How to Win Tricks Quiz #1

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

OK, it's time for our first quiz. The questions review Leading Master Cards, Play the Honor From the Short Hand First, and Blocked Suits. Good luck. Remember to look at both hands!

quiz hand 1

Dummy
♠ A Q 4
♥ K 8 2
♦ A Q 4 2
♣ 6 4 3

You
♠ K J 2
♥ A Q 3
♦ K J 8
♣ A 9 8 7

You have these master cards: ♠AKQJ, ♥AKQ, ♦AKQJ, ♣A.

How many tricks can you take with them?

So many masters, but only ten tricks? Sorry... Try looking at the suits one at a time. I'll give you a hint. One of the suits is worth four tricks.

Eleven? Right!

There are only three tricks from the four spade masters.

12 masters, but not 12 tricks. See if you can find the suit with more masters than tricks.

Your optimism is refreshing, but I don't think you're going to take more tricks than you have masters.

Which suit is an example of play the honors from the short hand first?

While you can only get three tricks from your four spade masters, you can play your spade masters in any order you want because neither hand is short.

Keep looking. You can play your heart masters in any order you want because neither hand is short.

Yes! You must play the ♦K and ♦J first, before the ♦A or ♦Q, so the suit will not become blocked.

No, it's not clubs. In clubs, the short suit doesn't have any honors.

quiz hand 2

Dummy
♠ Q 7
♥ K Q J 2
♦ 4
♣ 6

You
♠ A K J 2
♥ A
♦ 8
♣ 7 3

It's possible to take all eight of the remaining tricks. But to do that, you must play your cards in the correct order.

Which card do you lead from your hand first?

Oops. Playing the ♠A takes away the small card from dummy's ♠Q, and blocks the spades. There's no way to recover.

Yes, Indeed. You must unblock the hearts first.

Yikes! You aren't going to win all the tricks if you lead a suit where you have no master cards.

If you're just looking at the spades, it's correct to lead to the honor in the short hand. But you've overlooked something. Check the hand again and see if you can spot the play that should come before the ♠2.

Which card do you lead second?

Oops. Playing the ♠A takes away the small card from dummy's ♠Q, and blocks the spades. There's no way to recover.

Are you trying to fool me? You've already played your ♥A on the first trick, and now you're trying to play it again? The Bridge Bears aren't going to let you get away with that!

Yikes! You aren't going to win all the tricks if you lead a suit where you have no master cards.

Yes, so far so good. You lead your ♠2 and play the honor from the short hand first - dummy's ♠Q.

I hope you know what to do next.

What do you lead after winning dummy's ♠Q?

Playing the ♠7 shows a focus on the spade suit only. You must cash dummy's heart winners before leading the ♠7 back to your hand for the rest of the spades.

Clearly you've mastered these concepts! Cashing your ♥KQJ is indeed timely.

Yikes! You aren't going to win all the tricks if you lead a suit where you have no master cards.

You're not allowed to lead the ♠A from your hand after winning with a card from the dummy.

You have to cash dummy's heart winners before returning to your hand for your spade masters.

quiz hand 3

	Dummy ♠ A Q 6 2 ♥ A 7 6 ♦ A J 7 ♣ 8 7 2
West ♠ T 9 ♥ K Q 4 3 ♦ T 6 5 ♣ A K Q J		East ♠ 8 7 5 3 ♥ J 5 3 ♦ 9 4 3 ♣ 6 5 3
	You ♠ K J 4 ♥ T 9 8 ♦ K Q 8 2 ♣ T 9 4

Contract: 3N (you need nine tricks)

Opening lead: ♣A

You have no club winners, so you have to hope the opponents run out of clubs before they can defeat (set) your contract

On this deal, luck is with you. West wins four clubs in a row, then leads the ♥K.

There are nine tricks left, and you must take all of them.

How many winners do you have?

Sorry... Let me get you started in the right direction. You can win four spades if you play the honors from the short hand first. Now count winners in hearts and diamonds.

Eight? That's close.

Here's a hint. There are the same number of winners in spades as there are in diamonds, as long as you play the honors from the short hand first.

Nine is the correct answer. Four spades, one heart, and four diamonds.

But wait...

You had to make a discard from dummy on the fourth round of clubs. If you threw away the wrong card, you will not be able to take the 9 tricks you need to make your contract. Look over the hand and decide which cards you must keep and which you can afford to discard.

What will you discard from the dummy on West's fourth round of clubs?

Oh oh. Playing the ♠2 leaves you with only three spade winners.

You need both small spades in dummy to match up with the ♠KJ - the honors from the short hand. Another way to look at it is: to win four spade tricks you need to lead spades four times, so you must keep your four card suit.

Ahhhh! Yes. Get rid of the small heart. It's not a winner, and won't be matched up with a winner from your own hand.

If you had one of the Bridge Bears sitting on your lap, he wouldn't let you play that card. The Bear would say, "Don't block the diamond suit."

You can't discard the ♣2 from the dummy – you've already played it on your opponent's club leads. You're out of clubs. That's why you're looking for a discard.

What can you discard from your hand on the fourth round of clubs?

The Bridge Bear says, "If you discard the spade, you will block the suit. You could still unblock it later, but it's better to NOT make problems for yourself."

Doesn't it feel good to KNOW what you're doing?

The small heart is indeed the best discard.

Oh oh. Playing the ♦2 leaves you with only three diamond winners.

You need both small diamonds in your hand to match up with the ♦AJ - the honors from the short hand. Another way to look at it is: to win four diamond tricks you need to lead diamonds four times, so you must keep your four card suit.

You can't discard the ♣4 from your hand – you've already played it on your opponent's club leads. You're out of clubs. That's why you're looking for a discard.

quiz hand 4

Dummy
♠ A K Q 5 2
♥ 6
♦ A 7 6 5 4 3
♣ A

You
♠ 4
♥ A K 3
♦ 8 2
♣ K Q J T 9 8 7

How many winners do you have?

3 spades, 2 hearts, 1 diamond, and 7 clubs = 13 winners

Which suit is blocked?

No, not spades. You have a small spade in your hand to lead to dummy's spade masters, so the suit is not blocked.

No, not hearts. You have a small heart in the dummy to lead to the heart masters in your hand, so the suit is not blocked.

No, not diamonds. You have small diamonds in your hand to lead to dummy's diamond master, so the suit is not blocked.

Yes, clubs are blocked. After winning a trick with the ♣A, there is no small club in the dummy to lead to the club masters in your hand.

Suppose the opening lead is a spade, and you decide to play all three of dummy's spade winners. You only have one spade in your own hand, so you will have to make two discards.

Which cards will you discard?

You cannot discard the ♠4. you've already played it when following suit to the first spade trick.

Fine choices! These are the only cards which are neither winners, nor needed to match up with winners in dummy.

Oops... the ♣7 is one of your thirteen winners. If you discard it, you will only have twelve winners.

You must be careful if you make these discards. By throwing away both of your diamond spot cards, you have blocked the diamond suit. You must now unblock the ♦A before doing anything else.

And when you unblock, you will have to make the discard you should have made instead of the ♦8.

If the opening lead is a heart, you won't be able to cross to your hand after unblocking the ♣A, because dummy's singleton heart has already been played and dummy will have no heart to lead. How can you solve this problem?

Hint: somehow, you've got to unblock the clubs.

Did you see it? Play a second heart master and discard the blocking ♣A! Then cash all your clubs before crossing to dummy for your last few winners.

That's the end of our quiz. How many of the answers did you figure out? Are you ready for a new topic, or do you think you should go back and review?

plush toy bear Go to the next topic:

Establish Your Honors

Bridge Bears is run by a retired teacher and ACBL life master who has 35 years teaching experience and who's been playing bridge for over 50 years. I don't claim to be one of the top players, but I do understand how slowly beginners need to go when they are trying to learn how to play bridge.