Rainbow Lesson #:
Defence
Preamble
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Effective defence strategy attempts to take
a certain number of tricks. This number varies, based
on a number of factors:
- The contract
- The form of the game
- Compensation for whatever we can make
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The contract, of course, is central. It
determines the strain (we tend to defend differently
against No Trump contracts versus Suit contracts) and
the number of tricks that we must take before we, the
defenders, can make a positive score (i.e. by beating
the contract).
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The form of the game determines how many
tricks we will need for a good score. At IMPs or
Rubber Bridge, our central purpose will be to beat
the contract. Hence, risking an overtrick in order
to pursue a small chance of beating the contract is
good strategy at IMPs or Rubber Bridge. This is
because the reward for beating a contract outweighs
the paltry loss in allowing an overtrick. This is
not the case at MatchPoints, where our goal must be
to take all the tricks that we are entitled to,
regardless of whether this involves allowing the
contract to make or not. The difference between
-600 and -630 is only one IMP, but can mean the
difference between a top and a bottom board if
all others are making, say, -620. Remember: at
MatchPoints what matters is the fact that your
score is better than everyone else's; it does not
matter by how much your score exceeds anyone else's.
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The third factor is compensation, "protecting"
whatever score we might have made had we declared
the hand. Setting 4 doubled for +500 will not be
a good score--especially at MatchPoints--if we
could have made +620 in 4 . Hence, to protect our
+620, we will need to beat 4 doubled that extra
trick that will net us +800.
Passive Versus Attacking Defence
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The tone of your approach to defence at IMPS
will be determined by the auction. Have the opponents
bid confidently to their contract? Or have they
seemed to stretch en route to a "thin" contact?
If the opponents have bid confidently, your best
approach will likely be an aggressive one, hoping
to find partner with the specific card(s) that
may set the contract. If, on the other hand, the
opponents have bid their hands "to the limit" you
should endeavour to make Declarer work for hir
tricks by adopting a safer, more passive approach.
Another time when passive defence is in order is
against a freely bid grand slam or 6NT.
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Against 1NT:3NT you might attack with a
Spade lead, even though you may well be leading
into their AQ10.
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Against 1NT:2NT:3NT, though, you might
prefer a safer Jack lead so as not to give any
tricks away on the opening lead.
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Against 1NT:7NT would would never lead
a Spade, since that may well hand them their
13th trick!
Leading Trumps
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There are at least three instances where leading
trumps is a good idea:
- As a passive choice.
If it seems as if leading any other suit
might compromise our holdings in that suit,
why not lead a trump and wait for our tricks?
- When your side has strength in all other suits.
After 1-P-2-Dble-4 it sounds as if many
of their tricks will have to come from the
trump suit. By leading a trump, you may
be able to limit the number of times they
can ruff their losers.
- When Dummy has made a choice between 2 or
more of Declarer's suits.
After 1-P-1NT-P-2-P-3-P-4, you do
not want Declarer to ruff hir losing Spades on
dummy. To reduce this, lead a trump.
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Remember: The best defence against a cross ruff
is a trump lead!
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The "Theory of Reluctant Choice" states that
whenever Dummy has made an unenthusiastic or tepid choice between
Declarer's two suits, lead a trump. Hence, after
1:1NT:2:2 our natural tendency should be to
lead a trump (Spade).
Leading Non-Trump Suit
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The first rule of leads is to attack our
length--yes, even against a suit contract. If
Partner has bid a suit, we should usually lead it:
the top of any doubleton (including any doubleton
honour), small from Honour-third or more. With
3 small cards in Partner's suit, lead the middle
one, then the higher one, then the lowest, against
a suit contact. This tendency to play "Middle, Up,
Down" is called MUD. Against a No Trump contract
lead the highest of your three small cards in Partner's suit.
| You |
 852 |
______
Against any NT contract, lead the 8 if
Partner has bid spades. Against any suit contract,
lead the S-5, then play the 8 and, finally the
2. MUD.
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With 4 or more small cards in Partner's
suit, lead the highest against a suit contract,
4th best against any No Trump contract.
| You |
 8632 |
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Lead the  8 against any suit contract,
but the 2 against any No Trump contract.
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When leading a suit which Partner has
not bid, we tend to lead fourth Highest from our
longest and strongest suit.
| You |
 KJ532 |
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Whenever you lead any 4th best card,
Partner can apply the "Rule of Eleven", which
states: "Subtract the card led from 11 and
you will know how many cards above the card
led are not in opening leader's hand."
| Dummy: |
 Q985 |
| |
| You: |
KJ72 |
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If Partner leads the  4 and Declarer
contributes the 5, insert the 7. There
are (11 - 4 =) seven cards above the 4
OUTSIDE of opening leader's hand. FOUR of these
are on dummy and the remaining three are in YOUR
hand! Hence, Declarer has either the stiff
3 or is VOID in Clubs entirely.
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Some pairs will play the superior
"3rd and 5th" best method, leading the third
best card from any 3 or 4 card holding, the
fifth best from any 5+ card holding. This
precludes the necessity of playing the
awkward MUD (Middle, Up then Down) method,
which does not make a 3-card holding evident
until the third round of the suit. If playing
"3rd and 5th", Partner will apply the "Rule of
12" if you have led the third best, and the
"Rule of 10" (aka "the 5 and dime rule") if
the lead is the fifth best.
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The best time to lead your side's
longest suit is when you or Partner have
length in their trump suit. The idea is
to force Declarer to ruff your length with
hir trump length until such time as Declarer's
trumps are actually shorter than yours. This
strategy is called the "forcing" game, or
as "tapping" or "punching" Declarer.
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Against 1:2:4 lead a Heart and
not a diamond.
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When should you lead a singleton or
doubleton, hoping for a ruff? Generally, this
is a "desperation" tactic, but will be a good
plan if you have some reason to suspect that
Partner will have strength either in that suit
or in their trump suit.
Questions
| #1 |
After 1NT:2NT:3NT what do we lead from:
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