Plan Well... Defend Well versus NoTrumps

In this lesson:

Everyone knows that declarer must figure out his line of play at trick 1. But he is not the only player who should be thinking and planning. Defender must also begin working out how they can defeat the contract.

But, since the defenders don't get to see their partner's cards, they are usually not able to immediately do as much planning as declarer can. Of course, by thinking about the opponent's hands during the auction, a player who wants to defend well should already have begun the investigation process.

Once you get to see dummy's cards, you must take time to process this new source of essential information. In addition, you are now in a position to learn a great deal about declarer's hand. Once you've been shown EXACTLY what you should be thinking about, you don't need to be an expert to significantly improve your defense. You can learn to defend better than your peers do.

This lesson will significantly improve your defense.

• - Exactly what must each defender think about at trick 1
• - The correct thought process to enable you to find the killing opening lead
• - How counting HCP can allow you to locate a missing honor
• - The correct mindset to figure out declarer's distribution
• - How to know when to say "NO" to second-hand low
• - Falsecards: The right (and wrong) times to do them
• - How to resolve the crucial active vs. passive dilemma
• - How every pair can benefit from SPINS signals (suit preference in nothing suits)
• - How to make sure that your partner does the right thing

Here is an example of what Marty will discuss in the lesson:

Partner leads the d: ♠7 against South's 3NT contract. Plan you defense.

As everyone knows, the normal third-hand high play is the king. But before making the normal play, it can't hurt to count and think.

Begin by counting HCP. North has 13 and you have 9. Add those 22 to declarer's 13-15. You now know that partner has 3-5 HCP.

What do you know about declarer's distribution? His immediate jump to 3NT denies a 4-card major. So, your partner has at least 5 spades. Although he is known to be very weak, since he was the dealer at favorable vulnerability and didn't open 2♠, partner is far more likely to have 5 spades than 6.

What does The Rule of 11 tell you? Subtracting partner's lead of the 7 from 11 tells you that you, dummy and declarer have a total of 4 spades above the 7. With your king and jack and dummy's 9, you know that declarer has 1 spade above the 7.

If it's the 8 or 10, then South jumped to 3NT with no semblance of a spade stopper and less than 13 HCP. Not likely, but possible. However, in that case, your partner has the ace and the queen, so it doesn't matter which card you play. Therefore, immediately dismiss that possibility and focus on the layouts where your play will matter.

It is far more likely that declarer's one spade above the 7 is the ace, and partner's spades are Q 10 8 7 x. But in that case, you have no chance to defeat the contract! Regardless of which spade you play at trick 1, declarer will hold up his ace. When you return a spade at trick 2, whether or not declarer decides to win that trick, you can't defeat him. After winning the spade ace, he will work on diamonds. When you win your diamond king, you will have no way to get to partner's spades, and declarer will always make his contract.

It is possible that declarer started with ♠ Q x x. But if you win the spade king and return the jack, declarer will duck and the suit will be blocked. And if partner has 4 HCP in spades, he certainly won't have anything worthwhile in another suit, so once again your side has no chance to defeat the contract. However...

Suppose you make the totally abnormal play of the jack. If declarer has ♠ Q x x, once he saw dummy's ♠ 9 4 2, he was afraid that the defense can take 5 spade tricks off the top. So when you play the jack, he will be thrilled to win his queen and work on diamonds. But, when you get in with the ♦ K, and lead your ♠ K and your partner overtakes and runs spades, declarer will be down 1 and will NOT be a happy camper! And since every other declarer in the room made 3NT, the zero he received for this board will definitely NOT improve his disposition.

Here is the entire deal: