Blum on Bridge

Third Hand Play

 

 

There are many ifs, ands and buts concerning your play after your partner has led a particular suit. However, many fundamental situations should not be difficult to understand for the average player. For example, if partner leads a spot (low) card and you see no high cards in the dummy, it is incumbent for you to play your highest card. Play the king from K94.

Before delving any deeper into hand play, we shall view some common but specific situations.  Contrary to our previous discussions about opener leading the top of a sequence, as stated last week, third hand plays the "bottom" card after partner's spot card lead with a few obvious exceptions of which we will speak later.

Bill Root's excellent book "How to Defend a Bridge Hand" lists a table of fundamentals thatcuts through a lot of red tape.

Hand

Lead

Dummy

You

a

3

954

JT6

b

2

974

JT8

c

4

Q65

JT8

d

2

K64

QJT

e

3

K64

AT2

f

3

J64

K92

g

3

AQ9

KT6

h

8

AQ9

KT6

i

T

A65

Q72

j

T

A65

KQ2

k

Q

654

K2

l

Q

T43

K2

m

Q

654

K82

n

Q

654

K82

o

K

863

QJ2

p

K

863

Q2

q

K

952

74

 

Holding the J106 in a. play the 10, the lower sequence card. This denies holding the 9, for had you have held it also, you would have played it. Had you played the jack, you would deny holding the 10.

In b. the proper play is the 8. Note that it is in its own way the bottom of a sequence even though dummy has the 9. Playing the 10 thus denies holding the 8.

What makes c. interesting is that you want to play the jack. If pard holds the king and you play the ace, dummy's queen sets up for the third trick. Even if declarer holds the king, he will win it regardless of your play; however, the play of the jack prevents him from winning both the king and queen.

d. is an exception because dummy is playing the king, which is higher in rank than any card you hold. Play the queen! This guarantees that you hold the jack and possibly the 10.

e. is similar to a. The play of the 10 is called a surrounding play (as was the jack in c.). A good principal to follow is that "aces are meant to take kings and queens." In f. play the 9, another surrounding play you should know by now. In g. play the 10 as pard may hold the jack. In h. play the king. If pard held the jack, he would not have led the 8.

With i. pard may have led from K109 so play the queen. As third hand in j. play the lower sequence card, the queen. In k. unblock with the king. However, with l., you must play the deuce because the play of the king would set up dummy's 10. The play of the 8 is proper in m.  It is an attitude signal, a high card encouraging partner to continue the suit. Again, play a high card, the 6 in n. because your 10 is a high card.

o. is an exception to the rule of third hand playing the bottom of a sequence. Play the queen; it guarantees the jack. In p. you can't play the queen (it guarantees the jack), so you must play the 2. Against a trump contract with q. play high-low to ruff the third round. Against NT play the 4 to discourage continuation.