BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

You are West, declarer in 3NT, against which North leads the 5 ♥ . Plan the play. COUNT your tricks before you do anything else — two spades, one heart, three diamonds and three clubs, once the ♣ A has been knocked out — so it’s clubs on which you must rely.

Obviously, if North has the ♣ A as well as long hearts, you will go down, so cross your fingers and pray that the ♣ A is with South.

Playing in No Trumps, the technique of holding up is fundamental, so clearly you will hold up the ♥ A until South is void in the suit. in other words, as long as is necessary. But how long is necessary?

in this sort of situation, when you can see that you will have to give up the lead only once to clear your suit, and when you have only one stopper in the suit led against you, apply the rule of 7. count the number of cards held in the suit held between you and dummy, and deduct the total from seven. in this case, three hearts in hand and two in dummy equals 5: so 7 — 5 =2, so you must hold back your ace twice.

This rule is based on the supposition that eight missing cards will be divided 5-3. if they are 4-4, you will only have three to lose anyway.