Basic Trick Taking =================== Review: ====== 1. A trick consists of the 4 bridge players playing a card 2. There are 13 tricks in every bridge deal 3. The 2 players of each partnership work together to take as many tricks as possible 4. You must follow suit if you can 5. If you cannot follow suit you can discard any card, but you cannot win the trick 6. The card that wins a trick is the highest card played in the suit that was led 7. The player who wins a trick leads to the next trick 8. The bidding determines which player leads to trick 1 (the opening lead) 9. If you cannot possibly win the trick, it is a good idea to play (or discard a low card. Save your high cards for tricks that you might be able to win Solid Suit 432 ---------------- Each person has 3 cards. How many tricks can | N | there be. 3. S is on lead. How many tricks J109|W E|876 will each partnership win | S | ---------------- AKQ 5432 ---------------- | N | |W E| This will produce 4 tricks for N-S | S | ---------------- AKQJ A, AK, AKQ, AKQJ, AKQJ10 are solid suits. They will win 1 trick for every card that is played. Q43 ---------------- | N | Q is now with N. So N-S can still win 3 J109|W E|876 tricks. If on S2 W plays J and N plays low | S | E-W get a trick. If on SA, N plays SQ, ---------------- E-W get a trick AK2 Winning tricks with small cards in long suit 543 ---------------- | N | Here you see why length is important. |W E| Can the S2 win a trick? Ans is depends. | S | Be grateful to partner for the S543. ---------------- What would happen if opponents had S3 AKQ2 5432 ---------------- | N | N-S have 9 S between them. E-W have 2 cards QJ|W E|109 each. N-S can now win 5 tricks. If E has S | S | J109, he will get 1 trick ---------------- AK876 What we have learnt: 1. A 2-2 break is worth 3 extra tricks 2. A 3-1 break is worth 2 extra tricks 3. A 4-0 break is worth 1 extra trick 4. Small cards in long suits can sometimes win tricks 5. Some card combinations produce various numbers of tricks for N-S depending on the division of the E-W cards 6. Sometimes losing a trick (or tricks) can result in winning an extra trick (or tricks) at a later point in the play of the cards Promotion ---------- 432 ---------------- Another way to develop extra tricks is by | N | losing a trick. In this combination, the A109 |W E|876 extra tricks are in the form of high cards | S | Give up SK to SA and then other two tricks ---------------- are yours. KQJ A solid suit missing the A are: K, KQ, KQJ, KQJ10, KQJ109 A solid suit missing the Ace is worth 1 less trick than the number of cards held in the suit 432 ---------------- Here both A and K are missing. So only 1 | N | trick can be made by N-S K98 |W E|A76 | S | ---------------- QJ10 Deal 1 ------ NORTH S declared: Lead SJ by W. S:765 ------------------------ H:5432 W takes SAKQ and then DQ. S takes DAK, D:543 HAK when QJ109 fall. S takes H876 and C:432 then CK, taken by CA and DJ won. Thus -------------- N-S get 7 tricks and E-W get 6. Now 1 NT WEST |||||||||||||| EAST is made. Try making 2 NT S:AKQJ |||||||||||||| S:1098 You can promote a C, before taking DAK. H:QJ |||||||||||||| H:109 D:QJ10 |||||||||||||| D:9876 C:AJ109 |||||||||||||| C:8765 -------------- SOUTH (D) S:432 H:AK876 D:AK2 C:KQ What did we learn: We have learnt the mechanics of the play of the cards in bridge 1. The bidding determines which player will be declarer 2. The opening lead is made by the player to left of the declarer 3. The partner of the declarer will be the dummy. The dummy places all of the cards face up on the table after opening lead is made 4. The declarer plays cards both from his hand and from dummy 5. The other 2 players (outside the declarer and dummy) are called the defenders. The deal also provided some valuable insights into the strategies of playing cards as declarer: 1. It is not always good idea to win as many tricks as you can as quickly as you can. High cards should sometimes be kept so that the lead can be regained 2. It is generally a good idea for declarer to play on his long suits as early as possible in an attempt to start developing tricks with the low cards in those suits 3. It is a good idea to discard cards that cannot possibly win tricks 4. Studying card combinations makes it easier to make good decisions as declarer. Deal 2 ------ NORTH S is declarer: W leads SJ S:432 ------------------------- H:432 S takes SAKQ, CAKQ and HAKQ and plays CJ D:432 W takes the rest. So S makes 9 tricks. C:5432 How do you make 10th trick. CJ109 will -------------- take out CAKQ and then C8 will be a WEST |||||||||||||| EAST winner. Therefore, it is not always best S:J1098 |||||||||||||| S:765 strategy to win tricks as quickly as H:J1098 |||||||||||||| H:765 possible when you are declarer. Wait D:J1098 |||||||||||||| D:765 for low cards to be promoted. C:A |||||||||||||| C:KQ76 -------------- SOUTH (D) S:AKQ H:AKQ D:AKQ C:J1098 Thus even if A, K and Q are missing, you can win a trick It is not always the best strategy to win tricks as quickly as possible when you are the declarer. High cards should sometimes wait until after low cards have been promoted. Deal 3 ------ NORTH S:432 Can you see why N-S were able to build H:432 a trick on C despite the fact that E-W D:432 were dealt the 5 highest C between them C:5432 N-S win a C trick because neither -------------- defender was dealt as many as 4C. Once WEST |||||||||||||| EAST 3 C are played, E-W will have no more S:J1098 |||||||||||||| S:765 C. Thus if you have more cards and H:J1098 |||||||||||||| H:765 not enough high cards, you can still D:J109 |||||||||||||| D:8765 win a trick C:AQ |||||||||||||| C:KJ10 -------------- SOUTH (D) S:AKQ H:AKQ D:AKQ C:9876 Summary: 1. N-S can win a trick if the 5 E-W C are divided 3 and 2 2. N-S cannot win a trick if either defender was dealt 4(or 5) C 3. N-S will, therefore, require some luck to win a trick with this card combination 4. N-S potential trick in this suit is based on length, not strength 5. It is sometimes possible to win a trick (or tricks) in a suit with no high cards at all Deal 4 ------ NORTH S is declarer: Lead HQ S:KQ76543 S takes HK, SA and S2 to K and cashes all H:43 Spades. Then he gets all 13 tricks. D:54 Suppose he plays S2 first taking with SK C:54 and then S3 to the A. Then there is no -------------- way to make all 13 tricks. S is stuck in WEST |||||||||||||| EAST hand and gets only 8 tricks. S:J109 |||||||||||||| S:8 H:QJ109 |||||||||||||| H:8765 D:QJ10 |||||||||||||| D:9876 C:QJ10 |||||||||||||| C:9876 -------------- SOUTH (D) S:A2 H:AK2 D:AK32 C:AK32 Here is a good rule: If a suit has unequal number of cards between the two hands, you should win tricks with the high cards in the shorter hand first Master deal 1 ------------- NORTH 6NT by S: Lead SJ S:432 Here we have Solid tricks in S, H and D H:AQ2 They are worth 9 tricks. The only other suit D:KJ10 is C. Only the A is missing. Once you C:KJ97 give that up, then you have 3 winners -------------- for a total of 12 tricks. Don't try to take WEST |||||||||||||| EAST your winners from S, H or D otherwise you S:J1098 |||||||||||||| S:765 will promote a trick for the opponents. H:9876 |||||||||||||| H:543 D:9876 |||||||||||||| D:5432 C:A |||||||||||||| C:543 Try to lose the tricks that must be lost as -------------- early as possible. Save your high cards in SOUTH (D) your short suit(s) to prevent the defenders S:AKQ from winning extra tricks should you have H:KJ10 to lose the lead D:AQ2 C:Q1086 Master Deal 2 ------------- NORTH 4NT by S: lead SJ S:432 You have 3 S, 2H and 2D solid tricks. You need H:543 3 tricks from C. So don't take your S, H or D:AK4 D tricks. Play CA and then 10, take lead C:5432 back and play 9. Then 87 are good -------------- WEST |||||||||||||| EAST S:J1098 |||||||||||||| S:765 H:QJ10 |||||||||||||| H:9876 Extra winners can be developed with small D:QJ10 |||||||||||||| D:98765 cards in long suits. The division of the C:KQJ |||||||||||||| C:6 defenders cards in your long suit can impact -------------- the number of extra winners that you are SOUTH (D) able to develop S:AKQ H:AK2 D:32 C:A10987 Master Deal 3 -------------- NORTH 3NT by S: Lead HJ S:J109 ----------------- H:2 Try to make 9 tricks. Here you need to D:5432 establish D first. Note that once DAK are C:65432 gone, you have all the other D. So play -------------- DQ immediately and when you get lead back WEST |||||||||||||| EAST you play DJ. Don't play S first since you can S:A32 |||||||||||||| S:87654 gain only 1 trick more. But in D you can H:J10987|||||||||||||| H:6543 gain 4 tricks. There is no entry in dummy D:AK |||||||||||||| D:6 for extra S in any case. C:987 |||||||||||||| C:QJ10 -------------- It is usually best to develop tricks in your SOUTH (D) longest combined suits, not your strongest S:KQ suits. Always be aware, however, of the H:AKQ number of stoppers you have in your short D:QJ10987 suits C:AK Master Deal 4 ------------- NORTH 6NT by S: Lead HQ S:QJ10987 ----------------- H:A32 You need to take HK first to preserve D:432 entry into dummy. Then SK should be played C:5 first. This is so that you preserve -------------- the entry for HA for getting the S WEST |||||||||||||| EAST winners. 7 immediate winners 2 H, 3D and S:A65 |||||||||||||| S:43 2C. Promotion will result in 5 extra H:QJ10 |||||||||||||| H:9876 winners in S once SA is dislodged D:9876 |||||||||||||| D:J105 C:QJ10 |||||||||||||| C:9876 When setting up a long suit, start with -------------- high card from the short hand. SOUTH (D) S:K2 Preserve a high card in the hand with H:K54 the long suit for later access to D:AKQ the winners you set up C:AK432 Master Deal 5 ------------- NORTH 1NT by S: Lead SQ S:32 Take SK. You now need to establish D. H:432 Don't be tempted to go to dummy with CA D:QJ1098 play DQ for a finesse. If it loses, you C:A32 will lose control of the C and also no -------------- way to get to the dummy. So play DA and WEST |||||||||||||| EAST a low. Let E take DK when he wants. S:QJ1098|||||||||||||| S:76 H:A109 |||||||||||||| H:KQJ Promotion can happen and extra winners D:87 |||||||||||||| D:K43 can be won. Be on the lookout for new C:765 |||||||||||||| C:KQJ109 combinations where the principles you -------------- have learned can be applied. SOUTH (D) S:AK54 H:8765 D:A2 C:654