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This is a continuation of our series on planning declarer play. Take the south seat in today’s deal from a match-point event that had fifteen tables. Twelve N-S pairs reached 6S and made exactly twelve tricks. The remaining three, however, bid the optimistic grand, and all of them failed to make the contract. See whether […]

Declarer play in trump contracts is all about taking care of the losers in hand. The presence of shortage in dummy can help you to ruff the losers there. Sometimes, you will be able to discard your losers on dummy’s winners. However, there are more techniques which the upcoming player can easily add to his

I recently had the privilege of playing the Holkar IMPs pairs in Indore with my father, Dr Krishnakumar Vahalia, who had turned ninety-three just ten days earlier. At this age, my father displayed remarkable stamina, playing all four days of the event and performing very well throughout. (If, at that age, we can play bridge

In a previous post, I had emphasized on planning the play at trick one. The steps of planning were Count your winners Count your losers If you are short of tricks, figure out where the rest of the tricks could come from. If you have no problem with the contract, consider what could go wrong

Today’s deal is from a match-point event. North South had a simple 1♥ – 2♥ – 4♥ auction to reach game South, the declarer received the lead of the Club 10. Plan the play     Analysis With connected cards of K-Q-5 in spades and K-Q-5-4 in clubs and a singleton, you will agree that

All bridge players have often been told that, while declaring, it is essential to plan your play at trick one. Take the time you need before you play the first card from dummy to Count your winners Count your losers If you are short of tricks, figure out where the rest of the tricks could

With both sides vulnerable, your partner, North, opens 1♣ first-in-hand.  East overcalls 1♥. You hold as south ♠ K-7 ♥ Q-8-4-3 ♦ A-J-7-5 ♣K-8-2. What do you do? You cannot make a negative double as you don’t have four cards in spades. A simple cue-bid of 2♥ by you would be a limit raise or better, suggesting five

Very often, the urge to preempt at favorable colors is one that most players give in to. Typically, a minor suit preempt should show two of the top three honors, the idea being that partner is likely to bid 3NT with the missing honour and prime cards on the side. Some may want three of

Today’s deal is from an IMP match. N-S pair in the Open Room reached 4H in quick time and declarer went down in the contract. He got distracted by an irrelevant issue which did not allow him to concentrate on the job at hand. Test your skill in the hand below on the lead of

If you are able to find the winning defence in today’s a deal from an IMP pairs contest, you can rate yourself as world class. Are you ready?         West, your partner leads the D2. Take the East seat and plan your defence. How the defence went: East won with the Ace