Deal 34
 
 
 
♠ ?
?
?
♣ ?
 
 WEST  NORTH  EAST  SOUTH
pass BID 
 
 
 

You are South and it is your bid.
Decide what you would say, then click on BID .
   
  ♠ A 6 3
K Q 10 9 6 4
A K J
♣ 8
 

 
Deal 34
 
 
 
♠ ?
?
?
♣ ?
 
 WEST  NORTH  EAST  SOUTH
pass1
pass3pass BID 
 
 

You have a very good hand. But not good enough to open 2♣, so you open 1.

Partner jumps to 3. What do you bid?
   
  ♠ A 6 3
K Q 10 9 6 4
A K J
♣ 8
 

 
Deal 34
 
 
 
♠ Q J 5
J 8 7 3
Q 7 4
♣ K Q 10
 
 WEST  NORTH  EAST  SOUTH
pass1
pass3pass4NT
pass5♣pass5
passpasspass

This is close. Partner has 11 or 12 points and good support. Your hand revalues to 21 points. You might have a slam. You decide to try for it and bid 4NT. Partner replies 5♣ showing no Aces. So much for the slam. You bid 5.

South plays 5. West leads the ♠10. You put on dummy's ♠J, East plays the ♠K and you win the ♠A.

Make a Plan, then click NEXT .
   
  ♠ A 6 3
K Q 10 9 6 4
A K J
♣ 8
 

 
Deal 34
 
 
 
♠ Q J 5
J 8 7 3
Q 7 4
♣ K Q 10
  South plays 5. West leads the ♠10. You put on dummy's ♠J, East plays the ♠K and you win the ♠A.

Losers: ♠ 1 : 1 : 0 : ♣ 1 : Total = 3

You cannot avoid losing either of the two Aces. So therefore you must do something about the ♠ loser. And the only thing you can do with it is to discard it on one of dummy's ♣s.

Be careful. If you lead a trump now a defender will take the Ace and play another ♠, exposing your loser while the ♣A is still out. You must set up the ♣ first. So at trick 2 play your ♣ to dummy's ♣Q. A defender may win this and play a ♠, but you win the ♠Q and play the ♣K, discarding your ♠ loser. Now you switch to trumps.

Click NEXT to see the full deal.
   
  ♠ A 6 3
K Q 10 9 6 4
A K J
♣ 8
 

 
Deal 34
 
 
 
♠ Q J 5
J 8 7 3
Q 7 4
♣ K Q 10
  The way you decide whether to start pulling trumps right away is to use your imagination.

Imagine what the defense will do if you lead a round of trumps. Then imagine what they will do if you play a different suit instead.

 Deal 35 
♠ 10 9 8 7
A
10 6 5
♣ J 9 5 4 2
♠ K 4 2
5 2
9 8 3 2
♣ A 7 6 3
  ♠ A 6 3
K Q 10 9 6 4
A K J
♣ 8