Playing No Trump Contracts

 

Note

While this entire discussion is phrased in terms of 3 NT hands, the same principles apply for 1 NT or 2 NT contracts.

 

General Approach

1. Plan the play of the hand before you call for the first card from dummy.

2. Count your top tricks, tricks that can be cashed right away.

3. Look for additional tricks, either secondary honors you might score (Q, J, or 10), or a long suit to run.

 

Other Things to Consider

4. Do you have adequate entries to use your plan?

5. Analyze the opening lead – is it 4^th best? Top of nothing?  Does it threaten your contract?

6. Is there a danger hand to keep off lead?

7. Do you need to hold up on the opening lead?

8. If you need to lose tricks in a suit, do it early while you still have controls in other suits.

9. If you have a long suit, run it.  This will force the opponents to discard potential winners.

 

Game in a Major vs. in No Trump

With an 8-card major fit, when should you bid game in the major, and when in no trump?

Note that if you make the same number of tricks in each contract, 3 NT scores 10 points higher.

The major game is generally preferred over 3 NT if:

a) you have a 4-4 major fit, since you may be able to get a ruff in each hand, or

b) you have a 5-3 major fit, but can get a ruff in the short-trump hand, or

c) you have no stopper at all in one suit.

If none of these conditions is met, the 3 no trump game may be preferred.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Example 1

Contract is 3 NT with South declarer

Opening lead is 6♠

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General Approach

1. Plan the play of the hand before you call for the first card from dummy.

2. Count your top tricks, tricks that can be cashed right away.

      In this hand you have only 5 top tricks (2 in spades and 3 in clubs).

3. Look for additional tricks, either secondary honors you might score (Q, J, or 10), or a long suit to run.

      Here, we can drive out either the ace of hearts or the ace of diamonds. Whichever we attack, the defenders will take their ace and drive out our last spade stopper. This determines our plan. We should start on diamonds so we can drive out the ace and then score 4 diamond tricks – enough to make our contract.

 

Other Things to Consider

4. Do you have adequate entries to use your plan?

      Entries are not a problem in this hand. We can use clubs to move between our two hands.

5. Analyze the opening lead – is it 4^th best? Top of nothing?  Does it threaten your contract?

      The opponents have attacked our shortest suit. We need to set up our tricks quickly.

6. Is there a danger hand to keep off lead?

      Probably not; once they drive out the ace and king of spades, the opponents will score enough spade tricks to set the contract.

7. Do you need to hold up on the opening lead?

      There’s not much point here; the defense would probably continue with another spade anyway.

8. If you need to lose tricks in a suit, do it early while you still have controls in other suits.

      We are doing this by driving out the ace of diamonds.

9. If you have a long suit, run it.  This will force the opponents to discard potential winners.

      Irrelevant here.  Once we run our 9 tricks, the opponents will surely keep enough spades to take the remaining 4 tricks.

 

Example 2

Contract is 3 NT with South as declarer

Opening lead is K♠

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General Approach

1. Plan the play of the hand before you call for the first card from dummy.

2. Count your top tricks, tricks that can be cashed right away.

      In this hand you have 8 top tricks (1 in spades, 3 in hearts, 2 in diamonds, and 2 in clubs).

3. Look for additional tricks, either secondary honors you might score (Q, J, or 10), or a long suit to run.

      We can finesse in either clubs of diamonds to get our ninth trick.

 

Other Things to Consider

4. Do you have adequate entries to use your plan?

      Entries are not a problem in this hand. We can use hearts to move between our two hands.

5. Analyze the opening lead – is it 4^th best? Top of nothing?  Does it threaten your contract?

West’s lead is clearly not fourth best.  Instead, West probably has at least KQJx in spades and has led top of her sequence.  West must not be allowed to establish and run her suit.

6. Is there a danger hand to keep off lead?

      Yes, West is the danger hand.

7. Do you need to hold up on the opening lead?

      Yes.  We should hold up (not take our ace right away). West will probably continue leading spades.  We should wait until the third trick to take our ace. Cash the king of clubs and finesse West for the queen.  If this finesse loses, East may not have a spade to return.  And if he does have one, spades will probably break 4-4 and you will lose only three spades and a club.

8. If you need to lose tricks in a suit, do it early while you still have controls in other suits.

Not relevant on this hand.

9. If you have a long suit, run it.  This will force the opponents to discard potential winners.

Not relevant on this hand.

 

Example 3

Contract is 3 NT with South as declarer

Opening lead is 4♣

 

 

 

 

 

General Approach

1. Plan the play of the hand before you call for the first card from dummy.

2. Count your top tricks, tricks that can be cashed right away.

      In this hand you have 7 top tricks (2 in spades, 2 in hearts, 2 in diamonds, and 1 in clubs).

3. Look for additional tricks, either secondary honors you might score (Q, J, or 10), or a long suit to run.

      We need to run dummy’s diamond suit to get at least two more tricks.

 

Other Things to Consider

4. Do you have adequate entries to use your plan?

RED FLAG: Dummy has no entries outside of the diamond suit.  If South cashes the ace and king of diamonds, and then loses the third diamond trick, there will be no entry to the two good diamonds on the board.

5. Analyze the opening lead – is it 4^th best? Top of nothing?  Does it threaten your contract?

The opening lead gives us two club stoppers.  Play low from dummy. If East plays low, win with the ten.  If East plays an honor, win the ace and your combined 10 and jack guarantee a second stopper.

6. Is there a danger hand to keep off lead?

Not relevant on this hand.

7. Do you need to hold up on the opening lead?

Not relevant here. See #5 above.

8. If you need to lose tricks in a suit, do it early while you still have controls in other suits.

See #4 above for the RED FLAG about entries. The solution is to give up a diamond trick immediately (at trick 2). Lead a low diamond from hand and play low from dummy.  As long as diamonds are split 3-2, this ensures the contract, and you can still score a club trick for a total of 10 tricks. An overtrick! Congratulations!

9. If you have a long suit, run it.  This will force the opponents to discard potential winners.

If defenders discard a couple of hearts, it might be possible to get an overtrick in hearts as well.

 

Example 4

Contract is 3 NT with South declarer

Opening lead is 6♥

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General Approach

1. Plan the play of the hand before you call for the first card from dummy.

2. Count your top tricks, tricks that can be cashed right away.

      In this hand you have 8 top tricks (1 in spades, 3 in hearts, 2 in diamonds, and 2 in clubs).

3. Look for additional tricks, either secondary honors you might score (Q, J, or 10), or a long suit to run.

      We can finesse West for the queen of diamonds. Even if the finesse loses, we will get our ninth trick from the diamond suit.

 

Other Things to Consider

4. Do you have adequate entries to use your plan?

RED FLAG: Since we do not want to overtake our king or queen of hearts, we have only the club ace as an entry to our hand.

5. Analyze the opening lead – is it 4^th best? Top of nothing?  Does it threaten your contract?

We should start by cashing the king and queen of hearts, so we can cash the ace when we get to hand. Use the ace of clubs entry, cash the ace of hearts, then lead the diamond jack for the finesse. Assuming both defenders follow to the first two heart tricks, there are not enough hearts left to set the contract, even if the diamond finesse loses.

6. Is there a danger hand to keep off lead?

Not relevant on this hand.

7. Do you need to hold up on the opening lead?

Not relevant here. Be glad the opponents didn’t attack spades right away.

8. If you need to lose tricks in a suit, do it early while you still have controls in other suits.

See #4 above for the RED FLAG about entries.

9. If you have a long suit, run it.  This will force the opponents to discard potential winners.

If the diamond finesse wins, you might be able to set up a long club for an overtrick.

 

 

 

 

 

Quickie Quiz

Question 1

Contract is 3 NT with South as declarer

Opening lead is 5♥, you play low from dummy and East plays the Q♥. Plan the play of the hand.

 

 

Question 2

Contract is 3 NT with South as declarer

Opening lead is Q♥. Plan the play of the hand.

 

 

Question 3

Contract is 3 NT with South as declarer

Opening lead is 5♠. Plan the play of the hand.

 

 

Question 4

Contract is 3 NT with South as declarer

Opening lead is 5♠. Plan the play of the hand.

 

 

Question 5

Contract is 3 NT with South as declarer

Opening lead is 5♦. You play low from dummy and East plays the Q♦. Plan the play of the hand.

 

 

Question 6

Contract is 3 NT with South as declarer.

During the bidding East overcalled 1 spade, showing a 5-card suit.

Opening lead is 10♠. Plan the play of the hand.

 

 

Answers to Quickie Quiz

Question 1

Cover the queen of hearts with the king.  Lead a club to the board, then lead the jack of diamonds to finesse East for the king. Even if West wins, you will still have a stopper in hearts.

Be thankful the opponents did not initially lead a spade; in this case you would need the diamond finesse to succeed in order to make your contract.

 

Question 2

It is vital to win the first heart in hand, saving the ace of hearts as an entry to dummy.  Then lead the king of clubs and continue the suit until the defenders take their ace.  You still have the ace of hearts in dummy as an entry to the good clubs.

 

Question 3

You have 8 top tricks (2 spades, 1 heart, and 5 clubs).  To guarantee a ninth trick, you must win the opening lead in hand, then bang down the ace and jack of hearts.  The jack will lose to the king, but you still have the king of spades as an entry to the good queen of hearts.

 

Playing on diamonds instead of hearts may produce overtricks, but you will go down if East has the queen.

 

Question 4

You have 6 top tricks (3 spades, 1 heart, and 2 clubs).  Win the spade king perforce and lead a small diamond toward your nine.  Continue leading diamonds until the defense takes both their ace and king.  You will still score 3 diamond tricks to make your contract.

 

Even though you have more clubs (8) than diamonds (7), you should try to set up diamonds, not clubs.  If you work on clubs, you will have to lose a club to set up the suit.  Since the opponents can also take the ace and king of diamonds, you will not make your contract.

 

Question 5

You have 7 top tricks (4 spades, 1 heart, 1 diamond, and 1 club).  You can finesse in either hearts or clubs.  As long as West wins the finesse, he cannot profitably continue diamonds. Therefore, win the first diamond, lead a spade to the board, and finesse East for the king of hearts.  Even if the finesse loses, your jack of diamonds now provides a second stopper in the suit.

 

Question 6

You have 8 top tricks and your only chance for a ninth is in clubs. Since East has shown 5 spades, West can have only 2. You should win the ace of spades on the second round, then play clubs by finessing East for club honors. If West wins, he has no more spades to return. This strategy will work if East has any one of the club honors.