Leads

SAYC

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Preface

  SAYC (Standard American Yellow Card)
  1. Introduction
  2. Bidding Hierarchy
  3. Determine Opening Bid
  4. Opening Bid Options
  5. Scoring Structure
  6. Bidding Strategy

  Statistics

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Open 1 Level

Open 1 Level
   Open 1 ♠
   Open 1 ♥
       Open 1 NT
           Open Better Minor
               Open 1 ♦
               Open 1 ♣

Opening Bid & Table Position

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Respond to 1 Suit Openings

   Guidelines for Responses
         Support Suit (Distribution Points)
         Propose Suit (1-over-1 Restriction)
  • Respond to 1 ♠
  • Respond to 1 ♥
  • Respond to 1 ♦
  • Respond to 1 ♣
Opener's Next Bid (Bid 3)
   Responder Supports the Bid Suit
   Responder Proposes a New Suit

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Respond to 1 NT

Respond to 1 NT
    Transfers (1NT)
       Stayman (1NT)
          No 4-card Major (1NT)
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Transfer Convention
Stayman Convention

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Weak Bids

Weak Opening Bids
• 6-card suit           2 ♦ 2 ♥ 2 ♠
• 7-card suit 3 ♣ 3 ♦ 3 ♥ 3 ♠
• 8-card suit                   4 ♥ 4 ♠
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Respond to Weak Openings
  • Respond to         2 ♦ 2 ♥ 2 ♠
  • Respond to 3 ♣ 3 ♦ 3 ♥ 3 ♠
  • Respond to                  4 ♥ 4 ♠

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Strong 2 ♣

Open 2 ♣
Respond to 2 ♣
  • 2-Diamond Waiting (SAYC)
  • 3-Point Step (Social Bridge)
  • 2-Diamond Bust (Social Bridge)

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Strong NT Bids

Open 2 NT or 3 NT

Responses

Respond to 2 NT
    Transfers (2NT)
       Stayman (2NT)
          4-card Major (2NT)
Respond to 3 NT
    Transfers (3NT)
       Stayman (3NT)
          No 4-card Major (3NT)

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Other Bids

• Jacoby 2 NT
• Slam (Blackwood & Gerber)
• Overcalls
• Doubles
• Balancing

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Taking Tricks

• Leads on Defense
• Leads on Offense
• Finessing a Tenace

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Practice

• Open 1 Level
• Responses to 1 Suit Openings
• Open 1 NT (14 Examples)
• Open 1 NT (16 Examples)
• Responses to 2 ♣ Opening
• Overcalls

Practice Websites

   • SAYC Bidding Practice
   • Trickster
   • Bridge Base On Line

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Duplicate

Duplicate Protocol
Duplicate Scoring
1. Contract Points Scoring
2. Match Points Scoring

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Downloads

• SAYC Summary
• Open 1-Level Bids
• Respond 1-Suit Opening
• 1 NT Openings & Responses
• Responses to Weak Openings
• Responses to 2 Club Openings
• Handout Duplicate Bridge Contract Points

Leads When You Are the Offense

The declarer determines which card is to be played from the dummy as well as from its own hand. This includes leads. The ability for the defense to see half of the offense's cards influences the plays and leads by the offense.

At the beginning of the trick taking process, the offense has two strategies of leads and plays based upon the type of contract: a suit contract (with trump); or a No Trump contract.

Suit Contract

Immediately after the opening lead and the dummy is displayed, the declarer assesses the trump situation:
   • How many trump cards are held by the defense.
   • Which honor cards are held by the defense.
   • Assumes the most likely distribution of the trump cards held by the defense.
In most cases, the declarer first wants to deplete the trump cards held by the opposition. After the opposition is out of trump, the declarer tries to take tricks using the remaining trump cards against voids in the dummy or in the declarer's hand (referred to as "ruffing"). To accomplish this, the declarer plans the sequence of leads to and from its hand and the dummy (referred to as "transportation") to take the number of tricks required by the contract.

No Trump Contract

Immediately after the opening lead and the dummy is displayed, the declarer examines the combined hands to determine how many tricks the offense will loose, and what those looser cards are. The declarer first wants to force tricks where the offense will loose those those inevitable tricks. After the loosing trick cards are depleted, the declarer conducts the sequence of leads to and from its hand and the dummy to take the number of tricks required by the contract.

Finessing a Tenace

A tenace (pronounced “tennis”) is a broken honor card sequence - two honor cards with a gap (e.g. Ace/Queen or King/Jack). The tenace can be in the dummy or in the declarer's hand. The gap card (King or Queen respectively) is held by one of the opponents, either the left hand opponent (LHO) or the right hand opponent (RHO). In most cases, the location is not know to the declarer. The finesse is the attempt to prevent the opposition's gap card from taking a trick. This can sometimes mean the difference between making a contract or going down in a contract. For a successful finess, you must lead toward the tenace.

When the dummy has the Ace/Queen/[x...] tenace:

Condition 1 - the gap card (King) is held by the LHO. The gap card is "upstream" of the tenace. Declarer assumes the gap card is held by the LHO and leads a low card toward the tenace in the dummy.
    • If the LHO plays the gap card (King), the dummy plays the higher honor (Ace) and wins the trick. The dummy's lower honor (Queen) is now the highest card in that suit. The dummy leads the lower honor (Queen) and likely takes trick. The finess worked.
    • If the LHO does not play the gap card (King), the dummy plays the lower honor (Queen) and wins the trick. The dummy leads the higher honor (Ace) and wins the trick. The finess worked.
        • If the King was not played, it was because its was "protected" by two other lower cards. You were going to loose it anyway. At least both of the tenaced cards took a trick.

Condition 2 - the gap card (King) is held by the RHO. The gap card is "downstream" of the tenace. Declarer assumes the gap card is held by the LHO and leads a low card toward the tenace in the dummy.
• The LHO does not play the gap card (King), so the dummy plays the lower honor (Queen). The RHO plays the gap card (King) and takes the trick. The finess did not work.

Finess Guidelines

The only way a finess works is if the lead is toward the tenace, and the gap card is upstream of the tenace. This has a 50% chance of being successful. If the gap card is downstream of the tenace, or if the lead is from the tenace, the finess has a 0% chance of success.

The finess concept works the same if the tenace is in the declarer's hand. The lead must come from the dummy, and the gap card is upstream of the delarer.

The finess concept works the same if the tenace is King/Jack. If the Ace is held by the opposition, the finess should not be attempted until after the Ace has been placed.

If you lead an honor away from the tenace, you have abandoned all hope of a successful finesse.

3/9/2024

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