This Week in Bridge
(622) Suit Play: Getting Rid of Potential Losers
© AIB Robert S. Todd
Level: 4 of 10 robert@advinbridge.com
General
When we play our hand in a suit contract, we analyze our hand in terms of losers. First, we identify the losers that we have little to no chance of getting rid of. Next, we try to find the potential losers that we may be able to avoid losing. Once we have identified these potential losers, then we need to make a plan for how to not lose these tricks. Often there is only one way to dispose of these losers, but sometimes we will have options for how we may dispose of losers. Options mean choices, and choices can lead to difficult decisions. Let’s look at some of the options that we may have for disposing of our losers and try to figure out how to make good choices.
Options for Disposing of Losers
When we play in a suit contract, the losers in the trump suit can only be avoided by good card play (after technical play) in this suit. That means plays like “drawing an honor”, finessing, smother plays, avoidance plays, and avoiding ruffs. Not losing tricks in the trump suit is a skill, but one that has fewer “big picture” options than the other three suits.
Let’s focus on the other three suits. When we are looking at potential losers and resources for disposing of them, these are the classic way of thinking about each of the side suits. (For the moment, let’s assume that dummy is the “short trump” side).
When dummy is longer than declarer in a side suit, then we can often use that suit to establish discards and dispose of potential losers in another suit.
When dummy is shorter than declarer in a side suit, then we often trump our later losers in the dummy. Sometimes we are able to do so after we draw trump (this is the more comfortable way), but after we must do so before drawing trump and removing all the trump from the dummy.
When dummy has equal length to declarer in a suit, then we look to reduce potential losers by using another suit for discards or with our technical card play (like finesses, endplays, etc.)
Timing – Get the Order Right
Constructing a line of play that allows us to dispose of as many losers are possible after involves doing things in the right order. We need to think about doing things like:
Drawing trump,
Ruffing losers,
Promoting discards,
Establishing long suits for discards,
Managing entries,
And more…
The key to good declarer play on these sophisticated hands is to get the order of play correct.
These give us difficult questions, like do we…
Draw trump first?
Ruff losers first?
Set up our discards early?
Win the opening lead in which hand? (Keeping the entry in the right hand?)
Let’s look at an example to help us see why order matters.
Example
Imagine that ♥ are trump (and ♠ are all taken care of). How do we deal with our potential 3rd and 4th round § losers?
Dummy
♥ xx
♦ Kxx
♣ xx
Declarer
♥ Ax
♦ x
♣ AKxx
Here we can try to ruff both of our ♣ losers, but our transportation and number of trump is a problem. Instead of starting by playing ♣, it is best to lead a ♦ towards the King. If we can establish the ¨K for a discard, then we can ruff one of our ♣ losers and discard the other. If we cannot, then maybe we can crossruff the hand and end up ruffing both our losers.
Plays like this require thought. If we play ♣AK and ruff a ♣, then we will be stuck in the dummy and be forced to lead a ♦ away from the King. Starting with a ♦ early is the key play in a situation like this.
Conclusion
Learning to be a good declarer in a suit contact requires careful planning. You need to be able to identify potential losers and figure out which ones you have the best chance of avoiding actually losing. Then you need to construct a plan for how to use your assets to give you the best chance of avoiding losing these tricks. I know that many of you find it extremely difficult to see what could come in the future – like thinking 6-7 tricks ahead. But keep working at it! You will find that your planning, and thus your play, gets better than more you practice. Ending up in bad situations and learning (even after the hand) what you could have done differently will help you avoid making the same mistakes again. As a declarer, make mistakes, learn from them, develop new skills, and move on to the next hand where you will do better!