March 2025 - 56

Intermediate Players
Counting Culture
BY MATTHEW GRANOVETTER
Bridgetoday.com@gmail.com
Bridgetoday.com
W
hen you're a defender in a
notrump contract, it's helpful
to count the points and
distribution early in the hand. Put
yourself in the East seat:
North (Dummy)
Dlr: South s K Q J 10
Vul: Both h Q 9 7 3
d 8 7 2
c Q 2
East (You)
s 8 7 5
h J 10 8 2
d K Q
c 10 9 8 7
West North East
Pass 2c Pass
Pass 3NT
All Pass
Opening lead: cK
North-South are playing 15-17
notrumps, so they have at least
25 points. You have 6 (makes 31).
Partner's lead shows the cA K, so
partner can have two more points at
most. In any case, you encourage. For
this column, we use standard signals,
so you play the 10, and declarer the 3.
Next partner cashes the cA and
you play the 7, declarer the 4. Partner
then leads the cJ, a diamond is
thrown from dummy and you follow
with the 8. Because you have both
the 9 and 8 left, and partner knows
you have the 9 from your play of the
10 at trick one, your 8 from 9-8 is
somewhat of a suit-preference signal
South
1NT
2d
between hearts and diamonds. (I say
" somewhat " because sometimes you
have no preference and must follow
suit.) Declarer follows with the c5.
Surprisingly, partner doesn't continue
with a fourth round of clubs, but
switches to the d4 instead.
Question: How were the clubs
divided on this hand?
Answer: Partner had three, dummy
two, and you and South four each.
After winning your dQ with his
ace, declarer leads four rounds of
spades. On the third spade, he throws
the d3 from his hand. On the fourth,
you must discard in this position:
North (Dummy)
s J
h Q 9 7 3
d 8
c -
East (You)
s -
h J 10 8 2
d K
c 9
The sJ is led from dummy. What
are your thoughts?
The sJ is his fifth trick, and presently
you hold the high diamond
and club. You know South holds the
hA K, because there is at most 1
more high-card point for partner -
remember, you counted the points
early on. So you must keep all your
hearts. You don't know who holds
the dJ. You know that South has a
low club, so you can't throw the c9.
Looks like you must throw the dK
because a heart or club discard is a
sure give up.
All 52 cards:
s K Q J 10
h Q 9 7 3
d 8 7 2
c Q 2
s 9 6 3 2
h 6 5
d J 9 5 4
c A K J
s 8 7 5
h J 10 8 2
d K Q
c 10 9 8 7
s A 4
h A K 4
d A 10 6 3
c 6 5 4 3
Tips
1. When you come down to equal
cards (the c9 8 in our problem), and
you must follow suit, you may have
the opportunity to make a suit-preference
play.
2. When making a suit-preference
play, and there are three suits, you
eliminate the suit least likely to be
productive for your side, in this case
the spade suit. Your partner should
do that mentally as well.
3. When declarer runs his long suit,
it's no fun, but if you've counted the
points early on, you often know what
you cannot discard. Once you know
what you cannot discard, you might
solve the problem. A racetrack handicapper
once explained to me how he
picks the winning horse. He eliminates
the horses that (in his opinion)
absolutely can't win, and chooses
from what he has left. 2
56 | Bridge Bulletin | March 2025
http://www.Bridgetoday.com
March 2025

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