The Word 'Tempo' at Bridge Can Refer to the Speed at Which a Player Plays His Cards

The word 'tempo' at bridge can refer to the speed at which a player plays his cards. It is preferable, whenever possible, to play at an even tempo so as to give little away to the opponents as to the location of high cards. For example, say you are a defender and, after you make the opening lead, you notice dummy holds KJx in another suit in which you hold the Ace but not the Queen. Anticipating that declarer will lead towards dummy's KJx at some stage, you should decide in advance whether you are going to play your Ace or play low. If you wait until the suit is led, and then have a think about it, declarer is more likely to guess the position. 'Tempo' can also refer to the timing advantage that declarer, or the defenders, might have in the race to make or break a contract. Here is an example where the defenders begin with the tempo advantage but a defensive error hands the tempo to declarer. Board 16 at Shoreham (14th June) provided opportunities for declarer and the defence. With E/W vulnerable, South became declarer in Four Spades after West had opened the bidding One Heart and East had raised to Two Hearts after North's overcall of Two Diamonds : AQ J63 K98654 105 KJ10985 92 A72 A4 West led out the Ace and King of hearts and continued with the Queen of hearts at trick 3, ruffed by declarer. Trumps were drawn in three rounds - low to the Ace, then the Queen (overtaken) and finally the Jack - to leave this position : -- -- K98654 105 1098 -- A72 A4 Declarer could take the rest of the tricks if the opposing diamonds were splitting 2-2, the club loser being discarded on dummy's long diamonds. However, if the E/W diamonds were splitting 3-1 declarer would finish one down. Ace, King and another diamond would establish the suit but there would be no way back to dummy to reach the established diamond winners and declarer would lose a club trick at the end. Fortunately there was a neat solution available - duck a round of diamonds ! The defence won this, their third trick, and switched to a club but declarer was in control. The Ace and King of diamonds established the suit and declarer's club loser disappeared. Ten tricks and game made. It's not very often that you voluntarily give up a trick in a suit in which you might not have a loser at all, especially at Pairs scoring, but declarer judged that few other N/S pairs would reach Four Spades, so making ten tricks, rather than eleven, would score well. Now let's rewind to the start of trick 3, where West was on lead after winning the first two tricks with the Ace and King of hearts. West had been dealt five cards in hearts, headed AKQ, and East had supported the suit during the auction. Dummy had started with three hearts ... so South was certain to be ruffing the third round of the suit. Had West switched to a club at trick 3 (retaining the tempo for his side) declarer would have been forced to rely on a 2-2 split in diamonds in order to dispose of his club loser. On the actual 3-1 split declarer would have finished one down, giving E/W a joint top. When West continued with the Queen of hearts at trick 3, he handed the tempo over to declarer who was able to ruff, draw trumps, and then set about establishing the diamond suit while he still had clubs under control. Enjoy your bridge ! .

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