RainBow Series – Lesson XI
Defensive Strategies
Effective defence strategy attempts to take a certain number of tricks. This number varies, depending on a number of factors:
1.
The contract,
2.
The form of the game,
3.
Compensation for whatever we can make.
The contract, of course, is central. It determines the strain (we tend to defend differently against NoTrump contracts versus Suit contracts) and the number of tricks that we must take before we, the defenders, can make a positive score (i.e., by beating the contract).
The form of the game determines how many tricks we will need for a good score.
At IMPs or Rubber Bridge, our central purpose will be to beat the contract. Hence, risking an overtrick, in order to pursue a small chance of beating the contract, is good strategy at IMPs or Rubber Bridge. This is because the reward for beating a contract outweighs the paltry loss in allowing an overtrick.
This is not the case at MatchPoints, where our goal must be
to take All the tricks that we are entitled to,
regardless of whether this involves allowing the
contract to make or not.
The difference between
–600 and –630 is only one IMP, but can mean the
difference between a top and a bottom board if
all others are making, say, –620.
Remember: at
MatchPoints what matters is the fact that your
score is better than everyone else's; it does not
matter by how much your score exceeds anyone else's.
The third factor is compensation, "protecting"
whatever score we might have made, if we had declared
the hand.
Setting 4♠ doubled for +500 will not be
a good score — especially at MatchPoints — if we
could have made +620 in 4♥.
Hence, to protect our
+620, we will need to beat Doubled 4♠ extra
trick that will net us +800.
Passive Versus Attacking Defence
The tone of your approach to defence at IMPs will be determined by the auction.
Have the opponents bid confidently to their contract ?
Or have they seemed to stretch en route to a "thin" contact ?
If the opponents have bid confidently, your best
approach will likely be an aggressive one, hoping
to find partner with the specific card(s) that
may set the contract.
If, on the other hand, the opponents have bid their
hands "to the limit",
you should endeavour to make Declarer work for hir
tricks by adopting a safer, more passive approach.
Another time when passive defence is in order is against a freely bid grand slam.
| You: |  K 5 4 3 2
|  J 10 9 8
|  3 2
|  3 2
|
Against 1NT:2NT:3NT, though, you might prefer a safer ♥Jack lead so as not to give any tricks away on the opening lead.
Against 1NT:7NT, you would Never lead
a Spade, since that may well give them their 13-th trick !
Leading Trumps
There are three instances, where leading trumps is a good idea:
1.
As a passive choice.
When it seems as if leading any other suit
might compromise our holdings in that suit,
why not lead a trump and wait for our tricks ?
2. When your side has strength in all other suits.
| You: | Q 10 x
| x x
| Q 9 x x
| J x x x
|
3. When Dummy has made a choice between 2 or more of Declarer's suits.
| You: | A Q 10 x
| x x
| J x x x x
| J x
|
| Declarer | You | Dummy | Pard |
| 1 | Pass | 1NT | Pass |
| 2 | Pass | 3 | Pass |
| 4 | Pass | Pass | Pass |
To reduce this, Lead a trump(Heart).
REMEMBER: The best defence against a cross ruff is a trump lead !
The "Theory of Reluctant Choice" states that,
whenever Dummy has made a tepid choice between
Declarer's two suits, Lead a trump.
Hence, after 1♠:1NT:2♥:2♠,
our natural tendency should be to lead a trump (Spade).
Leading Non-Trump Suits
The first rule of leads is to attack our length — yes, even against a Suit contract.
If partner has bid a suit, we should lead it:
(1) The top of any doubleton (including any doubleton honour),
(2) Small from Honour-3rd or more.
(3) With 3 small cards in partner's suit, lead the Middle one, then the Higher one, then the lowest, against a Suit contact.
This tendency to play "Middle, Up, Down" is called MUD. Against a Notrump contract, lead the Highest of the 3 cards in partner's suit.
You: Against any NT contract, lead ♠8, if partner has bid Spades. Against any Suit contract, lead ♠5, then play ♠8 and, finally ♠2. MUD.
(4) With 4 or more small cards in partner's suit, lead the highest against a suit contract, 4th best against any Notrump contract.
You: Lead ♦8 against any Suit contract, but ♦2 against any NoTrump contract.
When leading a suit which partner has Not bid, we tend to lead 4th Highest from our longest and strongest suit.
| You: | K J 5 3 2
| Lead 3 here.
|
Whenever you lead any 4th best card, partner can apply the "Rule of Eleven", which states:
"Subtract the card led from 11, and you will know how many cards ABOVE the card led are NOT in opening leader's hand."
| Q 9 8 5
| ←Dummy | |
| K J 7 2
| ←You |
When partner leads ♣4, and Declarer plays ♣5 from Dummy, insert then ♣7. There are (11 – 4 =) seven cards above ♣4 outside of opening lead's hand. Four of these are on dummy and the remaining Three are in your hand ! Hence, declarer has either the stiff ♣3 or is Void in Clubs entirely.
Some pairs will play the superior
"3rd and 5th" best method, leading the 3rd
best card from any 3 or 4 card holding, the
5th best from any 5+ card holding.
This precludes the necessity of playing the
awkward MUD (Middle, Up then Down) method,
which does not make a 3-card holding evident
until the third round of the suit.
If playing
"3rd and 5th", partner will apply the "Rule of 12" if you have led the third best, and the
"Rule of 10" (aka "the 5 and dime rule") if
the lead is the fifth best.
The best time to lead your side's
longest suit is when you or partner have
length in their trump suit.
The idea is to force Declarer to ruff your length with
hir trump length, until such time as Declarer's
trumps are actually shorter than yours.
This strategy is called the "forcing" game, or
as "tapping" or "punching" Declarer.
| You: | 5 4 3 2
| Q J x x x
| x
| Q x x
|
When should you lead a singleton or doubleton, hoping for a ruff ? Generally, this is a "desperation" tactic, but will be a good plan, if you have some reason to suspect that partner will have strength either in that suit or in their trump suit.
Defensive Carding
Once we've decided to lead a certain
suit, the next question which arises is: which
Card in that suit should we lead ?
If we have three top honours in
a row (e.g., KQJ) we should lead the top card
in that "SOLID SEQUENCE".
If we have Three
of Four top honours in a row (e.g., QJ9 or
KQ10) we should generally lead the top card
in that "BROKEN SEQUENCE".
An honour separated
from two "equals" by a gap (e.g., Q109x, KJ10x)
is called an "INTERIOR SEQUENCE".
Here, we
lead the highest of touching honours: the
10 from Q109x, the Jack from KJ10x, etc.
Partner will signal attitude here to help us know whether or not to continue the suit.
But what if we lead the King from KQ10x ?
How will partner know that we are not
leading from AKxx ?
Should partner encourage
if holding the Jack (assuming that you have KQ10x)
or discourage if holding the Jack (assuming that
you have AKxx, such that a continuation will
allow Declarer to score hir Queen) ?
The answer here is to lead the King
primarily from AKx(x) and lead the Queen
from KQ10x(x).
If partner has the Jack
Doubleton, partner will drop the Jack to
Unblock the suit.
If partner has Jxx(x)
partner should encourage with a high card.
(NOTE: this latter statement is in direct
contrast to other sources, who state that
partner should drop the Jack whenever
partner has it !)
What do we lead from two touching honours that are not supported by a 3rd honour ? Say, KQ32 ? Against a slam, we lead the King. Against lesser contracts, we tend to lead small (4th best) from such a holding.
| Suit-leads | 4th best, Kqx Qjx Jtx T9x kJtx kT9x
qT9x xxX xxxX xxxXx aKx |
| NT-leads | 4th best, aKjx aQjx aJt9 aT98 Kqjx kQt9
kJt9 kT98 Qjtx qT98 Jt9x T98x xxX xxxX xxxXx |
| Carding | High discard encourages, Low discourages, Infreq count signals |
The recommended lead is capitalized here.
Following with Touching Honours
We have established that when Leading to a
trick, we generally lead the Highest of touching
honours.
But what if we are Following to a trick
that some else has led ? What do we play from two
or more touching honours ?
Generally, we play the Lowest of the touching honours. With, say, KQ42 we would follow with the Queen.
When Signalling high in a suit, though, we always play the Highest card we can afford. In the case of touching honours, then, we signal with the Highest of the touching honours.
| You: | J 10 3
|
If partner leads a small Club and dummy plays Low, we Follow with ♣10. Following with ♣J, then, would deny ♣ 10.
If partner leads a small Club and dummy plays the Ace, King or Queen, we signal attitude by playing ♣J here.
Remember: FolLOW Low, lead or sIgnal hIgh with touching honours.
Unblocking
We must always be careful not to block
our partner's long suit by allowing our high card
to get in the way of Partner's length.
This explains why, with Honour-Doubleton in a suit
that partner has bid, we led the Honour.
Similarly, if partner leads an honour, we will often drop
any doubleton honour onto partner's, while
signalling an encouraging high card with
Honour-third or longer.
For example, if partner
leads ♠Q against 3NT, and you hold:
| Hand A: | K 7 3
| Encourage with 7
here.
|
| Hand B: | K 7
| Unblock K here.
|
In this way, partner will not be prevented from cashing winners in the long suit when partner has led from ♠QJ10xx.
Leading RHO's weakness
It is generally a good idea to lead
whatever your Right Hand Opponent's ("RHO's")
weakest suit is.
This is rather easy after
we have seen dummy.
| |||||
|
Against 4♠, partner's trump lead is ducked to your ♠Q. Return ♣10, a High card, to exploit Dummy's weakness in Clubs and discouraging a Club return from partner (while the ♣2 would Encourage).
But what if you are on opening lead ?
How can you guess which suit is Declarer's likely weakness ?
Your only clue is the bidding.
One general rule is to Lead the unbid Suit.
If there are two or more unbid suits,
you can lead your strongest unbid suit.
With approximately equal
strength in the unbid suit(s) and nothing else
to go on, apply the "One-Up Principle":
« Lead the suit immediately above the suit that Declarer has bid First.»
| You: | x x x
| x x x
| x x x
| x x x x
|
Counting
Counting Declarer's points and lengths
is key to good defence.
Towards this end, once dummy becomes visible,
STOP and COUNT
how many Points Partner has, this way.
Subtract from 40,
(a) your HCPs,
(b) Dummy's HCPs, and
(c) the points that Declarer has shown through his bidding.
This will give you a good idea of how much
partner can contribute to your joint effort.
| |||||
|
By subtracting 16, 9 (Dummy's HCPs) and 8 (your
HCPs) from 40, we can infer that partner has
Seven HCPs.
If in doubt regarding inferences about
Declarer's HCP total, apply this general rule:
« Be optimistic at IMPs, realistic at MPs.»In other words, if playing IMPs (or Rubber), assume that Declarer is stretching to bid a close contract and accord Declarer the Least number of HCPs that would be consistent with their bidding.
At MatchPoints, though, accord Declarer the average HCP total that would be consistent with hir bidding.
Some Final TIPs
(1) Just as we tend to lead Our length, we
should avoid leading Their length.
(2) In general, Declarer's greatest source of losers (i.e., our most likely source of tricks) will come in THREE-card suits. When in doubt, then, attack Dummy's 3-card suit.
(3) Tend to lead Majors against NoTrump.
(4) With a Bad hand, try to lead Partner's length — if you can guess what suit that is ! :)
Quiz
(1)
At IMPs, after 1NT:2NT:3NT,what do we lead from:
| Hand A: | 10 9 8
| x x x
| Q x x x x
| x x
|
(2) At IMPs, after 1NT:3NT, what do we lead from:
| Hand B: | K Q 10 9 x
| K x x x x
| x
| x x
|
| Hand C: | 7 5 2
| K Q 5 2
| K Q 4 3
| J 7
|
(3)
After 1NT:3NT, pard lead ♦J.
Dummy has ♦52.
What do you play from:
| Hand A: | Q 8 3
|
| Hand B: | 9 8 3
|
| Hand C: | 7 6 3
|
| Hand D: | Q 6
|
(4)
Partner leads ♥3 after 1♠:2♠:4♠.
Dummy has ♥AJ7, from which
Declarer plays ♥7.
What do you play holding:
| Hand A: | 4 2
|
| Hand B: | K Q 4 2
|
| Hand C: | K 10 4 2
|
While it may be a little advanced for novices, H.W.Kelsey's "Killing Defence at Bridge" is the most popular and best written tome on this subject, and comes highly recommended !
|
RAINBOW Series |
|
The Rainbow Series is a lecture program on the SAYC system, from Opening Bids all the waythrough to the conventional aspects of SAYC. Like the FireSide and 5th Chair sessions mentioned above, the Rainbow Series is a lesson program for our students. As such, you are invited to stop by and join in on the discussion. 
If you have any questions arising from these notes, or about the Rainbow Lesson Series, please do not hesitate to email me at: cpw@escape.ca |
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