In notrump contracts you look to make both high-card tricks and tricks from long suits.
When you see the dummy it is essential to choose a suit to work on to make length tricks. A suit that will produce length tricks is usually one where you hold a minimum of seven cards counting the dummy’s and declarer’s hands together.
Not every long suit is headed by the ace, king and queen. If you are missing one of these top honours you may have to give the lead to the opponents during the first three rounds of the suit.
If you lose the lead to an opponent when playing your long suit, you will also need high cards to regain the lead. The cards used to regain the lead to a long suit are known as entries.
It is certainly disheartening to have a number of winning tricks available in your hand or in the dummy’s hand and no way of winning the lead to make those tricks.
Here is an example. You are north with ♠J2 ♥K743 ♦AK963 ♣82. After you open 1♦, east passes, partner south responds 1♠ and west passes. Your best rebid with a semi-balanced hand (a hand with two doubletons) is 1NT.
Don’t rebid 2♦ without a six-card suit and don’t rebid 2♥ as when partner responds 1♠, partner is unlikely to have hearts.
Against your 1NT east leads ♥2. The dummy south reveals ♠A1083 ♥A86 ♦42 ♣9753. The two suits that have seven cards between the two hands are hearts and diamonds.
You should choose diamonds to work on to make length tricks. Diamonds have five cards in one hand so have the potential to win two length tricks – the 4th and 5th rounds of the suit.
While hearts also have seven cards between the two hands, the hearts have only four cards in one hand so have the potential to win only one length trick. An opponent has also led a heart so the hearts probably won’t divide evenly.
Your entry card to the diamonds is ♥K so it is essential to win ♥A in south at the first trick and keep ♥K in north as the way to regain the lead in north once you have set up the length tricks in diamonds.
Win ♥A then play a diamond to win ♦A and ♦K. Now lead a third diamond, losing to west’s ♦Q. When the diamonds divide evenly between opponents (a three-three break), you can regain the lead in north with ♥K to make your last two diamonds.
What will happen if you win ♥K in north’s hand at the first trick? You would no longer have an entry card to north’s winning diamonds.
However, all is not lost! If you find your long suit has the ace and king with no queen or jack, and you have no entry card in another suit to regain the lead to make length tricks, you just duck the first round of diamonds.
Here are the diamonds again. North has ♦AK763 and south has ♦42. After the first trick, north had no certain winning cards in the other suits.
When you win the first trick don’t play ♦A or ♦K. Instead lead north’s ♦3!
An opponent wins and continues hearts. You regain the lead with south’s ♥A and can play a second diamond, winning with ♦A, then play ♦K to win the third round of diamonds.
You lose the first round of diamonds but win the second and third tricks in diamonds. If the diamonds divide evenly, you can now play 4th and 5th rounds of diamonds.
This technique is sometimes referred to as ‘losing your losers early’. Remember to only lose tricks in your long suit if you have problems regaining the lead to the hand with your length winners.
If you don’t have problems with entry cards it is usually best to play winners in your long suit.
A similar scenario faced most declarers on hand 3 in Monday afternoon’s BBO session this week. South was the dealer with ♠K8 ♥J7 ♦AK1032 ♣Q1072. After south opened 1♦, west passed, north responded 1♠ and east passed.
With a semi-balanced hand, south’s best rebid is 1NT. Some souths rebid 2♣. North then made a preference bid of 2♦.
The declarers in 1NT all had a heart lead. With north’s hearts ♥A93 and south’s hearts ♥J7, north played low on the first heart which east won with ♥Q. East returned a heart and south’s ♥J was covered by west’s ♥K. Most declarers correctly held up ♥A until the third round.
The declarer’s long suit is diamonds. South’s diamonds are ♦AK1032 and north’s diamonds are ♦854. South’s other high cards are ♠K and ♣Q. Neither of these are sure entries to regain the lead later if south loses the third round of diamonds.
With the ace and king in your long suit but no queen and jack, it looks like you will have to lose a trick to your opponents, so lose the first round.
After winning ♥A, the declarer’s best play is to play ♦4 from north. After east plays ♦6, the declarer should try south’s ♦10. This loses to west’s ♦Q but north still has other diamonds to lead to south.
West plays a fourth round of hearts which east wins with ♥8. East now returns a club or spade. South can play low and look to win in north.
If north wins, north can play a second diamond which south wins with ♦K.
South wins the third diamond with ♦A and can now play the 4th and 5th rounds of diamonds to make 1NT.
No declarer played the diamonds correctly on Monday. Some played ♦A and ♦K on the first two rounds of diamonds but then didn’t lead a third round of diamonds to set up the 4th and 5th rounds.
Some played ♦A and ♦K on the first two rounds of diamonds and played a third round losing to east’s ♦J. However, they were unable to regain the lead to make the 4th and 5th rounds.
© 2022 John Roberts