August 2024 - 52

Intermediate Players
Mike's Bridge Lesson
The fabled Rule of Eleven
M
ost players learn about the
Rule of Eleven very early.
It's in the first chapter of
most books on defense. Assuming
you are familiar with it, here's a hand
where it shines. You are East.
North (Dummy)
Dlr: South s 10 8 5
Vul: None h K J
d A K 10 3
c J 10 9 7
East (You)
s J 6 2
h 10 9 6 4 3
d J 6
c A 6 4
West North East
Pass 3NT
All Pass
West leads the s7, either fourth
best or from some assortment of low
cards. He might have the 7-4-3, for
instance.
Dummy plays low and you play
the jack. South wins with the king.
Declarer leads the h5 to your partner's
2 and dummy's king. Now
comes the cJ from dummy. This is a
common enough situation. What do
you do?
Let's see what you know. The following
is a thought process you
should follow whenever you know
what declarer has. You know South
has 15-17 HCP. Unless you have a
reason not to do so, it is reasonable to
assume he has 16 HCP. Dummy has
12. They have at least 27 points. You
have 6. If declarer has 16, it means
that your partner has 6.
What do you know about South's
spades? Here's where the Rule of
Eleven comes in. Do you recall which
52 | Bridge Bulletin | August 2024
South
1NT
spade your partner led? If you don't
remember, that would be a good
habit for you to work on. Reminder:
He led the 7.
If you subtract the card your partner
led (7) from 11, that gives you 4.
This is the number of cards higher
than the 7 in dummy, your hand, and
declarer's hand.
Dummy has the 10 and 8. That
is two cards higher than the 7. You
played the jack. That's another one.
Declarer played the king. That's four.
So your partner has the rest of the
cards higher than the 7.
What are partner's spades? He
started the A-Q-9-7 and perhaps
has another low one. Or he has led
top of nothing. Because it's probably
impossible to set 3NT if partner
has three little spades, it is useful to
make the assumption that he has the
A-Q-9-7-(x). When defending, taking
the optimistic approach is more
rewarding than talking yourself into
taking a negative view.
Now we get to the question of what
to do when declarer leads that cJ.
Assuming partner has the sA Q, declarer
has the rest of the high cards.
You know declarer has three heart
tricks. He has the hA Q, remember,
and he led a low one to dummy. He
has the dQ, and that gives him four
diamond tricks. Your jack is going
to fall, which means he is solid in
diamonds. South has one spade trick
already. He has three heart tricks
coming. He has four diamond tricks.
All he needs is one club trick.
If you play low, declarer will win
the trick. On the assumption that
your partner has the sA Q, you
know he doesn't have the cK or cQ.
Declarer is going to win this club
trick and now he has nine winners.
BY MIKE LAWRENCE
michaelslawrence.com
Your only hope is that your partner
started with a five-card spade suit.
Here's the complete deal:
s 10 8 5
h K J
d A K 10 3
c J 10 9 7
s A Q 9 7 3
h 8 7 2
d 9 4 2
c 8 3
s K 4
h A Q 5
d Q 8 7 5
c K Q 5 2
Take the ace and cash your spades,
or play low and watch your opponent
gather in nine tricks.
Postmortem: Knowing which questions
to ask yourself when defending
is an art that comes with time.
The thoughts on this hand are easy
to ask and answer once you have
developed the habit of asking them.
When declarer shows a balanced
hand in a certain range, you should
count everyone's points and deduce
how many your partner has. Bridge is
easier when you do this work as soon
as dummy comes down. 2
s J 6 2
h 10 9 6 4 3
d J 6
c A 6 4
thesettingtrick.com
http://www.michaelslawrence.com http://www.thesettingtrick.com
August 2024

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