Take the dummy into account

Teri Garr said, “Directors would tell me, ‘We want you to play a character a little less complex than you are.’ Yeah, sure. What they mean is, ‘You’re playing a dummy.’”

In bridge, we have a dummy, and good players take more notice of it than others. In particular on defense, use it to ascertain from where you might get the tricks that you need to defeat the contract.

In this example, how should East defend against four hearts? West leads the diamond three: five, jack, 10. East cashes the diamond ace: two, six, queen. What next?

Note West’s lead: low from length in partner’s unsupported suit.

East can see three winners, but from where might a fourth come?

Looking at the dummy, it should be clear that there won’t be any black-suit tricks for the defense. If South is missing the spade king or club queen, that finesse is working. So, the defenders must collect two trump tricks. If West has king-doubleton of hearts, everything will work. But what if he holds queen-doubleton? Then a trump promotion will be required. East must lead a third diamond.

South will probably ruff on the board and play a trump. East wins that and leads another diamond. West’s heart queen becomes the setting trick.

We were taught on our grandmothers’ knees not to concede a ruff-andsluff. But it will be right when the defenders have taken all possible sidesuit tricks.

One more quick tip: When the dummy appears, count its points. Is that what you were expecting from the bidding? That is another snippet of data that might influence the defense.