Improve your declarer play 1000x

[jillybean]

A few months ago a friend after watching me play had this to say,

 

"If you cannot claim after pulling trump – you probably shouldn’t be pulling trump."

 

Unless I can see right away how Im going to make my contract I usually start by pulling trump and hoping for the best, I don’t get many top boards doing this. The advice was to set up my side suits first, uncomfortable, frightful and at first I’d start to do it for 1 or 2 tricks then go back to pulling trump.

 

However, I’ve taken this advice onboard, changed my play and my declarer play has improved 1000x. :)

 

I don’t know if other B/I’s play like me but if you do – try this.

 

Yeah, yeah and before anyone says it 1000 x 0 ...

[awm]

Perhaps better advice is: If you don't know what your plan is going to be after pulling trump, don't pull trump. After all, there are many hands where it's right to pull trump but you will still need to take some finesse in a side suit to make your contract, etc.

 

Of course, even better advice is: If you don't know what your plan is, don't play any cards. After all, it's always good to have a plan before starting to play tricks and realizing you went wrong at trick one or two.

[Vilgan]

Of course, even better advice is: If you don't know what your plan is, don't play any cards. After all, it's always good to have a plan before starting to play tricks and realizing you went wrong at trick one or two.

I like this rule best :)

[Mbodell]

Yes. I have a partner that has a habit that annoys me as dummy. She'll win the first trick and then pause for 30 seconds or more to plan the hand. Plan the hand before playing to the first trick. Similarly, in the middle of the play of the hand she'll sometimes win a trick that could have been won on dummy or in hand. And then she'll pause for 10-15 seconds to consider what card to be played next. In general, know what card you plan to play to the next trick before playing to this trick (occasionally being pulled up short when an unexpected 6-0 break occurs is one thing, but when opps follow low as expected there should be no need to pause).

[georgeac]

I found Bridgemaster helped me a ton as well. Although I wanted to throw my computer out the window because they kept switching cards lol.

[han]

How about this rule: think ahead.

[jillybean]

Oh well, I guess Im the only one who always started a contract by pulling trump. :(

This (new) approach seems to be working for me.

[cherdano]

Oh well, I guess Im the only one who always started a contract by pulling trump. :(

This approach seems to be working for me.

Absolutely no, you are not. I think pulling trumps before you should is maybe the most frequent B/I mistake in declarer play.

And you were right anyway, since your rule had bigger letters than Adams :)

[paulg]

I really like MJ's rule for B/Is.

 

It is emotive and focuses on two key elements - drawing trumps and claiming. B/Is love the first and hate the second. So it immediately gets them to think ahead ... the reward for thinking is that they will be allowed to draw trumps.

 

It is better than han's and adam's 'make a plan' suggestions. Where's the fun in that? No mention of drawing trumps!

 

BOCTAOE.

 

Paul

[jillybean]

Since everyone knows I belong in the Bridge for Dummies class, I guess this question wont hurt too much :blink:

 

Can some please explain WHY it is (sometimes) important to set up your side suits before pulling trump.

[xcurt]

Since everyone knows I belong in the Bridge for Dummies class, I guess this question wont hurt too much :blink:

 

Can some please explain WHY it is (sometimes) important to set up your side suits before pulling trump.

You might need your trumps to ruff out the side suit. The number of rounds you can draw will be limited by how often the opponents can get in and lead more trump as you are losing the tricks needed to establish the side suit.

 

You might need to leave trumps in the short hand to retain control. The number of rounds you can draw will be limited by how many times the opponents can get in and try to tap you as you are losing the tricks needed to establish the side suit.

 

You need the trump suit for communications.

 

I'm sure there are many more reasons than this.

[Guest Jlall]

Since everyone knows I belong in the Bridge for Dummies class, I guess this question wont hurt too much :blink:

 

Can some please explain WHY it is (sometimes) important to set up your side suits before pulling trump.

Here is a rule I tell all beginner students that I have: Set up your side suit before touching trumps. It is important because if you pull trumps first you can lose control of the hand easily, and often your entries are tied to trumps so you don't want to kill them before your side suit has been set up, and sometimes you need those trumps for ruffing out your side suit, etc.

[Stephen Tu]

I think the main thing to ask are "can I afford to pull trumps on this hand?" and "do I have to pull trumps on this hand?"

 

Will I need these trumps later to ruff something? Can I draw trumps & still have enough to get the number of ruffs I need? Do I need them to maintain control or communication? What if my finesse loses or a suit doesn't split? Do I have to guess the trump Q now or will playing other suits give me the info I need? If I play other suits will the opps lead trumps for me & remove my guess?

 

And the flip side of course is mostly "if I don't draw trumps are the opps going to be able to ruff my winners with tricks they aren't entitled to?"

 

But it all goes back to what Adam said, have a plan. Plan how many tricks you are hoping for in each suit & which order you are going to take them in, with some contingencies for finesses winning/losing, suits splitting or not.

 

Read lots of declarer play problem books & work out complete solutions before looking at the answer, and play BridgeMaster. The great thing about books is you have to plan out the whole thing, you can't just play tricks & see what happens which is a bad habit of int- players. Everytime I see dummy for the first time, I basically pretend it's a book problem, figure out the solution, then follow it.

[Codo]

Since everyone knows I belong in the Bridge for Dummies class, I guess this question wont hurt too much :blink:

 

Can some please explain WHY it is (sometimes) important to set up your side suits before pulling trump.

Say, you play 4 Spade with hands like

 

ATx KQJxx

xxx xx

KQJxx xx

Kx Axxx

 

The opponents start with 3 round of hearts, you ruff.

What are your possible plans?

1. Draw trumps. No good if trumps are 4-1. When you try to establish your diamonds, they win the ace and cash their hearts.

 

2. . Don´t draw trumps, establish the diamonds righ now. Much better. They win their ace and what can they do? If they play a heart, you can ruff in dummy and you can win any other lead and draw trumps. There may be problems, when the diamonds are 5-2 or worse, because they may win the 2. round of diamonds and get a trump promotion, but this risk is much lower then the risk of a 4-1 Spade break.

So, by establishing the side suit first, you don't lose trump control.

 

3. This is much better- but still not the best line. You can have the best of both worlds: Draw two round of trumps and if they are 3-2 draw the last and play on diamonds. If they are 4-1, abandon trumps for the moment and play on diamonds. This line will win as long as the 4 trumps are not with the doubelton diamond behind your main hand.

 

But this does not work with any hands. There are many hands where you cannot affort to draw just one round of trumps and have to establish the side suit asap.

 

 

Other reasons to draw trumps later: You need the trumps to reach dummy, because there are no other entries, or you need the trumps to ruff some other losers in your main hand.

 

So, you must be clear whether you need the trumps in the short hand for one of this reasons or not. If not, draw trumps and this is right in most hands.

 

But as all B/I players always start with drawing trumps and planning later (or never), any help which makes them think about this concept is great.

[ArcLight]

Danny Roth covers this in his relatively new book "How Good Is Your Bridge"?

Its a good book for B/I on declarere and defense play.

 

He writes:

Do not draw trumps unless you are fully confident taht you know exactly what is going to happen afterwards. If you are - and that includes being able to cater for a bad split - go ahead. If not, it is likely to be right to delay drawing trumps.

 

Trumps can be important for entries, or to maintain control.

[Tola18]

About the fear they may ruff if I dont pull trumps:

 

Sometimes, NOT SELDOM, it is useful they do make a ruff. It is seen frequently if the trumps are divided uneven, and we can force the long side to ruff. Sometimes even two ruffs. After it our trumps will dominate and the otherwise difficult contract may be made.