August 2005 - 46

&Learn

PLAY BRIDGE

Play

Pat Harrington
Notrump play -
promotion
We now turn to declarer play in
notrump, starting with a rare deal
where declarer has all the tricks
needed to make 3NT. It seems that
declarer's job is easy. Can anything
go wrong?
AK 7 6
A6
Q8653
73
QJ
KQJ5
742
A6 5 2
West leads theK. In notrump,
declarer counts winners - top
tricks that can be taken without
giving up the lead. South sees one
club, four hearts and four spades
for a total of nine tricks. When this
deal was played in my class, several
declarers went down. Why? Because
declarer was so relieved to see
enough tricks to make the contract
that he failed to plan the order in
which to take those nine tricks.
When you plan to win several
tricks in a lopsided suit (a suit
where dummy's length is different
from declarer's length), there is a
simple technique to apply. Take the
winners in the shorter hand first.
Which lopsided suits could cause
problems in our example? We plan
to win four spade tricks but declarer
has only two spades - and the suit
46

is blocked.
You must win the Q J and find
an entry to dummy's A K in some
other suit. You also plan to win four
heart tricks. The heart suit isn't
blocked, but you must win dummy's
ace on the very first heart lead,
keeping dummy's 6 as the entry
to the remaining high hearts.
Now that we've noted the problems,
what is your plan? Win the A
(there's little point in ducking), cash
the Q J, lead to dummy's A (the
entry to the good spades in dummy),
cash the A K (discarding low
diamonds or clubs), then lead the
6 to your hand and cash the three
remaining high hearts.
Part of your plan is to consider
entries - how to reach your good
tricks. Most of the time, you will not
have enough winners between your
hand and dummy. You will have
work to do to build enough tricks
to make your notrump contract.
One way to build tricks is through
promotion, where you spend one or
more high cards to drive out higher
cards and promote other cards into
tricks. Do you see where you will
use promotion in the next deal?
95
AK 8 6 2
KJ54
K4

West

AK
54
Q76
 Q J 10 9 7 2
North
East
South
1
Pass
2
2
Pass
3NT

Pass
All Pass
West leads the Q. You count
winners: two spades and two hearts.
Five more tricks must be developed.
There are two suits that could be
promoted - clubs and diamonds.
But only clubs will provide the

needed five tricks. You can use a
high club to force out the ace, then
the rest of the clubs will be good.
Promoting diamonds guarantees only
two additional tricks, since one high
diamond must be lost to the ace.
You win the opening lead. What
should you do next? In notrump,
do your work developing needed
tricks immediately. Play the high
cards from the short side first when
promoting suits. Clubs is a lopsided
suit, so you lead toward dummy's
king at trick two.
Entries are essential when promoting
a lopsided suit. Your play to the K
is the first step in making sure you
have an entry to the clubs. But you
cannot force your opponents to play
their ace on this trick. Will you be
able to reach the clubs if the
defenders hold up on the A? Yes,
there is still a spade entry to the
clubs in your hand. If the K holds,
you will lead another club and
remain in your hand to lead clubs
until a defender takes the ace. The
high spade allows you to return to
your hand to cash the remaining clubs.
Even when you plan carefully, it's
so easy to go wrong! Suppose, at
trick two in the above example, West
plays his A when you lead the
2 from hand? TheK still must
be played from dummy! Unblock
the club suit to guarantee an entry
to the good clubs. Chances are
West will continue leading spades
and the spade entry to your hand
will be gone. The clubs will wither
on the vine unless you unblock
that K. You might be thinking
that you could reach your hand by
leading a diamond, but that allows
the defenders to set you. They'll take
the A, the A and at least three
spade tricks. Considering what tricks
your opponents can take when they
gain the lead is a topic for another
article.

Bridge Bulletin
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2005
