Blocked Suits

example 1

A suit is "blocked" if you don't have the spot card you need to lead to masters in the opposite hand.

The spades are "blocked" because there is no small spade in your hand to lead to dummy's spade winners after cashing your ♠K and ♠J. The lead will be in your hand with the two additional spade masters in the dummy.

example 2

If you have a side-suit winner in the dummy, like the ♦A shown here, you'll be able to cash all four of your spade winners. You must cash your ♠K and ♠J to clear them out of the way, before you lead to dummy's ♦A.

Clearing master cards out of the way is called "unblocking".

Only after unblocking do you lead to the ♦A. Then, with the lead in the dummy, you can cash your ♠AQ.

example 3

Your contract is 3N.

Your opponents' opening lead: ♣K

You need nine tricks to make your contract, and you have nine masters – four spades, one heart, three diamonds, and one club.

But look closely at both your masters and the spot cards with them.

Which suit is blocked?

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

There is no problem with the spades. When you play the honors from the short hand first - the ♠KJ - you will still have the ♠4 to lead to Dummy's ♠AQ. So the spades are not blocked.

You have a heart spot card in your own hand to lead to dummy's ♥A, so the hearts are not blocked.

Yes, it's the diamonds that are "blocked". There is no small diamond with Dummy's ♦A.

You have a club spot card in the dummy to match up with your ♣A. So the clubs are not blocked. You were just playing around by choosing this answer, weren't you?

To take your nine tricks you must play carefully. First, you win the opening lead with the ♣A.

Then do you... ?

1. Play the ♠KJ. (Play the honors from the short hand first.) Or...
2. Unblock the ♦A. (Play it to clear it out of the way.)

I play ♠ I play ♦

example 4

This is almost the same as the last hand. Your contract is still 3NT.

Opening lead: ♣K

You still need nine tricks and you have the same nine masters. But this time both the diamonds and the spades are blocked.

Which suit do you unblock first? Remember, you must be able to cross the lead to your unblocked masters. You have to lead them to win tricks with them.

unblock ♠ first unblock ♦ first

example 4 (repeated)

Watch how the lead crosses from one hand to the other:

1. win the opening lead with the ♣A (the lead is in your hand)
2. unblock the diamonds (the lead will then be in the dummy)
3. unblock the spades (this gets the lead back in your hand)
4. cash the diamond masters (the lead is still in your hand)
5. return to dummy with the ♥A (the lead crosses to the dummy)
6. cash the last two spade masters. Nine tricks.

Now for the challenge...

Consider how you would have to change your plays if the opening lead is a heart instead of a club.

Your ♥A will be played at trick one. How do you untangle your nine winners?

show answer

review 1

✓ A suit is blocked if you have no small card left after you play the honors from the short hand first. Like this...

After you play dummy's ♥K and ♥Q, you will have no small heart in the dummy to lead to your other two heart masters. The hearts are blocked.

review 2

✓ You can unblock a suit by playing the honors from the short hand first. Then, you can cross to the blocked honors with a winner in another suit.

After unblocking the hearts, the ♣A allows you to cross to your own hand to enjoy your ♥A and ♥J.

✓ When unblocking a suit, plan your sequence of winners so you will be able to cash all your masters.

The problem with blocked suits is that the lead is in the wrong hand after winning tricks with the blocking honor(s). You will need to use a different suit to cross the lead back to the hand with the blocked honors so you can cash them.

We have looked at variations of winning tricks by leading master cards. Before moving on to a new topic, let's try a quick quiz.

Go to the next topic:

Quiz