four-card suit, he is unlikely to have another four-card suit (it would be stronger): thus his shape is probably 4333 (Tip 114).
SUMMARY Count up your top tricks and plan to establish your extra tricks early. Look out for the three basic methods of establishing tricks in notrumps – by force, length and position. And don’t forget to analyze the opening lead – it can give you huge pointers.
Trump Play
DRAWING TRUMPS The key question is whether or not to get rid of (‘draw’) the opposing trumps at the beginning. If you need dummy’s trumps, perhaps for trumping your losers (Tip 115), then you must delay. On the other hand drawing their trumps removes the risk of the opponents trumping your winners (Tip 116). Drawing trumps is particularly attractive, somewhat ironically, when you have weak trumps, because it gets rid of two of their (high) trumps together (Tip 117). However, there is a middle route: you can draw all but one of their trumps. If the last remaining trump is higher than yours, leave it out. There is rarely any point in wasting two of your trumps to draw a trump that is going to win a trick anyway – The Rule of One (Tip 118).
TRUMPING IN THE DUMMY If you draw trumps, the trumps in your shorter trump length (typically, so let us assume, dummy) will not make tricks in their own right; they will fall under the longer trumps. Therefore if you can use dummy’s trumps for ‘ruffing’ (trumping), the manoeuvre will create extra tricks. You will not generally be able to draw the opposing trumps first though, or dummy’s trumps will be gone (Tip 119).
The process is to look for a suit that is shorter in dummy than in your hand, void it, trump your losers in dummy, and only then draw the opposing trumps (Tip 120). Trumping needlessly in your hand, however, shortens your trumps and risks losing control (Tip 121).
SETTING UP A SUIT Establishing a suit is often – mistakenly – associated only with notrumps. Yet it is even more profitable in a trump contract because you can set the suit up by trumping (‘ruffing’) and so avoid losers (Tip 122). It is usually correct to start setting up the suit as soon as possible – and that means before drawing trumps (Tip 123). As with notrumps, if you have to lose a trick, it is better (for entry-conserving reasons) to lose the first round (Tip 124). Even five small cards facing one small card can generate a trick (Tip 125), but there must be enough entries. The number of entries required is the number of times you need to trump, plus one to get back to the length winner at the end. In order to avoid squandering entries, lead to the lowest trump entry first (Tip 126).
THROWING AWAY LOSERS Whilst I recommend counting top tricks (i.e. winners) in both trump and notrump contracts, a quick tally of losers can help in trump contracts (Tip 127). When there are too many losers, look to see if there are any overlapping winners in dummy (Tip 128); if drawing trumps involves losing the lead, you must play out those winners first. Pay attention to the entry situation, perhaps overtaking a winner if the overlapping suit is blocked (Tip 129). Spotting blockages early is important: provision may need to be made right away (Tip 130). The pressure to throw away losers is reduced when you can draw trumps without losing the lead; losers can then be discarded on overlapping winners after the opposing trumps have been drawn (Tip 131).
SUMMARY The three basic occasions when trump-drawing should be delayed are (a) when you must trump in dummy, (b) when you have a side-suit to set up and (c) when drawing trumps involves losing the lead and there is a suit with overlapping winners. Otherwise it will normally be safer to draw trumps early in the play.
Memory Aids
Here are a few practical tips for those of you who find it hard to remember what has happened when playing.
We have all wished we were in a different contract. But do not play in the contract you wish you were in, rather than the one you are really in (Tip 132). Tell partner not to put a plausible (but incorrect) trump suit on his right as he tables dummy.
When winning with an ace-king, choosing the ace may confuse the opposition slightly more (leaving the whereabouts of the king unknown). But if you are prone to forgetfulness, it is better to win with the king. At least you will know later that your ace is high (Tip 133).
When keeping count of a suit, just count the missing cards. Work out how many cards are missing, and reduce that number by one each time you see an opposing card. When you get to zero, the opposition have run out (Tip 134). It will help you to think of those missing cards in terms of their likely split (Tip 135).
The best tip for improving your Bridge memory, however, is to play more. Indeed playing Bridge is proven to improve your memory both at and away from the table.
SECTION 3: Defence
Though defence is often regarded as the toughest part of the game, it can be the most satisfying. Nothing rivals the pleasure at conducting a successful co-operative defence with partner.
The Opening Lead
INTRODUCTION The single most important card the defence play is the opening lead, starting the defence on a course that is often irreversible. It is the only card played without a sight of dummy, so there is little information on which to work. However, the opening leader has heard the auction – both his partnership’s contribution and the opponents’ – and he ignores it at his cost (Tip 136). The importance of the auction in determining the opening lead is such that a bid can be made to indicate an opening lead (Tip 137), with little intention of winning the auction. Note that when leading partner’s suit, do not lead the old-fashioned top card unless you have a sequence or a doubleton (Tip 138).
VERSUS TRUMP CONTRACTS The natural temptation when defending is to try to take tricks quickly, cashing aces early. In general this is a mistake (Tip 139). However, ace from ace-king is the best lead of all (Tip 140). This is because you still hold the boss card of the suit and can decide whether to continue with it (the king), based on what you see in dummy and the signal partner gives you with his card. King from king-queen, queen from queen-jack and so forth are also long-term winners, combining safety with attack. Note that the top card of these sequences is led (Tip 141). Cashing an ace without
