This Week in Bridge
(607) Safety Plays
© AiB Robert S. Todd
Level: 5 of 10 robert@advinbridge.com
General
Some players find declarer play to be fun, while others find it infuriating. Often this has to do with what we feel is the strength of our game: Are we best at Bidding, Declarer Play, or Defense? But one of the ways to improve our Declarer Play is to adopt the right mindset during the play. This is not just about having confidence in our play (which is always helpful), but also about thinking about the right thing at the right time. When it appears that we are going to make our contact, then that is the time for us to start thinking about “What could go wrong?” and then about “What can I do about it?” These are extremely powerful and helpful question to ask ourselves. What this type of thinking leads to is an extremely useful type of play, the Safety Play! Let’s look at these plays and see how they can help us improve our declarer play.
Safety Play
Part of declaring a hand is tackling the card combinations we are given in each suit. When we lead a suit (especially the trump suit), then we must try to play the hand the best we can.
There are some card combinations where, no matter how the suit divides, we will always lose a trick. In some of these situations then we need to think pessimistically and ask ourselves, “What can I do if the suit splits poorly?” This pessimistic mindset is what leads us to a safety play.
Example
Let’s look at a card combination where a pessimistic mindset can help us.
Dummy
♥ K543
Declarer
♥ A976
In this example, if the suit splits 3-2, we have one loser.
But if the suit splits 4-1, how many losers will we have?
Let’s say we play the ♥K at trick 1 and see our LHO play the ♥T. If the suit is 2-3, at trick 2 it does not matter if we play the ♥A or up to the ♥9 – we will either lose the third trick or the second trick.
Dummy
♥ K543
♥ T ♥ QJ82
Declarer
♥ A976
In this layout, if we play the ♥K and then the ♥A, we will lose two tricks. Instead, if we lead low to the ♥9 on the second round of the suit, we avoid losing a second trump trick. This is a safety play!
We “find this play” by realizing that we always have one loser and saying to ourselves, “How do we avoid losing more tricks if the suit splits poorly?”
Safety Play – What Can Go Wrong?!?
A safety play is not always safe! Sometimes it can result in a disaster…
When we make a safety play and the suit is breaking 3-2, then we lose the second trick instead of the third. Most of the time this does not cost us. But there is an example when it can be a problem - if we make a safety play and lose the second round of the suit to the ♥J in this layout:
Dummy
♥ K543
♥ QJT ♥ 82
Declarer
♥ A976
Now we give our LHO a chance to potentially win a trump trick with their ♥J and then find a way to get their partner in and get a ruff (or an overruff or a trump promotion) with their ♥Q.
Conclusion
When we are lucky the cards behave themselves, but sometime suits happen to split in ways that are far less likely. When this happens, we often end up not making our contract – especially when it is the trump suit. If we think ahead and consider what bad things can happen, it often leads us to finding these extremely useful safety plays. Learn to keep an eye out for them and you will do a better job of taking the most tricks you can.