Play of the Hand
Robert Todd
(617) Fundamentals of Trick Taking - Finesses

When it comes to taking tricks, immediate winners are our starting point.  Then come the winners that we can develop using Promotion, Length, or Finesse.  Here we look in detail at the technique of finesse.  A finesse is an act of taking a trick in a suit with a card that is not the “master” card in that suit.  We do this by taking advantage of the location of the card that is higher-ranking (by finessing against it).  A finesse usually requires a tenace of honors that allows us take advantage of a favorably located honor of the opponents (a holding like AQ with the King in front of it).  There are other kinds of finesses as well.  Let’s look at this method in detail.

(617) Fundamentals of Trick Taking - Finesses
Play of the Hand
Robert Todd
(616) Fundamentals of Trick Taking - Ruffing ...

When we declare a hand in a suit contact, we usually look at our number of losers.  We start by counting our certain losers (the ones we know we cannot avoid), then estimate our potential losers, and make a plan for trying to get rid of as many of our potential losers as possible.  We start by approximating our losers from the long trump side (which is frequently declarer’s hand). When we have potential losers in a side suit, one of the ways that we can get rid of these losers is by trumping them with the short side’s trump.  Ruffing losers in the short side is a useful declarer play technique and one we need to make sure to make use whenever possible.

(616) Fundamentals of Trick Taking - Ruffing Losers
Play of the Hand
Robert Todd
(615) Fundamentals of Trick Taking – Developing ...

A long suit is a powerful asset, especially if it is a long, strong suit. When we declare, this type of suit can be established into winners in a variety of ways. Let’s look at some techniques for developing long suits, and then we should look at what we can do with the suit to help us take more tricks. Long suits are on many of the hands that we hold, so learning to make the best use of them is a key skill.

(615) Fundamentals of Trick Taking – Developing a Suit
Play of the Hand
Robert Todd
(614) Fundamentals of Trick Taking – Drawing ...

When we declare in a suit contract, then there is a trump suit, and hopefully, we have more of these cards than the opponents (if not, please reconsider your bidding). That means, when we gain the lead, we have the option of attempting to remove all of the opponent’s trump – draw trump. Let’s look at our options and considerations for how and when to do this.

(614) Fundamentals of Trick Taking – Drawing Trump
Play of the Hand
Robert Todd
(613) Fundamentals of Trick Taking: ...

When we declare a hand, especially in a Notrump contract, there are two common assets that help us produce tricks.  The first are our honor cards, which we quantify using High Card Points.  We normally use these honor cards as quick tricks or to capture the opponent’s honors.  The other way we usually take tricks is with long suits.  Long suits (especially strong ones) can be used to take tricks with their little cards by running the opponents out of cards in that suit.  When we declare a hand, we may have a long suit in our hand or in the dummy.  We can use either of these to establish additional tricks – often called length tricks.  Let’s look at how we try to set up these additional winners.

(613) Fundamentals of Trick Taking: Establishing Length

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(617) Fundamentals of Trick Taking - Finesses

(617) Fundamentals of Trick Taking - Finesses

When it comes to taking tricks, immediate winners are our starting point.  Then come the winners that we can develop using Promotion, Length, or Finesse.  Here we look in detail at the technique of finesse.  A finesse is an act of taking a trick in a suit with a card that is not the “master” card in that suit.  We do this by taking advantage of the location of the card that is higher-ranking (by finessing against it).  A finesse usually requires a tenace of honors that allows us take advantage of a favorably located honor of the opponents (a holding like AQ with the King in front of it).  There are other kinds of finesses as well.  Let’s look at this method in detail.

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(616) Fundamentals of Trick Taking - Ruffing Losers

(616) Fundamentals of Trick Taking - Ruffing Losers

When we declare a hand in a suit contact, we usually look at our number of losers.  We start by counting our certain losers (the ones we know we cannot avoid), then estimate our potential losers, and make a plan for trying to get rid of as many of our potential losers as possible.  We start by approximating our losers from the long trump side (which is frequently declarer’s hand). When we have potential losers in a side suit, one of the ways that we can get rid of these losers is by trumping them with the short side’s trump.  Ruffing losers in the short side is a useful declarer play technique and one we need to make sure to make use whenever possible.

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(551) Competitive Auctions: Bidding over 3-Level and 4-Level Preempts

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(551) Competitive Auctions: Bidding over 3-Level and 4-Level Preempts

When the opponents open at the 3-level or 4-level they put a lot of pressure on us to make difficult decisions without much room to maneuver or describe our hand.  This preempt will force us to either double or overcall at a very high level – we will not have many of the options that are available to us at lower levels.  Let’s look at each of these options and see how we need to adjust our thinking and bidding because of the lack of space and options available to us. 

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