Deal 99	♠ ? ♥ ? ♦ ? ♣ ?		WEST   NORTH   EAST   SOUTH  BID      You are South and it is your bid. Decide what you would say, then click on BID .
	♠ K 10 ♥ 8 5 2 ♦ A 7 4 ♣ A K Q 9 8

 

Deal 99	♠ ? ♥ ? ♦ ? ♣ ?		WEST   NORTH   EAST   SOUTH 1NT pass 2NT pass  BID    With a balanced, 17 point hand you open 1NT. Partner responds 2NT. What do you bid?
	♠ K 10 ♥ 8 5 2 ♦ A 7 4 ♣ A K Q 9 8

 

Deal 99	♠ A J 6 ♥ Q 7 3 ♦ Q 8 5 2 ♣ 7 6 2		WEST   NORTH   EAST   SOUTH 1NT pass 2NT pass 3NT pass pass pass You were invited to bid 3NT if you have a maximum opener. With 17 points you accept the invitation. South plays 3NT. West leads ♠5. You put on dummy's ♠6 and East plays the ♠8. Make a Plan, then click NEXT .
	♠ K 10 ♥ 8 5 2 ♦ A 7 4 ♣ A K Q 9 8

 

Deal 99	♠ A J 6 ♥ Q 7 3 ♦ Q 8 5 2 ♣ 7 6 2		South plays 3NT. West leads ♠5. You put on dummy's ♠6 and East plays the ♠8. Winner count: ♠ 2 : ♥ 0 : ♦ 1 : ♣ 5 : Total = 8 The good news is that they didn't lead a ♥. The bad news is that if you give up the lead they probably will. Assuming the ♣s behave you need to get one more winner. It's possible you could lead toward dummy's ♦Q but even if it works they would probably attack ♥s. Your best chance of getting an extra trick lies in the ♠ suit. It is almost certain that West holds the ♠Q. Of course defenders sometimes don't lead according to the guidelines, but if East had the ♠Q he would likely have played it at the first trick. In addition, the Rule of 11 tells you there were 6 cards in the North, East and South hands higher than the ♠5. You can account for all of them, so West must have the ♠Q. In that case you can assure the contract by winning the first trick with the ♠K rather than the ♠10. In this way you will be able to gain a trick by finessing West for the ♠Q. It's true that if you won with the ♠10 you would still have both the ♠K and ♠A remaining, but you wouldn't have the dummy entry you needed. Click NEXT to see the full deal.
	♠ K 10 ♥ 8 5 2 ♦ A 7 4 ♣ A K Q 9 8

 

Deal 99	♠ A J 6 ♥ Q 7 3 ♦ Q 8 5 2 ♣ 7 6 2		With the unfortunate placement of red cards the only way you can enjoy 3 ♠ tricks is to take your ♠K on the first trick and later finesse West for the ♠Q. Notice how strange this game can be. If your holding was ♠ K 2 rather than ♠ K 10 you would have had no difficulty coming up with the correct play. But the fact that you can win a cheap trick with the ♠10 tries to lure you into making an inferior play.  Deal 100
♠ Q 9 7 5 3 ♥ K 9 ♦ 9 6 3 ♣ J 10 4		♠ 8 4 2 ♥ A J 10 6 4 ♦ K J 10 ♣ 5 3
	♠ K 10 ♥ 8 5 2 ♦ A 7 4 ♣ A K Q 9 8