March 2005 - 49

Counting
Counting to a bridge player is similar to an actor learning his lines
- it does not guarantee success but
he cannot succeed without it.
- George S. Kaufman
Question: What must you count?
Here is a possible list. Don't be
overwhelmed by it and don't worry
if you are unable to count everything listed.
Answer: Based on the bidding and
early play, declarer should try to figure out (and keep track of) as many
of the following as possible.
* Winners and/or losers;
* The defenders' high-card points;
* Trumps;
* Cards in the key side suit;
* The opening lead.
You always know what you (declarer) and dummy have. Once you
know what one defender has in a
suit, you can figure out what his
partner has. Similarly, when you
know a defender's length in three
suits, you can subtract from 13
and determine his length in the
fourth suit.
The opening lead
In order to count well, you need
to remember some of the defenders'
cards. Few can memorize every card
that the opponents play; declarer
must, however, remember the card
that was led.
While knowing the exact card
won't automatically solve all your
problems, sometimes that knowledge
can prove to be invaluable.
One of the most telltale cards is
the opening lead of a 2 against a
notrump contract. This tells declarer
that his left-hand opponent started
with exactly four cards in the suit
led. On some deals, this information
allows declarer to figure out someMarch 2005

INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS

Better Bidding
with Bergen
thing about another suit.
AQ
7543
 Q 10 4 3
AJ 3
J3
KJ9
AK J 6
K962
You (South) are declarer at 3NT
and West leads the 2. You finesse
the Q at trick one but East wins
the king and returns a spade. It
doesn't look good. You have only
seven winners: two clubs, four diamonds and one spade.
The defenders are poised to win
the A and three more spade
tricks. Unless the defenders discard
poorly, your only hope is to win two
additional tricks in clubs.
It costs nothing, however, to give
your opponents an opportunity to
throw away some clubs. For now,
run diamonds and watch the discards.
You cash the A and lead the
6 to the 10. East and West both
follow. You cash the Q and West
discards the 10. When you lead
the 4 to the king, both defenders discard hearts. Too bad; no one
threw a club. Regardless, it's time to
finesse clubs.
You lead the 2, West follows
with the 5 and you finesse the jack.
East follows with the 4. Excellent.
You cash dummy's A. East
plays the 7 and West drops the
queen. Interesting.
You lead dummy's 3 and East
follows with the 8. Did you play
the 9 to take the marked finesse
against East's 10? Most players
would. Unfortunately your 9 loses
to West's 10. East-West cash their
spades and A and you're down
two.
When you cashed the A, West

Marty Bergen
Mbergen@mindspring.com

defended well by dropping the
queen. After you finessed the J,
he was marked with the Q.
A fundamental principle of defense is: when declarer knows you
have a certain card, play that card as
soon as possible (as long as you can
afford it) rather than let him see any
of your other cards.
West fooled you with his intelligent falsecard. You have my
sympathy.
If you had stopped to count, however, you could have had the last
laugh. After the 2 opening lead,
you knew that West started with
four spades. He followed to two
diamonds. Therefore, he must have
started with a total of seven cards in
clubs and hearts.
After West dropped the Q, your
instincts told you that West started
with only two clubs. If he had only
two clubs, however, he would have
started with five hearts - and no
player, regardless of his bridge level,
would lead a lousy four-card major
when he had a five-card major.
Since West could not have started
with five hearts, he must have a
third club. Next time you may
congratulate West on his excellent
technique, but you'll go up with the
K and score up 3NT.

49
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2005
