Bridge Tips

When you’re defending, look at dummy to help tell you what to do.

When the opposition have bid 1NT, which is passed out, keep a count of the high cards declarer plays. This will allow you to deduce what cards your partner holds.

and I have 13+ points

I should immediately think, ‘GAME on’!

When the opening lead is seen imagine traffic lights :

● STOP and look at what you can see. Remember the bidding. Think
● MAKE A PLAN – Ask yourself lots of questions for example -what sort of hand is this? In a suit contract – is this a draw trump hand, or a ruffing hand, or a dumping hand? What entries have I got? Which hand do I need entries in? Do I need to take any finesses? Which is my danger hand?
● EXECUTE – PLAY

Thinking’s allowed; it’s thinking aloud that isn’t allowed!

If you have a five-card side-suit in dummy e.g. A6543, and a low singleton in hand and three outside entries, do consider trying to set up the fifth card in this suit. The suit will divide 4-3 about 62% of the time which is higher than many players realise. You might need to work on this suit before drawing trumps as you may need to use some trumps in dummy as entries.

Be aware of the different hand shapes

(i) Balanced 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2. 5-3-3-2
(ii) Single-suited 6-3-2-2, 7-3-2-1
(iii) Two-suited 5-4-3-1, 5-5-2-1
(iv) Three-suited 4-4-4-1, 4-4-5-0

Remember you can make extra tricks by ruffing with your short holding in trumps. You do not make extra tricks when ruffing with your long trumps, although at times you may need or be forced to do so.