Cover an Honour with an Honour ♦
This lessons sees us take a look at general defensive techniques, and in particular we concentrate on when you are playing second to trick. The old adage, is 'second hand low, third hand high' and this is a good idea to follow. However this assumes that declarer has led
The Principle of Restricted Choice ♠
The principle of restricted choice is a card playing technique/theory that follows the laws of probability. Restricted choice is named as such because it refers to the event when an opponent has to play a card because it is their only option in that suit, ie they have a
The Ruffing Finesse ♥
The 'ruffing finesse' is a card play technique that looks to generate extra tricks by using the threat of a void to trump the opponents' high cards. Similar to a sandwich finesse, the ruffing finesse is performed by leading an honour out and only ruffing if your honour is
Hand of the Week #8 (Solution) ♥
N E S W 2♦ 2NT* P 3NT P P P The opening lead of a heart (most likely lead given your shortage there) means that we have time to establish the diamonds, whilst retaining control of the hand. If the diamonds break 2-2 then we can
Hand of the Week #8 ♥
N E S W 2♦ P 2NT* P 3NT P P P West opens a weak 2 in diamonds, North passes and West bids 2NT as a strength enquiry. For this bid you require about 16+ points and a fit for partner's suit. If West was minimum
To draw or not to draw? Answers ♣
Below are the answers to the declarer play quiz on whether or not you should be looking to draw the trumps. If you have arrived here before taking the quiz then make sure you don't continue reading! Here is the answer-free version (do this first!). In all of the
To draw or not to draw? ♣
Below is a declarer play quiz on whether or not you should be looking to draw the trumps. Deciding whether to draw trumps or not can be the make or break of your suit contract. The main reason to hold off drawing trumps is if you think you can
Red Suit Transfers – What to do after you’ve transferred? ♦
This lesson sees us look in greater detail at the idea behind playing 'red suit transfers'. These bids take place after your partnership bids NTs (as the partnership's first bid) and are aimed at helping the responder describe their hand with precision by allowing them to essentially get two
Pre-emptive Bidding ♣
A ‘pre-emptive bid’ is named as such because the intention is to pre-empt your opponents from opening the bidding. The idea behind these bids is to heavily disrupt the bidding by opening the bidding at a higher level, as opposed to opening at the 1 level. Given that the
Hand of the Week #7 (Solution) ♠
N E S W 2♦ X P 4♥ P P P The 3 losers in spades, diamonds and clubs are inevitable unless you find somewhere to get rid of them. As discussed earlier, the third diamond in hand is actually your issue. An option you could try