Look at the You as the Declarer are basically in control of the “during play” possibilities also. sequence of tricks in a hand, so you must look ahead to maximize your Club trick potential. First, plan to reserve the Club effort until near the end of the hand. Take your winning tricks elsewhere, including most of your trumps, thus squeezing defenders as much as possible. Be especially on the lookout for Club discards. But give it away: be causal and look at all don’t discards equally; stare only at Club discards. While counting, of course. defenders’ don’t Defenders are taught to with in this hand that 4 Clubs while “keep length dummy”; means “keep dummy has But if a defender he knows that his 4th Club win a trick, so four”. holds ♣7632, can’t them. But, you, (Declarer) see that the likely missing Club split 4 3 any he’ll discard isn’t – longer; become 3 3 or 3 2; moving more and more in your favor. it’s – – another nifty Declarer Suppose the configuration in the hand above Here’s “Skill”: Deception*. changes just a bit to (Dummy) ♣AJT5 (Declarer) ♣98 Lead from hand of course, but with the 8; NOT the 9. You know but ♣ ♣ they’re equal, West so let it ride if West cover. And if it wins, saved an Entry* doesn’t, doesn’t you’ve back to hand, still there to lead the because you’re ♣9. All this to examine one card combination!? And how many thousands of card combinations are there in Duplicate? Is it hopeless to try to learn them all? Not to worry: all declarers on any given hand have the same challenges you do, so you just have to learn enough basic card combinations to that is so important at gain “that little edge” Duplicate. Plan Ahead is going with all this. where we’re Hand Evaluation Hand Evaluation means looking at the combined resources of the two hands, suit-by-suit, to evaluate dangers, to count sure and possible total tricks by Strength and Length - and to identify Declarer Technique opportunities. a few examples. Here’s
Look at “during the play” possibilities also. You as the Declarer are basically in control of the sequence of tricks in a hand, so you must look ahead to maximize your Club trick potential. First, plan to reserve the Club effort until near the end of the hand. Take your winning tricks elsewhere, including most of your trumps, thus squeezing defenders as much as possible. Be especially on the lookout for Club discards. But don’t give it away: be causal and look at all defenders’ discards equally; don’t stare only at Club discards. While counting, of course. Defenders are taught to “keep length with dummy”; in this hand that means “keep 4 Clubs while dummy has four”. But if a defender holds ♣7632, he knows that his 4th Club can’t win a trick, so he’ll discard them. But, you, (Declarer) see that the likely missing Club split isn’t 4 – 3 any longer; it’s become 3 – 3 or 3 – 2; moving more and more in your favor. Here’s another nifty Declarer “Skill”: Deception*. Suppose the configuration in the hand above changes just a bit to ♣AJT5 (Dummy) ♣98 (Declarer) Lead from hand of course, but with the ♣ 8; NOT the ♣ 9. You know they’re equal, but West doesn’t, so let it ride if West doesn’t cover. And if it wins, you’ve saved an Entry* back to hand, because you’re still there to lead the ♣9. All this to examine one card combination!? And how many thousands of card combinations are there in Duplicate? Is it hopeless to try to learn them all? Not to worry: all declarers on any given hand have the same challenges you do, so you just have to learn enough basic card combinations to gain “that little edge” that is so important at Duplicate. Plan Ahead is where we’re going with all this. Hand Evaluation Hand Evaluation means looking at the combined resources of the two hands, suit-by-suit, to evaluate dangers, to count sure and possible total tricks by Strength and Length - and to identify Declarer Technique opportunities. Here’s a few examples.