| When deciding which card to play, third hand must
consider partner's lead, |
| the cards in
dummy and the auction. |
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| Maybe you've
heard the expression "third hand high". It doesn't say "highest" so |
| how high is
high? Should 'high' ever be
'highest'? |
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| Let's look at
some examples to see what we can be learned and communicated |
| by following a
few basic rules. |
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| WHEN PARTNER
LEADS LOW AGAINST NO TRUMP: |
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DUMMY |
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863 |
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WEST |
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EAST |
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2 |
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KJ5 |
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? |
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DECLARER |
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| Partner leads
the 2 against 3NT, which card should
East play? |
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| Before
answering, lets look at the whole hand: |
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DUMMY |
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863 |
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WEST |
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EAST |
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AT42 |
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KJ5 |
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Q97 |
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DECLARER |
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| If East plays
the K, and returns the J, you can see that Declarer never gets a trick |
| in
the suit. If East plays the J at
trick one, declarer get the queen (an un- |
| deserved
trick). |
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| When
partner leads low (indicating his suit is from length or headed by an
honor) |
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dummy has 2 or 3 small cards, play your HIGHEST card unless third hand |
| has 2 or 3
*equal high cards. In that case, third
hand plays the lowest of equals. |
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| If East has
KQ5 instead of KJ5, East plays the Q instead of the K. Likewise with |
| KQJ5, East
would play the Jack. East plays his
highest card (or lowest of |
| equals) to
protect partner's holding and prevent declarer from getting an un- |
| deserved
trick. |
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| Which
spade do you play as East from the following hands when West leads the |
| 2 of spades
against 3 NT? |
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DUMMY |
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863 |
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WEST |
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EAST |
a) |
♠ QT9 |
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b) |
♠ AK4 |
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♠ 2 |
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c) |
♠ QJT5 |
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d) |
♠ J985 |
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? |
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DECLARER |
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answers |
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| Let's look at
a potential inconsistency here. When leading a suit with touching |
| honors (or
equals) we lead the TOP. When following (playing to partner's
lead), |
| we play the LOWER of touching honors (or
equals). This is a very important |
| distinction
that we make and for a very good reason!
Lets look at why. |
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| Below, you
lead the 2 of spades (agains NT), partner plays the Ace. |
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DUMMY |
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♠ 863 |
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YOU |
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PARTNER |
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♠ QT42 |
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♠ A |
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DECLARER |
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| Who has the
♠ King? |
answer |
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Let's try another. |
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| In the auction
below, you lead the 4, partner plays the jack and declarer the Ace. |
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DUMMY |
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♠ 863 |
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YOU |
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PARTNER |
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♠ Q9842 |
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♠ J |
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♠ A |
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DECLARER |
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| Who has the
King and who has the Ten? Let's think
about that. From the above, |
| we learned
partner plays his highest card (or lowest of touching equals). Could |
| the jack be lowest of
touching equals? |
answer |
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| Since
the Jack is partner's highest card, then declarer has the ♠ King! Can |
| partner have
the ♠ Ten? |
answer |
Again, we look at how partner would have |
| played if he
held the ten in addition to the jack. |
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| Now we know
declarer must have the King and the Ten.
He has the ♠ Ace, King |
| and the ten
and is trying to trick us into thinking partner has the King! |
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| Are you
beginning to see why it is important to play the right card at trick one? |
| It
informs partner where the missing honors are! Third hand's responsibility |
| does not end
there however. Often (if he wants to
keep his partner) he will want |
| to return
partner's suit. Which card should he
return? Let's look at an example. |
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DUMMY |
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♠ 76 |
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PARTNER |
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YOU |
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♠ A9852 |
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♠ KQ4 |
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♠ JT3 |
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DECLARER |
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| Occasionally,
opponents end up in 3 NT without having a suit stopped. Many |
| times
that suit is not even led, but if it is, defenders have to know how to |
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| handle their
riches! |
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| Partner leads
the 5, you play the Q and declarer the 3.
You now hold 2 cards |
| in the
suit. When you
are left with exactly 2 cards in partner's suit, return the |
| higher
of the two. You return the King, which
takes the trick, and return the 4. |
| Partner will
win the 3rd round of the suit with the ace, and the suit will run.. |
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| Notice what
happens if you return the 4 after winning the queen. Partner wins |
| with his ace
and returns the suit and you win it with the king. Now you have no |
| more spades to
return to partner and he may not get his good spades! |
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| What you are
actually doing by playing the highest from 2 remaining cards is |
| unblocking the
suit. The general rule for playing
long suits is to play the high |
| cards
from the short side first. This is
what you doing to help partner |
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| establish the
suit! |
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| If defender
(east) has 3 cards remaining in partner's suit, he returns the lowest. |
| (his original 4th best). |
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DUMMY |
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♠ 763 |
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PARTNER |
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YOU |
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♠ KJ82 |
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♠ AT64 |
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♠ Q9 |
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DECLARER |
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| In this case,
Partner leads the 2, you play the Ace, and return the four. |
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| Once again,
there is good reason to follow these rules. It enables partner to work |
| out how many
you started with and therefore, how many declarer has! |
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| On the
following, you are sitting east and must decide not only which card |
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first trick, but which card to return. |
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DUMMY |
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84 |
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WEST |
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EAST |
a) |
♠ QJ52 |
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b) |
♠ A97 |
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♠ 3 |
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c) |
♠ KT652 |
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d) |
♠ AJ5 |
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e) |
♠ KQJ |
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f) |
♠ KQJT |
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answers |
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| Next
week we'll move back to west and we'll have to figure out who has the |
| missing
honors, and how many cards each player started with in each suit! |
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