Positional Plays
Positional Plays
Consider this “top of the short” suit combination.
Dummy: KJ2
Declarer: Q3
We learned in the last lesson that when you play this suit, you must start by playing the Q before the J and K, as the Q is the top card from the shorter holding and we don’t want to block the suit. However, there are two ways you could do this:
1. If you are starting from your hand, you could play the Q and follow suit with the 2 from the dummy.
2. If you are starting from the dummy, you could play the 2 towards the Q in your hand.
Both plays will have exactly the same result, no matter which hand you started from.
Now, we’ll look at some basic suit combinations which fall into the category of positional plays. These are plays which succeed or fail depending on the position of the important card or cards you are missing.
Dummy: 62
Declarer: K3
How would you play this suit?
1. If you are starting from your hand, you can play either the K or the 3.
– If you play the 3, either opponent will get the chance to beat Dummy’s 6.
– If you play the K, whichever opponent holds the A will be able to beat the K.
Whichever card we play first, we will end up losing two tricks.
2. If you are starting from the dummy, the outcome now depends on who holds the A. You will always be planning to play the K from your hand, otherwise you are not going to have any chance of taking a trick in the suit.
– If LHO holds the A, he will be able to beat the K.
– If RHO holds the A, he will be stuck in-between the card that has already been played and the K in your hand: if he plays the A, you can play the 3 and your K will be a winner; if he plays low, you will win the trick straightaway by playing your K.
50% of the time, we will take a trick in the suit.
The general rule to remember here is that if you have a holding where you are missing the top card in the suit, you should play from weakness up towards the strength.
This is bridge lingo for starting in the hand without the honour/honours (the “weak” holding) and ensuring that the hand with the honour/honours is third to play to the trick. In the example above, the weak holding is in the dummy as you only have low cards there, whereas the strong holding is in your hand because you have the K there.
By playing towards the strength, you trap one opponent between the lead and your threatening holding, forcing him to make a potentially crucial decision before you do.