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[Event "Make Every Effort to Win Trick 2 to Preserve Our Partner's Entry"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "1"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "N"]
[Vulnerable "None"]
[Deal "N:6532.J3.QJT9.AKQ QJT94.Q72.A8.432 AK.AK8.7632.JT87 87.T9654.K54.965"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on WEST for board 1. 

Virtually the same idea as the previous board.

East has made an attacking lead with the Queen of Spades and when West sees the
dummy and goes through the various strategies that could be relevant in this
situation, the only one that looks relevant is the one where we have to make
every effort to win a trick as soon as possible, to help our partner set their
suit up, whilst they still have an entry to their hand.

Our objective is to win a trick before our partner does, so that we preserve
our partner's entry.

So when declarer calls for a small Diamond from the table, we do exactly that
and play our King of Diamonds.

You are probably thinking that it is very easy to make that play, when we can
see all four hands, but what happens when declarer has the Ace, Queen of
Diamonds, we have just given declarer a 'Free' Diamond finesse?

It is not a 'Free' Diamond finesse, it is just a finesse, a finesse that the
declarer was going to take anyway, so it can never cost.

Let us look at some other suit combinations and we will see that the play of
the King of Diamonds can also be successful even when our partner does not hold
the Ace of Diamonds.   

}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "N"]
1NT Pass 3NT AP

[Event "Ace or King Lead?"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "2"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "E"]
[Vulnerable "NS"]
[Deal "E:AQJ974.J4.76.AQT 52.AK2.A8.KJ9843 KT86.75.KQJT9.52 3.QT9863.5432.76"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{The spotlight is on SOUTH for board 2. 

South must decide whether to lead the Ace or King of Hearts.

There really appears to be no hope of giving our partner a ruff in Hearts, so
there is no point in leading the King of Hearts asking them to give us a length
signal.

Our best chance is to find our partner with the Queen of Hearts, so we can get
them in, to lead a Club through declarer.

So the Ace of Hearts is the lead and when our partner plays the 3 of Hearts,
that can only mean one thing and that is that they hold the Queen of Hearts.
(Our partner will only play their lowest Heart, when they are in possession of
the Queen of Hearts).

So our play at trick 2 is the 2 of Hearts, so our partner can lead their 7 of
Clubs through declarer, so the defence ends up making 4 tricks and defeating
East's game contract.

Note that if our partner had denied the possession of the Queen of Hearts by
playing their highest Heart, we would have no choice but to play a small Club
and hope that our partner held the Queen of Clubs.

When dummy appears with all those Diamonds, we know that this is not a hand to
be passive. 







}
[BCFlags "df"]
[Auction "E"]
1S 2C 4S AP

[Event "Desperate Times Require Desperate Measures"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "3"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "S"]
[Vulnerable "EW"]
[Deal "S:A763.AT9.432.AT9 8.J543.AKQJ.7432 QJT54.KQ.765.KQJ K92.8762.T98.865"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{The Spotlight is on WEST for board 3.

West wins the first three tricks with their three top Diamonds.

Like all conscientious defenders as soon as dummy goes down, West adds the
number of points in dummy to the number of points that they originally started
with.

That is 14 + 11 = 25.

So the two unseen hands total 15 points of which South has at least 12 of those
points.

So things are looking 'Bleak' as East cannot hold any of the Aces.

Where is our all important fourth trick coming from?

It can only come from one suit, which is the Spade suit.

Look what happens when in 'Desperation' we lead our fourth Diamond. 

We have been told from childbirth to never give declarer a 'Ruff & Discard' as
this will always end in tears for the defence, however, desperate times,
require desperate measures.

If declarer ruffs with the 10 of Spades in dummy, providing East has read up on
the previous theme, which is not to overruff with a strong trump holding,
declarer must now lose a Spade to East's 9 of Spades.

If dummy ruffs small, then East ruffs with their 9, driving out the Ace and
promoting their King.

 }
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "S"]
1NT Pass 2H Pass
2S Pass 3NT Pass
4S AP

[Event "Controlling the Trump Suit Gives Extra Chances"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "4"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "W"]
[Vulnerable "All"]
[Deal "W:KQJT2.AQT53.97.A 5.9742.QJT32.K92 983.KJ8.65.QJT84 A764.6.AK84.7653"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on SOUTH for board 4.

North leads the Queen of Diamonds and South is holding the Ace of Trumps.

When we hold the Ace of trumps or a control in the trump suit, we should think
extra hard as there will be more than the usual number of strategies available
for the defence.

When dummy goes down, there is only one number that should be in South's head
and that is the number FOUR. 

The defence requires FOUR tricks to defeat the contract and where are they
coming from?

It certainly looks like we have the Ace, King of Diamonds and the Ace of
trumps, but where is the fourth trick coming from?

Seeing that we have the Ace of trumps, we know that we can get a Heart ruff?

Our partner has led the Queen of Diamonds from length, so they must be holding
the Jack of Diamonds, so we must take charge.

We overtake our partner's Queen of Diamonds with our King and lead our
singleton Heart, so that when we get back in with the Ace of Spades, we can
lead a small Diamond to our partner's known Jack of Diamonds, so that they can
give us a ruff in Hearts and defeat the contract.

}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "W"]
1S Pass 2S Pass
4S AP

[Event "May The Forcing Defence Be With You"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "5"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "N"]
[Vulnerable "NS"]
[Deal "N:JT963.JT985.A.AK A742.7.KJ942.964 KQ5.KQ3.8753.J87 8.A642.QT6.QT532"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on EAST for board 5.

The clue to the correct lead for this hand is that we are holding length in the
trump suit.

Whenever we are holding length in the trump suit or we suspect that our partner
is holding length in the trump suit, then a FORCING defence should be
considered.

The forcing defence is probably the most powerful defence that exists.

The objective is to try and make declarer run our of trumps.

This can only be achieved if one of the defenders has extra length in the trump
suit and we have a side suit which will produce tricks once the declarer has
run out of trumps.

East certainly has length in the trump suit and they have a suit that can
potentially be a source of tricks.

The Diamond lead is the killer. It looks a risky lead, however, this
adventurous lead at this form of scoring is much easier to find. At pairs,
there is a risk that the defence could be giving an expensive overtrick away,
however at Teams/Imps scoring the risk of the lead producing exactly the tenth
trick for declarer is offset by the massive reward for defeating declarer's
game contract.

Let us see how this defence plays out.}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "N"]
1S Pass 2D Pass
2H Pass 3S Pass
4S AP

[Event "Return the Correct Card at Trick 2"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "6"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "E"]
[Vulnerable "EW"]
[Deal "E:QJ53.Q95.A654.72 6.AJ.QT982.AJ654 A8742.T876.7.QT9 KT9.K432.KJ3.K83"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{The spotlight is on EAST for board 6. East finds themselves on lead against a
3NT contract by North and they lead the unbid suit with the 3 of Spades lead.

West wins the trick with the Ace of Spades and they must now lead back the
correct Spade card, so that East can work out the correct strategy.\n
West must now return their original 4th best, which is the 4 of Spades.

North, having played the 9 of Spades at trick one, now plays the 10 of Spades
at trick 2.\n
East wins the trick with the Jack of Spades and now must evaluate the
situation.

The rule is that West, at trick 2, has either returned their highest Spade or
they have returned the Spade that has precisely two cards higher than itself.

East can rule out the fact that the 4 of Spades is West's highest Spade, as
that would give North at least 5 Spades, which is inconsistent with the
bidding, so West must be holding two Spades higher than the 4, which can only
be the 8 and 7. (West has denied the King of Spades at trick 1).

East's conclusion is that it is safe to continue Spades as West has the 8 and 7
of Spades with the 10 and 9 having been played at tricks one and two.

However, there is still work to be done by East. Who has the 2 of Spades? It
must be our partner, holding a 5 card Spade suit, so it now essential that East
comes back with their Queen of Spades, unblocking the Spade suit and take the
3NT contract off. 

Note that if West had come back the 2 of Spades at trick 2, East would know
that West must have started with only 4 Spades, which gives North 4 Spades and
a K1098 holding and it would not be correct for East to continue Spades.  




 

}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "E"]
Pass 1D Pass 1H
Pass 2C Pass 3NT
AP

[Event "With No Entries to Our Hand, Try to Find Our Partner's Long Suit."]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "7"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "S"]
[Vulnerable "All"]
[Deal "S:KQ43.T5.K742.AQ3 652.86.JT953.T82 AJ9.Q97.AQ6.K954 T87.AKJ432.8.J76"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on WEST for board 7.

A very common auction.

The Jack of Diamonds lead looks like a very safe opening lead, but in this form
of scoring all we are interested in, is to try and defeat the contract.

 }
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "S"]
1NT Pass 3NT AP

[Event "Emperor's Coup"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "8"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "W"]
[Vulnerable "None"]
[Deal "W:AT6.K6.A72.KQT65 KJ7542.32.84.J32 98.AQ75.K96.9874 Q3.JT984.QJT53.A"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on SOUTH for board 8.\n
North leads the 5 of Spades and West, the declarer, ducks South's Queen and
likewise plays small on South's 3 of Spades continuation.

Now North returns the TWO of Spades and now South has to play the part of
Inspector Clouseau. 

First Question: What suits will declarer make their 9 tricks from?

Well, looks like 1 Spade, 3 Hearts and 2 Diamonds, so that is THREE tricks
short, so declarer must be planning to make quite a few Club tricks?

Second Question: Out of the FOUR Spades that North is known to have remaining,
they made a conscious decision to play back the TWO of Spades, their LOWEST
Spade.

It is customary at this stage for the player who has just set their suit up to
indicate where their entry is to their hand. (A low card indicating the lowest
suit etc).

Our usual maths says:\n
Dummy Points + Our Points:  9 + 10 = 19, so 21 points in the remaining two
unseen hands, which we have seen our partner contribute 4 already, seeing that
we can see all the red suit points, we can confidently say that our partner has
either 0, 1 or 2 points in Clubs. 

We must DISCARD our Ace of Clubs which creates an entry to our partner's hand,
if they either have Jxx or Qx of Clubs.




   }
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "W"]
1NT Pass 2C Pass
2D Pass 2NT Pass
3NT AP

[Event "Controlling the Trump Suit Gives Extra Chances"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "9"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "N"]
[Vulnerable "EW"]
[Deal "N:J4.JT95.AQT83.AK A53.KQ6.2.876432 976.A874.KJ54.QJ KQT82.32.976.T95"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on EAST for board 9.

West leads the King of Spades.

East is holding the King and Queen of the trump suit, which means that they
will definitely be on lead at some future stage.

East should count their tricks and see if they can get to 4.

There should be 2 Spade tricks and a trump trick, so where is the 4th trick
coming from?

Surely a Diamond ruff?

East must take control of the situation by overtaking their partner's King of
Spades lead with their Ace of Spades and returning the 2 of Diamonds.

When declarer plays the Jack of Hearts from the dummy, we must remember to
split our Heart honours by playing the Queen of Hearts. 

When we win with our King of Hearts, we play back a Spade to our partner's
known Queen of Spades and wait for our Diamond ruff. 




}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "N"]
1D Pass 1H Pass
3H Pass 4H AP

[Event "Our Only Hope"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "10"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "E"]
[Vulnerable "All"]
[Deal "E:QT4.83.AQ653.AK5 AJ73.75.K4.QT864 965.AKQ6.JT9.973 K82.JT942.872.J2"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{The spotlight is on SOUTH for board 10.\n
South will presumably lead a Club and when declarer wins the trick and enters
dummy to run the Jack of Diamonds, it is time for some observations from South.

It is so important that for the first few tricks that the defence communicate
their lengths in the suits that declarer plays.

So when our partner plays their 2 of Hearts at trick 2, they must be holding a
5 card Heart suit, so declarer must be holding at least 8 cards in the Minors.

Our partner played the 2 of Diamonds and this can only be from a 3 card Diamond
suit.

Remember that we play our cards upwards with an odd number and peter with an
even number.

Next the maths:\n
Dummy Points + South Points:    10 + 10 = 20, so the unseen hands=20 points; \n
Our partner having shown us the Jack of Clubs at trick one can only have a
maximum of 4 points left and one of those is likely to be the Jack of Hearts.
Anyway, our partner would have risen with their Ace of Diamonds, if they had
held it.

So let us count declarer's tricks. 4 Diamonds, 2 Clubs and 3 Hearts and that
makes 9.

When we know that declarer will make their contract utilising three suits, we
have no choice but to try the fourth suit. We must now lead a LOW Spade and
hope. Our partner knows that we want Spades continued, because if we wanted our
original suit led back to us, we would be playing back a high Spade as
discouraging in that suit.  


 


}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "E"]
1NT Pass 2C Pass
2D Pass 3NT AP

[Event "Desperate Times Requires Desperate Measures"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "11"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "S"]
[Vulnerable "None"]
[Deal "S:KJT7.AT4.A75.654 Q92.9753.T862.A3 A643.KQ62.KQ.987 85.J8.J943.KQJT2"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on EAST for board 11.

East makes a lead directing double of North's 2 Club Stayman bid.

West dutifully leads their Ace of Clubs and continues the suit. East now cashes
their King and Queen of Clubs.

It is time for East to do some maths.

Dummy Points + Our Points (East):

14 + 8 = 22

This leaves the unseen hands having 18 points, of which our partner has shown
us 4 of those at trick 1.

Our partner can only have, at maximum, two more points left.

We are certainly 'Desperate'.

We must do something desperate.

Let's try playing a fourth round of Clubs.

If South ruffs with the 10 of Spades, providing West does not overruff as per
the previous theme, the defence will come to a trump trick. If declarer ruffs
with their seven, West can overruff with their 9 and hence promoting their
Queen. 




  }
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "S"]
1NT Pass 2C X
2S Pass 4S AP

[Event "Win the First Trick With the Ace, if Switching to a Singleton"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "12"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "W"]
[Vulnerable "NS"]
[Deal "W:AKQJ64.QJ7.J65.Q 2.432.AQ982.JT98 T98.KT986.K73.75 753.A5.T4.AK6432"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{The spotlight is on NORTH for board 12, with a little help from their
partner.\n
North should lead their Jack of Clubs at trick one and South should win with
the KING of Clubs.

It is very tempting for South to just go through the motions and continue with
the Ace of Clubs and wait for something good to happen, however, dummy's Heart
suit looks menacing. Whenever we see a long side suit in dummy, we have to get
active and attempt to take our tricks in other suits.

We certainly cannot make any more Club tricks, so the Diamond suit is our only
hope.

South must switch to the 10 of Diamonds at trick 2.

Through the eyes of North, the 10 of Diamonds is a short suit switch and could
easily be a singleton and the correct defence could be for North to give their
partner a quick ruff in Diamonds.

However, the fact that South won the first trick with the KING of clubs
suggests that the switch at trick 2 is not a singleton.

If South had been switching to a singleton, they would have won the first trick
with their Ace of Clubs.

North must now play low (If West plays the Jack, then North inserts the Queen).
It is important that North does not win with their Ace of Diamonds.

North must now wait for South to win with the Ace of Hearts, so that South can
play the second round of Diamonds, so that North can now take two more Diamond
tricks and defeat the contract. 






















  }
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "W"]
1S Pass 2S 3C
4S AP

[Event "Do Not Overruff When You Have a Strong Trump Holding "]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "13"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "N"]
[Vulnerable "All"]
[Deal "N:K93.97.95432.JT9 876542.862.AQ.AK T.AKJT43.T87.876 AQJ.Q5.KJ6.Q5432"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on NORTH for board 13.

South leads the King, Ace and Jack of Hearts for the first three tricks with
dummy ruffing with the Jacks of Spades on the third trick.

Unless North has something urgent to do for the next trick, which is certainly
not the case here, North should refrain from overruffing with the King of
Spades. (Our King of Spades is not running away).

If North overruffs at trick 3, then declarer has the rest of the tricks and the
game contract is made.

Look what happens when North refrains from ruffing.

Declarer will enter their hand to take the Spade finesse and when you win with
the King of Spades, amazingly your 9 of Spades is now also a winner. 

}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "N"]
Pass 1S Pass 2C
Pass 2S Pass 4S
AP

[Event "Surrounding Play"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "14"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "E"]
[Vulnerable "None"]
[Deal "E:42.AQJ762.KJ9.T6 KQT93.K43.Q43.Q7 76.T98.A862.8532 AJ85.5.T75.AKJ94"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on EAST for board 14.

East wins the first trick with the Ace of Hearts and looks at the menacing
dummy.

We do not need to be a genius to work out that declarer is going to make their
contract very easily with lots of black tricks, King of Hearts and probably
even a Heart ruff, so we must make some Diamond tricks, whilst we can. 

So which Diamond do we play at trick 2?

We have both ingredients for a 'Surrounding Play'.

The first ingredient being that we have dummy's highest card 'Surrounded'. i.e.
We have dummy's 10 of Diamonds surrounded with our Jack and Nine of Diamonds.

The second ingredient is that we have an additional higher honour.

So the strategy is that we play the card which is one above dummy's top card
i.e. Our Jack of Diamonds.

Once we play the Jack of Diamonds, we must take three Diamond tricks and defeat
the contract.

Note that if we play any other Diamond declarer will escape with just the two
Diamond losers and will successfully make their contract. 

}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "E"]
1H 1S Pass 4S
AP

[Event "When Partner Passes Our Take-Out Double at the One Level - Lead a Trump"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "15"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "S"]
[Vulnerable "NS"]
[Deal "S:J953.A742.A.AK85 KT62.KQT8.KQJT.2 Q874.53.97632.63 A.J96.854.QJT974"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on WEST for board 15.

This auction requires us to lead a TRUMP.

We have all read this advice in bridge books, but do we know why we should take
this advice?\n
 





}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "S"]
1C X AP

[Event "Lead the King to Request an Unblock of an Honour"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "16"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "W"]
[Vulnerable "EW"]
[Deal "W:K76.AQ8.K76.A765 JT98.76.A9.KQT94 AQ2.KT4.Q85432.8 543.J9532.JT.J32"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on NORTH/SOUTH for board 16.

On board 16, there may have been an alternative auction:

1\C    - 1\D\n
1NT - 3NT

Either way the King of Clubs is the lead from North, which requests their
partner, South, to play an honour if they hold it. 

South plays their Jack of Clubs and the defence comfortably take their five
tricks to defeat West's 3NT contract.

If South does not play their Jack of Clubs at trick 1, North would have to
assume that West holds the Ace and Jack of Clubs and North would have to give
up on the Club suit.







}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "W"]
1NT Pass 3NT AP

[Event "Sacrificing/Distributional Hands - Lead a Trump"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "17"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "N"]
[Vulnerable "None"]
[Deal "N:AQ2.643.AK92.876 JT3.J.87653.K543 64.KQT9.JT4.QJT9 K9875.A8752.Q.A2"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on SOUTH for board 17.

North opens a weak No Trump and West should make a bid to show both majors.

East has no choice but to bid 2 Spades.

Here is the logic process that should be going through South's head:

We certainly hold the majority of points, however our opponents are expecting
to make eight tricks.

We have more Aces and Kings than them, so they must be expecting to make tricks
from their small cards.

The easiest way for declarer to do that, especially with distributional hands,
is to make a number of trump tricks through ruffing.

We must lead a trump; every time we can lead a trump, we remove two trumps of
declarer.




}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "N"]
1NT Pass Pass 2C
Pass 2S AP

[Event "Surrounding Play"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "18"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "E"]
[Vulnerable "NS"]
[Deal "E:54.AKQ54.A82.AJ7 J872.83.J753.K54 QT9.JT76.KQT.962 AK63.92.964.QT83"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on NORTH for board 18.

South may well lead the 2 of Spades at trick one.

Even if they do not, declarer, at some stage, will lead a Spade to the 9, with
South having played their 8 of Spades, indicating an even number of Spades.

In either case, North will find themselves on lead with their King of Spades.

They should be alert to the imminent danger that declarer will next play a
Spade to the 10 and therefore setting up the Queen of Spades which will result
in a losing Club being discarded from the East hand.

This is not the time for North to be passive. The defence must take their Club
tricks before one of them disappears on that menacing Queen of Spades.

So North must play a Club, but which one?

The clue is that we have dummy's top Club, which is the 9 of Clubs,
'Surrounded' with our 10 and 8 of Clubs and not only that, we have a higher
Club which is our Queen of Clubs, so this constitutes a 'Surrounding Play'
situation, which means we must play the Club which is one above Dummy's Club,
i.e. the 10 of Clubs.

Look what happens when we lead the 10 of Clubs.

If declarer plays the Jack, South wins with the King and returns a Club and now
North has the Queen, eight of Clubs surrounding dummy's nine, so the defence
must make two Club tricks, which defeats the 4\H contract.}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "E"]
1H Pass 2H Pass
4H AP

[Event "Ace or King Lead?"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "19"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "S"]
[Vulnerable "EW"]
[Deal "S:AKQT9.A7.QT43.54 52.6532.AK92.A76 7643.KQ4.J65.KQ3 J8.JT98.87.JT982"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on WEST for board 19.

West must decide which top Diamond to lead at trick 1.

The whereabouts of the Queen of Diamonds is not going to help us, so we lead
the King of Diamonds, requesting our partner to give us a COUNT signal in the
Diamond suit.

East dutifully plays their 8 of Diamonds, the start of a High-Low signal.

West continues with the Ace of Diamonds and East plays their 7 of Diamonds.

Even if South has not bid their Diamonds on this auction, we know that it is
our partner who is the one holding the doubleton Diamond, because using our
method that our partner initially plays their highest Diamond and then
subsequently plays their lowest Diamond to the second trick, they cannot be
holding four diamonds.

(If East had held Q1087, they would have played their 10 of Diamonds on the
first trick).

We must be greedy and go for a second ruff, so we play the TWO of Diamonds for
our partner to ruff. The TWO of Diamonds is our LOWER Diamond, so our partner
knows that having ruffed the Diamond at trick 3, they should return the LOWER
suit, which is a Club to return to our hand, which enables West to play a
fourth round of Diamonds for our partner to ruff and take the 4\S contract 2
off.





 

  }
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "S"]
1S Pass 2C Pass
2D Pass 3S Pass
4S AP

[Event "When Declarer Plays in Their Second Suit - Lead a Trump"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "20"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "W"]
[Vulnerable "All"]
[Deal "W:AQ974.5.K83.KJT6 KJT8.T97.A92.A73 3.KJ642.QT6.Q952 652.AQ83.J754.84"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{


The spotlight is on NORTH for board 20.

The key to finding the correct opening lead is to listen very carefully to the
auction and try to visualise what dummy will look like and anticipate how
declarer is going to make their tricks.

One thing that we know about dummy is that it has very few Spades, so declarer
will be ruffing their long Spades at every opportunity.

We must lead trumps at every opportunity. Every time we can lead a trump, we
will remove two of declarer's trumps.

When holding 3 trumps, it is usually best to lead the smallest of the 3 trumps,
so that when either of the defenders wins a trick, the defence will be able to
draw two more rounds of trumps. 

 }
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "W"]
1S Pass 1NT Pass
2C AP

[Event "Controlling the Trump Suit Gives Extra Chances"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "21"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "N"]
[Vulnerable "NS"]
[Deal "N:JT987.532.KT.QJ3 54.T7.976.K98754 KQ62.AJ9.QJ432.A A3.KQ864.A85.T62"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on WEST for board 21.

East leads the 10 of Hearts, which is obviously a short suit lead.

Declarer should cover with the Jack and West wins with their Queen of Hearts.

It looks 'Suicidal' to return a Heart straight back into dummy's A9, however,
we are holding the Ace of trumps, which means we are guaranteed to get the lead
back very soon.

Therefore, playing a second round of Hearts at trick 2 is the winning defence.

When South leads a small Spade West must jump up with the Ace of Spades to give
their partner a Heart ruff.

Any other defence will result in declarer being able to establish dummy's
Diamonds to discard their losing Heart. }
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "N"]
Pass Pass 1D 1H
1S Pass 4S AP

[Event "Win the First Trick With the Ace, If Switching to a Singleton"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "22"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "E"]
[Vulnerable "EW"]
[Deal "E:AK985.KQT98.J.Q7 T3.J4.AQ98432.JT Q72.A5.K65.96432 J64.7632.T7.AK85"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{The spotlight is on NORTH for board 22.

With the given auction, South should be leading the Jack of Clubs at trick one.

North has to plan the defence very carefully.

North can more or less assume that their partner holds the Ace of Diamonds for
their bid, so, for the defence, North can count the Ace, King of Clubs and the
Ace of Diamonds and then there is the possibility of a trump promotion with the
third round of Clubs, however the tricks must be cashed in the correct order.

If North tries to give their partner a Club ruff too early, declarer will
discard their losing Diamond on the third round of Clubs, so the defence must
be precise in that North wins the first trick with the KING of Clubs, plays a
Diamond to South's Ace, who then then returns a Club back to North's Ace, who
now plays that third round of Clubs which guarantees a trump trick for the
defence.

Let's look at the defence through the eyes of South. They see their partner
partner switch to the 10 of Diamonds at trick two. The 10 of Diamonds is
obviously a short suit switch and could easily be a singleton and the correct
defence could easily be to continue and give North a Diamond ruff?

But hold on, if North was going to switch to their singleton Diamond at trick
two, then the strategy is that they win the first trick with the Ace?

So North, by winning the first trick with their King of Clubs has told their
partner that they will not be switching to a singleton at trick 2 and that the
Diamond switch must be from a doubleton.

When South comes to this conclusion, they will continue with the Club suit at
trick 3 and wait for their trump promotion with the third round of Clubs. 

}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "E"]
1S 3D 3S Pass
4S AP

[Event "Make Every Effort to Win Trick 2 to Preserve Our Partner's Entry"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "23"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "S"]
[Vulnerable "All"]
[Deal "S:J3.6532.AKQ.QJT9 Q72.QJT94.432.K8 AK8.AK.JT87.7632 T9654.87.965.A54"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{The spotlight is on EAST for board 23.

West leads the Queen of Hearts and East is holding such a 'Boring' hand that it
is so easy to just 'Go Through the Motions'.

However, even when the hand looks so trivial, we must be alert in readiness for
known strategies.

Our thought process should be:

Our partner has made an attacking lead and our best chance to defeat the
contract is to make tricks in the suit that our partner has led.

We know our strategy here, which is to make every effort to win a trick as soon
as possible, whilst we are able to help our partner establish their long suit
and more importantly preserve our partner's entry.

So as soon as we have played to the first trick, rather than look out of the
window waiting to follow suit to the second trick, we should already be
anticipating our play to the second trick.\n
In fact we have our Ace of Clubs in our hand even before declarer has called
for a small Club from dummy.

We play our Ace of Clubs at trick two and continue our partner's Heart suit. 

Now we can go back to sleep.

Our partner still has the King of Clubs as an entry to their Hearts, which have
now been set up.

This is the only defence to defeat the 3NT contract.

 

 }
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "S"]
1NT Pass 3NT AP

[Event "Do Not Overruff When You Have a Strong Trump Holding"]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Board "24"]
[West ""]
[North ""]
[East ""]
[South ""]
[Dealer "W"]
[Vulnerable "None"]
[Deal "W:A86543.972.QJ.AT .AKQ863.8643.QJ9 KT9.JT.AK975.K32 QJ72.54.T2.87654"]
[Scoring ""]
[Declarer ""]
[Contract ""]
[Result ""]
{

The spotlight is on SOUTH for board 24.

North is in a final contract of 4 Spades and North leads their top three Heart
tricks, with East (Dummy), ruffing with the 9 of Spades on the third trick.

It may look tempting for South to overruff with their Jack of Spades, however
this will be the last trick for the defence as declarer will have the simple
task of playing a Spade to the King and what with North showing out in Spades,
declarer will just run the 10 of Spades, taking the marked finesse against
South's Queen of Spades. 

If South refrains from overruffing (They should discard a Diamond), then South
must now make two more Spade tricks.

When declarer plays a Spade to the King, then all that South needs to do is
cover the 10 of Spades and wait for their two Spade tricks and defeat the
contract. 



}
[BCFlags "1f"]
[Auction "W"]
1S 2H 3D Pass
3S Pass 4S AP
