DECLARER PLAY

• Count losers
• Can you get rid of losers
• Consider your entries
• Look at the lead

1. Count your losers. If a 5-3 or 6-2 fit count losers in the longer trump hand only. If too many losers, can you?

Develop winners in a long suit

• Ruff if one hand is short in a suit and the other is long
• Throw off a loser on a winner (or another loser)
• Will missing honors fall? If not, finess to trap opponents honors
• Need to take a finesse but do not know in which direction - play other suits first and lose an unavoidable losing trick to let opponents lead that suit

2. Count winners - are there enough outright winners? Do you need to watch your entries?

3. Distinguish between different types of losers:

• unavoidable losers
• Other fast losers
• Slow losers that may be avoidable 
• Possible losers than may depend on placement of adverse honours (finesse)

Plan accordingly as the order you take action is important 

4. Decide which suits to attack and in which order

      A) If you have enough natural winners to make the contract:

• lead trumps first 
• If one trump is left and it is a winner, do not draw it
• If one trump is left and it is a loser and you know it is in RHO hand, do not draw it - if you could lose 2 trumps
• Collect all trumps if you need to make all your winners in outside suits (even if you lose a trick)

      B) You do not have enough natural winners

• Postpone leading trumps
• If you need to use the short hands trumps to ruff, do this this before collecting all trumps
• Do you need to cross ruff with all your trumps? (not enough winners)

5. After you have made use of trumps, attack your longest side suit, count cards until you have only winners left

6. Use shorter suits with top tricks as entries, if not needed cash these last

7. You may need to plan for a fourth round loser (see below)

PLAN 1 (RUFF)

If you can play trumps first before you set up a ruff do BUT in some cases you cannot e.g. if trumps are unevenly divided (5-3, 6-2, 5-4). 

Every ruff in the short hand is an extra trick so do not play trumps too early if the short hands trumps are needed for ruffing (ie ruff first).

When you want to ruff a loser in the short hand set it up first, before defenders can remove dummy’s trumps. 

Make sure you have enough entries back into the hand from which you want to ruff from

If 4-3 in a side suit and you need to ruff the last card you may need to lose the lead up to 3 times and will need one more trump in the short hand than the number of times you have to lose the lead.

If 4-4 in trumps once you have cleared trumps - can you use the extra trumps to ruff?

Maintain entries to the hand with the extra card for this to work (ruff in hand with less trumps).

PLAN 1b

Crossruff can give you extra entries to make extra tricks. Best done if you hold all the higher trumps.

If you have winners in a different side suit. Cache these first.

PLAN 2 (EXTRA TRICK)

Can you set up an extra trick by ruffing out dummy’s long suit? Must have enough entries to set up the suit and cash the winners once established.

If you have too many fast losers can you cache an established suit quickly to throw off a loser? Before you do this you may need to make as many clearance plays as you can in trumps without giving up the lead.

You also need to have an entry to the hand with the long suit (usually dummy).

Sometimes it is better to discard a loser on a losing trick if the opposition is forced to use a trump to win 

Playing a long uneven off suit - cache high cards but first chance start ruffing. Hold onto rest of high cards until opponents are out of trumps.

Plan 2 depends on having entries to get back into dummy and that it is not unusual to refrain from drawing all of opponents trumps.

DUCKING A LEAD

Allows you to cut communication between opposing players BUT only do so if you know where the cards are (know opponent’s agreements with leads and discards)

RUFF & SLUFF

You need an extra trick and best chances is a finesse in a unplayed suit but not certain which way to finesse. So to set this up:

• Clear trumps but keep a trump in each hand
• Eliminate other suits
• Give the opponents the lead with an inevitable loser

That way opponents have a choice of leading the suit or leading a suit that you are out of so that you can ruff in one hand and throw off in the other.

Also called strip & end-play.

Use this when you have:

• lots of trumps
• Short suits that are easy to eliminate 
• One or more suits that you want defence to lead first
• An exit card.

PLAN 3 (FINESSE)

ONLY use if it is the only way to make your tricks.

see below

PLAN 1 & 2 TOGETHER 

You have decided to set up an extra trick in a long suit (to throw off a loser) by:

• taking winners
• ruffing all except last trick

To do this you need:

• enough entries to the hand with the long suit
• 1 more card than opponents 

Clear trumps first or use trumps as entries if you can

GUILLEMARD’s MANEUVER

Leave one small trump out while cashing out a side suit that may contain a possible loser. Thus allows you to trump the loser (or discard if not needed) 

A suit of Qxx opposite Jxx will always give you a trick if lead by opponents - so can you use a strip and end play?

COMBINE DUCK & CLEARANCE PLAY

Use when have a 4-4 (or 5-3) trump fit of low quality headed by Ace. By ducking first then taking second trick with Ace you limit trump clearance to 2 rounds and so still have a trump in dummy.

DUMMY REVERSAL

When you ruff so many times on the long hand the long hand becomes shorter than the short hand. This requires dummy to draw trumps so:

• dummy to have high quality cards
• You need dummy to have entries to draw ruffs and another entry to draw trumps at the end

NOTE it is better to ruff high so do not get overruffed 

ALSO:  

Don’t try to cross ruff with sure winners in another suit.

If you want to ruff with winners in the suit you are ruffing in, ruff first if you can.

Strong side suits with a low fourth card can be trouble especially if you do not have 3 rounds of control in trumps:

• If your hand is 5/3 in trumps, you may need the 3rd low trump in dummy to ruff the losers in the side suit.

A. If you have AKQ play 2 rounds of trumps and then the side suit to ruff the loser before you play the 3rd round of trumps (H1)

OTHERWISE

B. Play side suit first before opponent can lead trumps to take your ruff away (H2)

NOTE: If you have a high trump in dummy use your hand to draw trumps and save the high card in dummy for the ruff

• If you have a 1st/2nd/3rd and a 4th round loser of a side suit and opponents have a master trump. You must give up a trick in the side suit BEFORE either opponent can play the master trump

A. Drive out the missing card in the side suit before pulling trumps (eg finesse) 

OR

B. Duck one round of the side suit if you cannot finesse and have NO high card in dummy

BUT

C. Do not duck if you have a high card in dummy

NOTE: when you need to set up a side suit because you lack first round control and you have 4th round loser in side suit set up side suit first before trumps and ONLY DUCK if have low cards in dummy

• If Ace is your only honour (4/4 or 5/3 split) and you have to ruff a loser/s then duck the first round of trumps and then play the ace and play the side suit leading to ruffing the side suit

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