Discarding Losers

This is one of a series of Declarer Play articles. These articles build upon each other, so I recommend that you study them in order.

In the previous article, we saw how to reduce losers by trumping them in the dummy.

Now we're going to turn our attention to a second way of reducing losers – discarding them on extra winners in dummy.

example 1

Dummy ♥ A K 4  ♣ J 7 You ♥ Q 2 ♣ 8 5

Assume a different suit is trump. We'll just look at these two side suits (non-trump suits).

When taking inventory, we only consider the number of cards declarer holds in each suit. This is not how the hand will be played, just how we take inventory. First we identify winners and potential losers, then we make a plan for reducing the losers.

Take inventory:

We use your distribution (2 hearts and 2 clubs) when taking inventory.

Make a plan:

Your club losers cannot be reduced by trumping them in the dummy, because dummy must follow suit to both rounds of clubs.

At the inventory stage, you counted only 2 heart winners because you only hold 2 hearts in your hand. But in the play of the hand, dummy's third heart is an additional winner and can be used to discard one of your club losers. (Play the honor from the short hand first – ♥Q.)

We call dummy's third heart winner "extra" because the third round was not counted when taking inventory.

example 2

Dummy ♥ K J 4  ♣ A 7 You ♥ Q 2 ♣ 8 5

I've changed dummy's honors. Now the defenders have a heart stopper (♥A). But I've also given dummy a club stopper (♣A).

Take inventory:

They must play their ♥A on one of the first two rounds of hearts. If they wait to play it on the third round, you'll trump it and they'll never get a heart trick.

When the ♥A is gone, dummy will have a third round heart winner, an "extra winner."

Assess the threat:

You want to develop your extra winner in dummy to discard your club loser.

They want to drive out your club stopper (♣A) so they can later cash a club trick.

This is a race over driving out stoppers. They have a heart stopper; you have a club stopper.

When the number of stoppers is the same, whoever starts first will be successful. So you should establish your extra winner in hearts before they have a chance to lead clubs.

Make a plan:

Avoid any play in the other two suits if it might lose the lead. If you lose the lead, they will switch to playing clubs and win the race to cash a club trick before you can discard your club loser.

If you can pull trump without losing the lead, you could do that before playing hearts. But if you might lose the lead when pulling trump, postpone that line of play in favor of establishing your extra heart winner and discarding your club loser first.

example 3

Dummy ♥ K J 4  ♣ J 7 You ♥ Q 2 ♣ 8 5

This time I've taken away your club stopper.

Take inventory:

What is the count of winners and losers? show answer

Assess the threat:

They want to cash two club tricks.

You want to discard one of your club losers so they can only cash one club trick.

The problem is they have a heart stopper, and you do not have a club stopper. So even if you start first, you cannot win this race.

Here's how it (most likely) would go wrong:

1. You drive out their ♥A to develop an extra winner in dummy.
2. They would have the lead. What would they do? show answer
   They would immediately cash 2 club tricks (your 2 club losers) before you can discard a club loser on dummy's extra heart winner. But there is still hope. If they make a defensive error and fail to cash their two clubs, you might be able to recapture the lead to discard one of your losers.

example 4

Dummy ♥ K Q T  You ♥ A 7 2

3 winners, 0 losers

Do you have an extra winner in dummy? show answer

example 5

Dummy ♦ Q J 4  You ♦ A 2

1 winner, 1 loser

Do you have an extra winner in dummy? show answer

example 6

Dummy ♣ A K Q 4  You ♣ 7 3 2

3 winners, 0 losers

Do you have an extra winner in dummy? show answer

What should you do before you play your clubs? show answer

example 7

Dummy ♠ K Q J T  You ♠ 3 2

1 winner, 1 loser

Do you have an extra winner in dummy? show answer

example 8

Dummy ♥ K Q J 4 3  You ♥ A 7

2 winners, 0 losers

How many extra winners do you expect to have? show answer

example 9

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

Your contract is 5♠. You can only afford to lose 2 tricks.

The opening lead is the ♠8.

Take inventory:

spades: 4 winners, 1 loser

hearts: 1 winner, 1 loser

diamonds: 4 winners, 0 losers (assuming a normal 3-2 split, your fourth round ♦9 will be a skater)

clubs: 1 winner, 1 loser

Assess the threat:

You have too many losers.

Can you trump any of them in dummy? show answer

Which suit can be developed for an extra winner in dummy? show answer

Which loser can you discard on dummy's extra winner? show answer

This hand is a race over your club loser. They want to cash it, and you want to discard it. They have a heart stopper and you have a club stopper. So whoever knocks out the other's stopper first, wins the race.

Make a plan:

What should you play on the opening spade lead? show answer

What will you play from dummy after winning the opening lead? show answer

example 10

Dummy ♠ J 7 6 4  You ♠ A K 2

Count your spade winners and losers. show answer

What lucky lie of the cards would make this spade loser go away? show answer

And if (as expected) the ♠Q doesn't drop, what might happen to give you an extra winner in dummy (a fourth-round winner)? two answers

What must you do before you play your spades? show answer

Little Bear says,"I knew that."

example 11

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

You're declarer in 4♠. You need 10 tricks to make your contract.

Me: OK, my optimistic friend. It sounds like you've made a plan, skipping our usual step of counting winners and losers. Let's follow the play and see how your plan works out.

(Don't tell Little Bear, but he counted the diamond winners wrong. He forgot that his master hand only has two diamonds in it, with only one winner.)

The opening lead is the ♣Q.

• You win the opening lead with your ♣A. Then, following your plan, you lead spades, beginning to pull trump.
• They win your spade lead with their ♠A, and return to leading clubs.
• You win this second club lead with your ♣K, and finish pulling trump.
• It doesn't matter which suit you lead next. They have the master cards in all three side suits, so they can quickly seize the lead and cash the rest of their winners.
• With your plan, they can win ♠A, ♥A, ♦A, and the third round of clubs. Four defensive winners is too many. Your contract fails.

Little Bear: "That didn't work well at all."

(repeated)

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

Me: But you CAN succeed if you begin by counting both winners and losers. Let's start over. You're missing three aces, and you have a third-round loser in clubs. 4 losers is too many losers.

If you focus on reducing losers – getting rid of one of them – then you can take your time with developing the 10 winners you need.

There's nothing you can do about their three ready-to-cash aces. But you CAN get rid of your club loser, if you start soon enough.

Which of dummy's suits can be developed for an extra winner? show answer

A successful plan works like this:

The opening lead is the ♣Q.

• You win the opening lead with your ♣A, and lead (NOT trumps) but ♦Q, to drive out their ♦A and establish dummy's diamonds as winners. You are preparing to discard your club loser on an extra diamond winner before they can win a club trick.
• When they win with their ♦A, they play a second round of clubs. This establishes a third-round defensive club trick, but you're not going to let them cash it.
• You win their second club lead with your ♣K. To prevent your conniving opponents from cashing a club trick when they next have the lead, you...
• Cash the dummy's diamond winners, discarding the losing club from your hand. In effect, you turn your club "loser" into a winner by playing it on a trick you win - dummy's extra diamond winner.
• Now that you're out of clubs in your hand, you can trump any future club leads the defenders might make.
• Next, turn your attention to pulling trump. And last, establish your 2 heart winners.

If the defense tries to cash a club trick at any time, you'll trump it.

That's the beauty of playing with a trump suit. Sometimes you can trump their "winners".

And that's why we begin our planning for trump contracts by counting losers. Getting rid of an excess loser needs to happen before the defense can cash it.

In no-trump contracts both sides often race to develop and cash enough tricks to make or break the contract. The race is often over cashing an entire suit.

In contracts with a trump suit we often have to race to get rid of a specific loser before they can cash it. On this hand it's the third round of clubs.

Let me show you...

example 12

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

Spades are trump.

You can easily win all 13 tricks, starting with winning their opening lead and pulling trump.

Using your own hand as the master, you have no losers. And for winners you can count...

5 spades, 3 hearts, 2 diamonds, and 3 clubs. That's all 13 tricks.

You cannot take 15 tricks by winning 5 hearts in dummy. There aren't that many tricks in a bridge hand.

True, you are allowed to pull trump (spades) and cash all 5 of dummy's hearts. What will you discard on the fourth and fifth heart winners? Let's say you discard your ♦AK.

When the hand is over you will have won...

5 spades, 5 hearts, 0 diamonds, and 3 clubs. Still only 13 tricks.

Cashing your extra winners in dummy did not increase your trick total. All you did was change two previous diamond winners into heart winners.

Now let's change the hand a little.

example 13

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

I'm going to take away your ♦AK and give you 2 diamond losers.

Now we count your master hand as 11 winners and 2 losers.

If you have the lead, you can pull trump and cash all 13 tricks, discarding your two diamond losers on dummy's 2 extra heart winners.

You gain 2 tricks by discarding your losers, changing your trick total from 11 to 13.

But if their opening lead is a diamond, they can cash 2 diamonds, leaving only 11 tricks for you.

After your diamonds are gone, you would be able to cash 5 spades, 3 hearts, and 3 clubs – 11 tricks.

It would do no good to cash all 5 of dummy's hearts because you would have to discard 2 of your club winners.

You would win 5 spades, 5 hearts, and 1 club – the same number of tricks (11) as without cashing dummy's extra winners.

So, Little Bear, what I want you to remember is:

"Extra winners" will only increase your trick total if you can discard losers on them.

Combining two techniques

Sometimes having an extra winner in your own hand can help you reduce losers.

You won't trump it in dummy because it's already a winner.

But if you can discard from dummy in a suit where you have a loser, making dummy's suit short enough that you can trump your loser...

Little Bear interrupts, "I'm confused already. This sounds like dry toast. Where's the honey?"

OK, let's look at an example hand.

example 14

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

Someone thought these cards warranted bidding beyond the game level. (It wasn't you, was it, Little Bear?)

Anyway, you got to the contract of 5♥

4♥ would be a more comfortable contract. Oh well... let's try to make the 5♥ contract we are in.

Take inventory:

Count winners and losers.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

The total is 10 winners and 3 losers. We need to turn one of the losers into a winner.

Can you trump any of your losers in the dummy? show answer

Does dummy have any extra winners that you could use to discard a loser? show answer

Now let's turn our attention to your own winners. In which suit do you have extra winners where dummy won't follow suit? show answer

What could you discard from dummy on your extra winners which would later allow dummy to trump one of your losers? TWO answers

Discarding from dummy on extra winners in your hand does not directly reduce your losers. But it might allow you to shorten dummy's holding in a critical suit so you can later trump one of your losers. Trumping a loser in dummy does reduce your losers.

OK, Little Bear... What do you have to do before you can cash your extra club winners?

Little Bear says, "I know that one. I'm going to pull trump first. And I can also see that trump must split 3-2 so dummy will have a trump left when I want to trump one of my losers."

Me: Who are you? And what have you done with Little Bear? Just kidding... Well done, my friend. You're becoming better and better at declaring!

Go to the next topic:

Finessing to Reduce Losers

Or see all articles in the Declarer Play series.  +