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Handling Bad Breaks

In bridge, we hope for the best but plan for the worst. When playing a hand, this means that we hope that suits break as favorably as possible but we take all necessary precautions in case they do not.

Take this suit combination:

Dummy : A J 6 3 2 You : K 8 7 5 4

We have 10 trumps. There are only three cards. They usually they split 2-1.If they split 2-1, it does not matter in what order we play the cards. We can cash the A first or the K first. It doesn’t matter, because, after we play the A and K, the opponents will be out of trumps. But, what if they break 3-0. If they break 3-0 so that the QT9 are behind the AJ632, there is nothing we can do. If we play the A and lead the J, they will cover with the Q and forcing us to play our K and it will be there T that is good. However, if the QT9 is in front of the AJ632, then we can handle the situation. We can cash the K first. If our RHO shows out. We can know lead the 4 to the J and finesse the Q.

When you have winners in both hands, it may make a difference in which order you cash those winners, especially if you hold a tenace in one or both hands. A tenace is a combination of a high card and a lower card where the opponents hold the card(s) in-between. In the example above, the AJ is the tenace. Where you have a tenace, best technique is to cash your winners opposite the tenace first. If it is not clear whether you have a tenace, examine your holding and work out which card is nearest to being a winner. In the above example, the ace and king are winners and the card closest to being a winner is the jack. The A-J combination is the tenace. Therefore, cash the king first.

North West AJ632 East QT9 - South K8754

Likewise:

North West KT73 East J985 2 South AQ64

If up do get a bad break, the first thing to do is take a deep breath and don’t panic. Often times you can handle the bad break, it just takes readjusting your plan handle the situation. Stop and identify how many tricks you must lose and then make sure you hold it to the minimum number. To do this, you may need to stop drawing trumps, or draw all but one, or run a side suit until they are forced to trump. No matter what the plan, make sure that you keep your wits about you and stay in control.

A Trump Coup A trump coup is a means of drawing an opponent’s trumps when those trumps are finessable except for the fact that declarer does not have trumps in either dummy or his hand necessary to take the finesse. So he must arrange the play such that the defender will be forced to trump in front of the tenace, and thereby effect the finesse.

Declarer won ♣ Q lead with ♣ K, and cashed ♠ AK. Crestfallen to see North Deals ♠ 6 the 4-1 split seemingly wreck his good grand slam, he could not see a None Vul ♥ A 8 5 3 2 way to avoid losing to East’s ♠ J. He cashed ♠ Q and conceded to Contract 7S ♦ K J 5 East’s ♠ J. Down one. What should have happened Because he has ♣ A 7 6 2 no more trumps in dummy with which to lead through East, he needs a Trump Coup. This involves reducing his trump length to the same as ♠ 4 N ♠ J 9 8 7 ♥ K J 9 4 ♥ Q 10 6 East. Three ruffs are required. After winning ♣ K and cashing ♠ AK, W E ♦ 10 8 6 4 ♦ 9 7 2 you cross to ♥ A and ruff a heart. Cash ♦ A, cross to ♦ J and ruff a S third heart. Cross to ♦ K and ruff a fourth heart. Finally cross to ♣ A ♣ Q J 10 9 ♣ 8 4 3 and lead either card. You have ♠ Q10 sitting over East’s ♠ J9, and his ♠ A K Q 10 5 3 2 trumps are “couped”. 13 tricks and grand slam made. If you ♥ 7 remember one thing... When dummy has no trumps left to finesse ♦ A Q 3 against an opposing honor, you can use Trump Coup technique. ♣ K 5

Condition: you must have the same trump length.

2/1 Bidding Course 7 Thursdays 11/1 – 12/20 no class on Thanksgiving (9:45-11:30) cost $30 per class or $15 with pass

Two Over One Game Forcing (2/1 GF) is a version of the Standard American bidding system that allows the partnership to create a game forcing auction at the two level. The partnership gains a big advantage from being game-forced at such a low level, because the partnership can now take its time and use all of the available space to find the best place to play game and to explore for slam. Gaining this huge advantage only takes a minor adjustment in the point ranges currently used in Standard American, including needing 13 points to bid your own suit at the two level in response to partner’s opening bid and bidding 1NT in response to partner’s major suit opening with 6-12 points. This course will discuss in more depth these minor adjustments as well as how to take advantage of the space provided by the game forcing auctions.