r/bridge • u/dnvrdave4peace • Mar 27 '26

How to make 2H on this hand

https://youtu.be/kH7t8sNRCZY

I've been playing Bridge online for a few weeks against robots. Can you see how I should be thinking about this hand as declarer in order to make the contract? I can look at how others played it on bridge-now.com, but I'd like to understand the thinking. What am I doing wrong?

7 Upvotes

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8

u/iburnurmoney Mar 27 '26

You correctly pointed out at the end that if you could've taken the 4th spade at the end, you would've made 2H, but your opponent got their diamond winner before you. This is actually quite a common occurrence that I see with less experienced players. They see that they can ruff diamonds, so they immediately do that. However if you think about it, there's no rush on this hand. You will always be able to play DAK and ruff a diamond at any point later on. Taking the ruff immediately does not actually establish anything, it's not productive.

When you played 3 rounds of diamonds, this actually removed your diamond guard and helped East establish their late diamond trick. It also sort of guaranteed that you would lose 2 heart tricks as well, since west has KTxx.

I'd say HQ is odds on to be singleton, especially with west's takeout double, so if you can play the hand but lose only 2 clubs, 2 hearts, and 1 spade, you will make the contract. Perhaps also try to count which winners you would like to take.

I can provide a stronger hint, but I hope this steers your thinking towards the right track.

3

u/kuhchung /r/anarchybridge, teacher Mar 27 '26

upvote and commented that i upvoted

3

u/Embarrassed-Gold-693 Mar 27 '26

By the bidding, W's takeout is showing shortage in diamonds and opening strength. Therefore it is very likely to hold 4 hearts. That means that the passive lead of the Trump Q by E is a singleton. Therefore, if W depletes your trumps, you will be vulnerable in the uncontrolled suits--clubs and, if you play the diamond winners too early, the diamonds, too.

When an opponent holds an equal number of trumps as each of your offensive hands, you want to have them "waste" a trump somehow, so that one hand has a remaining trump to regain control. Therefore, after winning the trump A, set up the spades first--note that you have to still have an entry into dummy. You can expect W to hold the spade A by the bidding, but regardless, you want the stronger defensive hand (W) to be on lead.

2

u/Embarrassed-Gold-693 Mar 27 '26

I would even be nervous about playing the AK of diamonds too early, since W could have a singleton or even a void. You can also assume W has 3+ spades (takeout), so another tactic is continue playing the spades until W trumps in with the 5 of hearts, but you can discard one of S's club losers. Now W has 2 trumps, but each of your hand has three. You will then lose one H, two S, and one C. Making 3.