contract. S should hold off 2 rounds with only 5 cards in W’s led suit. Thus S should have ducked E’s ♠K. At trick two, S wins his ♠J. Now a club goes to the ♣K and ♣Ace. E clears spades. When S gets to dummy and takes the heart finesse, W wins with his ♥K, but W has no more hearts left and S is safe.

With ♠Ax-Kxx, duck W’s lead of the ♠Q; when you later finesse in ♣s, E is out of ♠s

Here the contract is 3NT and W led the ♠Q, which was taken by S’s ♠Ace. S then led a diamond to his ♦J, losing to W’s ♦K. W next led a low spade. When E played the ♠10, S held up and E shifted to his ♥J. S played his ♥Q, which was taken by W’s ♥K. W returned a heart to S’s ♥Ace. When W next finessed dummy’s ♣Q, E won with the ♣K and took two more hearts for down one. The solution to this tragedy is for S to hold up with his 5-card combined holding in the led suit. S makes 3NT by letting W’s ♠Q win the first trick. S wins the next spade with dummy’s ♠K, loses a diamond finesse to W’s ♦K and wins the 3rd spade with his ♠Ace. S next finesses dummy’s ♣Q, losing to E’s ♣K. E has no more spades so S regains the lead and makes an overtrick.

CHAPTER 2

DON’T HOLD UP WITH VULNERABLE SIDE SUIT

Don’t hold up if you have a vulnerable ♠ suit

Here the contract is 3NT and W leads the ♦Q. If S takes his ♦A, he can reel off 9 tricks (4♣s, 1♦ & 5♥s) if a defender has ♥Qx. If you hold up, there is a good chance that E will switch to your vulnerable suit, spades.

Don’t hold up with your ♠Ace if you have a vulnerable ♥ suit

Here the contract is 3NT (E having overcalled 1♠) and W led the ♠8. S played low from the dummy and E took his ♠K. E next shifted to a low heart, which W took with his ♥Q. W returned a heart to dummy’s ♥10, which E ducked. S now cashed his ♣A&K and conceded a club to W’s ♣Q. W then