Tips

Bruce Witzel: 38 Tips for Novice Bridge Players.

BIDDING

1) Let your partner know that you have a trump fit AS SOON AS POSSIBLE....If he opens a spade and you have a spade fit, don't make ten bids before letting him know.

2) Alerts.....When the opponents alert a lot of their bids, and you have no intention of entering the bidding, DON'T question them as to the meaning of their bids until all the bidding is over. By allowing one opponent to tell the meaning of a bid, you are giving them a chance to recognize that they may have had a bidding misunderstanding. Also, do NOT let them volunteer meanings to their alerts!

3) Don't make USELESS doubles during Blackwood, etc....double with, A, AK, KQJ, or VOID for ruff .....NOT with a six card suit to the 9 or so. Think..."do I really want this suit led by partner?" before you double. Also, think before doubling...."will this double tell him how better to play the hand, or can they run to a better contract?". Don't be afraid to double, but think before you do.

PLAY of the HAND

4) Take your time before you play to TRICK # 1. Think the hand out thoroughly (line of play, number of tricks needed to be established, entries, etc.) BEFORE you call a card from dummy. Many hands are lost because of careless play at TRICK 1.

5) Don't let your partner, playing dummy, play ANY card (many dummy players will automatically grab a low card from dummy when your LHO (left hand opponent) leads an Ace) until you call for it. Straighten your partners out about this quickly. Only YOU should call for a card from dummy. Contracts have been lost due to this when declarers entries were messed up and he didn't know that he could correct this.

6) In conjunction w. TIP # 5, above, DON'T routinely and automatically play a low card on A, K's, etc.. A middle card lets you later have choices of entries.

7) If possible, PUT OFF TWO-WAY FINESSES (e.g. A J 10 in one hand and K 9 8 in the other, looking for the Q) until late in the play of the hand so that you can get a better count of opponents distribution, points, etc. (see also # 8).

8) With a two-way finesse, (see #7, above)....lead the J (or the 9) to tempt opponent to cover. If he covers, fine...if he plays low smoothly, you can overtake in dummy and finesse the other way. A good player will always play smoothly, so use judgement with the opponents.

9) KEEP TRACK of SPOT CARDS (7, 8, 9's)...they win tricks later on.

10) When playing a hand as a straight cross-ruff, CASH OUTSIDE A's and K's first so that defenders can't pitch that suit while you are cross ruffing.

11) When you (declarer) are in a trump contract, and you lead a singleton from dummy and your RHO doesn't pop up with the A, the odds are (at this level...not with experts) that he doesn't have it, so DON'T put up the K from your hand....try the J or 10!

12) In general, especially as declarer, don't discard a LONG suit....a 5th or 6th card, no matter how small, will be a winner.

13) In a trump contract, with a singleton K of a side suit hidden in your hand, lead a J (etc) from dummy, as if finessing, rather than a small card....RHO may not go up with the Ace, thinking that you're taking a finesse.

DEFENSE

14) Trust your partner, NOT the opponents (discards, signals, etc.) For example, against a trump contract, if you lead an Ace from a four card suit, and dummy comes down with K Q 10 X, trust partners card........declarer would play the J whether he had a stiff J or four cards to the J.

15) When the opponents settle in a THIRD suit (e.g. 1H P 1S P 2C P 3C All Pass), it is generally best to lead clubs (trump).....It will obviously be played as a cross-ruff hand.

16) In connection with (#15)...especially with controls in the H and/or S suits, and with three trump to the A (e.g. A, 6, 3), lead a small trump first, then, when you get in next time, lead the A of trump and then the 3rd trump, effectively cutting out 6 ruffs.

17) Give count where absolutely neccessary. e.g., defending a no-trump contract, when declarer leads toward a long suit in dummy headed by the K Q etc, there is no other entry in dummy, and it's obvious that your partner has the Ace, it's IMPERATIVE that you give him count immediately so he knows when to take the A. Giving count routinely, I find, aids the opponents too much....but some partners insist on it. I do not like this, personally.

18) Be ready to play when finesseable.....play smoothly.....no hesitations (when dummy first comes down, think ahead as to finesse situations, and be ready for them. The DEFENSE should take time out after the first lead to think through the hand, also).

19) On defense, DON'T try to protect ALL suits....you'll lose all the tricks that way. Pick ONE. Generally, protect the suit that you're sitting behind....e.g., if dummy has a threatening 4 or 5 card suit, and you have that suit, protect ONLY that suit....don't pitch that suit to hold on to a doubleton Q in another suit. If declarer opened 1 Spade, and you have 4 , protect spades....you know he has at least five. YOU CAN'T PROTECT EVERYTHING.

20) With LONG trumps against the declarer, it is generally better to lead YOUR long suit....try to get them to ruff to shorten their trump so that you get control of the hand. You normally don't want to lead a worthless doubleton in order to trump.

21) Do you know the Merrimac coup? If you're behind dummy, and dummy has A Q J 10 X X X in one suit and A X (doubleton) in another suit, say spades, and you are on lead and you hold the K X X of the long suit in dummy and the K X X of spades, what is your lead? Answer at bottom of "TIPS".

22) Don't be afraid to purposely finesse your partner in a suit that the declarer obviously will. E.g., if you're behind dummy and on lead, with nothing good to lead , and dummy has a tight A Q of a suit, leading that suit gives nothing away....declarer will probably finesse anyway, or may even have the K.

23) It is generally best NOT to make an opening lead of a stiff K or K from doubleton K X (I have an article that says "NEVER" make either of those leads). The odds of it being the correct play are small.

24) In a trump contract, when declarer leads up to Qxxx in dummy....TAKE YOUR K (as declarers LHO).......this is a standard play with doubleton A x in declarer's hand.

25) With doubleton AK, your lead is the OPPOSITE of your normal lead; e.g. if you normally lead the A from AK, lead the K first.

26) BREAK NEW SUITS ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. Don't keep switching suits at your lead...all you're doing is giving opponent free finesses in EACH suit.

27) Always be aware of TRUMP PROMOTIONS......e.g. if partner leads a card for you to ruff that is obviously going to be over-ruffed, he is probably trying for a trump promotion, so if you have Q x of trump, trump with the Q, forcing declarer to trump high, promoting partners doubleton J. Also, trumping partner's "winner" can result in a trump promotion: Partner leads his "good" queen of clubs (declarer is going to ruff it), and you have a stiff queen of trump, and know that partner could have a doubleton Jack of trump. If you just discard, declarer will trump low, then play his AK of trump and get both your Q and partner's J of trump. Notice, if you had ruffed partner's club Q, partner's trump J would now be promoted to a sure winner. Trump promotions occur fairly frequently... be aware of them.

28) Use lead signals telling partner how to reach you (for another ruff, etc.). E.g., if he leads the A of diamonds and continues with a low one to your K, lead a low D to tell him that he can reach you with the LOWER RANKING suit, or a high D to tell him that he can reach you with the HIGHER RANKING suit

29) When declarer leads an honor from a suit in dummy headed by TOUCHING honors (Q,J or J,10), do NOT cover immediately. Among other reasons, it makes it easy for him to establish the suit.

30) KEEP TRACK of SPOT CARDS (7, 8, 9's)...they win tricks later on .....and don't signal with high cards that can cost a trick (e.g...if the 10 and 8 are part of a suit in dummy, don't signal with the 9 (UNLESS it is imperative to get that suit lead to defeat the contract).

31) When declarer tells Dummy "play anything"...YOU, AS DEFENDER, have the choice to tell dummy what to discard. Dummy may know that a card is good while declarer doesn't...DUMMY has no rights to the play of the hand.

32) When partner leads an A or K, and you have a DOUBLETON Q (and NOT QJ), play low...... the play of the Q PROMISES a singleton OR the J.

33) When partner leads low against NT, indicating that he likes the suit, and you hold A Q x, play the Q first, not the A.....this forces declarer to take his K (if he has it) right away....he's afraid to hold up in case opening leader has the A. Then, when you or your partner gets in, your A and another gives partner his suit to (hopefully) run. Note that if you take your A right away, declarer can hold up taking his K until he's sure that you have none of the suit to return to partner.

34) If declarer leads a card toward dummy, and it's obvious that either you or partner can win it, there is a saying "If you don't want the lead, DON'T win the trick". Think "who best should have the lead?".

35) If declarer leads the K of trump, and you have the A, and from the bidding it is obvious that partner holds only one trump, hold up until the second trump to win the A so partner can signal you what to lead.

36) HANDLE your cards correctly. Do NOT pull cards prematurely....e.g...if declarer is your LHO, and he leads up to dummy, and you pull a card out of your hand before your partner has played, you're giving away a lot of information. You may be marking partner with a key card. Remember, though, that PURPOSELY pulling cards early to deceive declarer is HIGHLY UNETHICAL! Also, DON'T REARRANGE YOUR HAND when you run out of a suit...You're giving away information here, also.

37) BE AFRAID OF A LONG SUIT IN DUMMY! When defending, especially against a trump contract, if you see a long solid suit in dummy (or one where you know that a finesse will work), it is generally best to START CASHING YOUR WINNERS before they go away on this long suit. You must also, however, consider the bidding... is it possible that your partner is void in this long suit, and can get a ruff?

38) And the MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF ALL: Be GOOD to partner. Don't try to lay blame. He played the hand, or defended, the way he saw the hand....he did not TRY to get a bottom. Most times, fault for a bad score can be divided equally between partners, and many discussions (postmortems) are frequently just as bad as the play. Should you want to discuss something with partner, DO IT IN PRIVATE!

Answer to # 21: Spade K...GET THAT ENTRY to the long suit OFF DUMMY.

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