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List Of Play Techniques (bridge)
Techniques by declarer * trumping or ruffing and crossruffing *establishing a long suit * finessing *ducking *blocking and unblocking *managing entries *maintaining tempo *drawing trumps *not drawing trumps Advanced techniques by declarer * card reading, also known as counting the hand * dummy reversal *endplay * coups * squeezes *suit combinations play *safety play *applying the principle of restricted choice *applying the theory of vacant places *applying percentages and probabilities Techniques by defenders * making the opening lead * signaling * unblocking * overtaking * holding up. {{WPCBIndex Contract bridge card play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terence Reese
John Terence Reese (28 August 1913 – 29 January 1996) was a British bridge player and writer, regarded as one of the finest of all time in both fields. He was born in Epsom, Surrey, England to middle-class parents, and was educated at Bradfield College and New College, Oxford, where he studied classics and attained a double first, graduating in 1935. Life Reese's father, the son of a Welsh clergyman, worked in a bank until he transferred to his wife's family catering business. Reese said "I played card games before I could read".Reese (1977), p. 1. As a small boy, when his mother "issued the standard warning about not talking to strange men, my father remarked that it was the strange men who should be warned against trying to talk to me". Reese's mother Anne ran a hotel near Guildford, and with it a bridge club, so Reese played in the earliest duplicate matches, ''circa'' 1930. Whilst at Oxford he met some serious bridge players, amongst whom were Lt.-Col. Walter Buller, Iai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suit Combinations
In the card game contract bridge, a suit combination is a specific subset of the cards of one suit held respectively in declarer's and dummy's hands at the onset of play. While the ranks of the remaining cards held by the defenders can be deduced precisely, their location is unknown. Optimum suit combination play allows for all possible lies of the cards held by the defenders. The term is also used for the sequence of plays from the declarer and dummy hands, conditional on intervening plays by the opponents; in other words, declarer's plan or strategy of play given his holdings and his goal for the number of tricks to be taken. In addition to understanding the possible initial combinations and probabilities for the location of the opponents' cards in a suit, declarer can further inform himself from the bidding, the opening lead and from the prior play of cards in establishing the probable location of remaining cards. Examples The diagram at left shows a heart suit combination ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hold Up (bridge)
In the card game of contract bridge, to hold up means to play low to a trick led by the opponents, losing it intentionally in order to sever their communication. The primary purpose is to give as many tricks to opponents as needed to exhaust all the cards in the suit from one of their hands. If that hand regains the lead, it will not be able to put the partner on lead to cash its tricks. Hold up is one of basic techniques in play. While mechanically identical, a hold up is in a suit played by the opponents while a duck (bridge), duck (or ducking) is a manoeuver in one's own suit. Nevertheless, the terms are used interchangeably with duck or ducking more common. Examples Denying an entry (declarer play) West leads the top of a doubleton against a suit contract, and East plays the queen. Suppose South wins the first trick with the ace and West gets in before trumps are drawn (with the ace of trumps, for example). Now West can lead his remaining card in the suit to East's king, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Signal (bridge)
A (bridge) signal is a move in the card game of contract bridge in which partners defending against a contract play particular cards in a manner which gives a coded meaning or ''signal'' to guide their subsequent card play. This may also be referred to as ''carding''. Signals are usually given with the cards from the two-spot to the nine-spot. There are three types of signals: * attitude signals – the most frequently used, to encourage or discourage continuation of the suit led by partner * count signals – showing either an even or odd number of cards held in the suit led and * suit preference signals – the least frequently used, indicating partiality for a specific side suit. The methods used for each type of signal have evolved over time and fall into two broad categories: * standard signals, where a high card or one followed by a lower card is encouraging when it is an attitude signal or shows an even number of cards when it is a count signal; and * reverse (upside down) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opening Lead
The opening lead is the first card played in the playing phase of a contract bridge deal. The defender sitting to the left (LHO) of the declarer is the one who makes the opening lead. Since it is the only card played while dummy's cards are still concealed, it can be critical for the outcome of the deal. Making the best opening lead is a combination of selecting the best suit and then the best card within that suit. Selecting the suit Considerations are: *Good suits to lead may be: **a suit partner has bid **a suit not bid by declarer's side **a suit bid by declarer's partner *Against a suit contract: **a short suit lead may be good, but only when it is likely that partner will be able to obtain the lead and return the suit. **but leading a suit containing an ace may be bad *Against NT contracts **leading a long suit may be good **leading a suit in which partner could have length may be good *Choosing an aggressive or safe lead is important: **defeating some contracts calls for aggr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vacant Places
In the card game bridge, the law or principle of vacant places is a simple method for estimating the probable location of any particular card in the four hands. It can be used both to aid in a decision at the table and to derive the entire suit division probability table. At the beginning of a deal, each of four hands comprises thirteen cards and one may say there are thirteen vacant places in each hand. The probability that a particular card lies in a particular hand is one-quarter, or 13/52, the proportion of vacant places in that hand. From the perspective of a player who sees one hand, the probable lie of a missing card in a particular one of the other hands is one-third. The principle of vacant places is a rule for updating those uniform probabilities as one learns about the deal during the auction and the play. Essentially, as the lies of some cards become known – especially as the entire distributions of some suits become known – the odds on location of any othe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Principle Of Restricted Choice (bridge)
In contract bridge, the principle of restricted choice states that "The play of a card which may have been selected as a choice of equal plays increases the chance that the player started with a holding in which his choice was restricted." Crucially, it helps play "in situations which used to be thought of as guesswork." For example, South leads a low spade, West plays a low one, North plays the queen, East wins with the king. The ace and king are equivalent cards; East's play of the king decreases the probability East holds the ace – and increases the probability West holds the ace. The principle helps other players infer the locations of unobserved equivalent cards such as that spade ace after observing the king. The increase or decrease in probability is an example of Bayesian updating as evidence accumulates and particular applications of restricted choice are similar to the Monty Hall problem. In many of those situations the rule derived from the principle is to ''play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Safety Play
Safety play in contract bridge is a generic name for plays in which declarer maximizes the chances for fulfilling the contract (or achieving a certain score) by ignoring a chance for a higher score. Declarer uses safety plays to cope with potentially unfavorable layouts of the opponent's cards. In so doing, declarer attempts to ensure the contract even in worst-case scenarios, by giving up the possibility of overtricks. Safety plays adapt declarer's strategy to the scoring system. In IMP-scoring tournaments and rubber bridge, the primary scoring reward comes from fulfilling the contract and overtricks are of little marginal value. Therefore, safety plays are an important part of declarer technique at quantitative scoring. In matchpoint games, which use comparative scoring, overtricks are very important. Therefore, although safety plays have a certain role at matchpoints, they are normally avoided if the odds for making the contract are good and overtricks are likely. Definitio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Squeeze Play (bridge)
A squeeze play (or squeeze) is a technique used in contract bridge and other trick-taking games in which the play of a card (the '' squeeze card'') forces an opponent to discard a winner or the guard of a potential winner. The situation typically occurs in the end game, with only a few cards remaining. Although numerous types of squeezes have been analyzed and catalogued in contract bridge, they were first discovered and described in whist. Most squeezes operate on the principle that declarer's and dummy's hands can, between them, hold more cards with the potential to take extra tricks than a single defender's hand can protect or ''guard''. Infrequently, due to the difficulty of coordinating their holdings, two defenders can cooperate to squeeze declarer or dummy on the same principle. Context Complexity Squeeze plays are considered by many "to be the domain of the experts but many of the positions are straightforward once the basic principles are understood." And according to Ter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruff (cards)
In trick-taking games, to ruff means to play a trump card to a trick (other than when trumps were led). According to the rules of most games, a player must have no cards left in the suit led in order to ruff. Since the other players are constrained to follow suit if they can, even a low trump can win a trick. In some games, like Pinochle and Preferans, the player who cannot follow suit is required to ruff. In others, like Bridge and Whist, he may instead discard (play any card in any other suit). Normally, ruffing will win a trick. But it is also possible that a subsequent player will overruff (play a higher trump). Historically, ruff meant to "rob" i.e. exchange a card with the stock. Usage of the word "ruff" vs. "trump" "Ruff" is normally a verb, meaning "to play a trump card when a non-trump suit was led". "To trump" can be used as a synonym of "to ruff", but "ruff" is normally preferred, for clarity. As a noun, "ruff" and "trump" are completely different – "a ruff" means onl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coup (bridge)
In contract bridge, coup is a generic name for various techniques in play, denoting a specific pattern in the lie and the play of cards; it is a special play maneuver by declarer. There are various types of coup which can be effected. Pure coups There are many coups which the opponents can do little to prevent. ; Bath coup The original coup was referred to as the Bath Coup, whereby a player holding the Ace, Jack and small card(s) plays small against the lead of a King-Queen sequence, so as to get two tricks (if the suit is continued) or gain tempo. ;Belladonna coup The declarer's act of playing low card below king from Kx-Jxx combination in a suit contract, in order to tangle defender's communications for trumping, ensuring either a trick in the suit or a third-round ruff. ; Crocodile coup The crocodile coup is a technique used by the defense. It is executed by second hand, following suit with a higher card than apparently necessary, to keep fourth hand from winning and thereby ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endplay
An endplay (also ''throw-in''), in bridge and similar games, is a tactical play where a defender is put on lead at a strategic moment, and then has to make a play that loses one or more tricks. Most commonly the losing play either constitutes a free finesse, or else it gives declarer a ruff and discard. In a case where declarer has no entries to dummy (or to his own hand), the defender may also be endplayed into leading a suit which can be won in that hand. Example For example, South is declarer in 6 and West leads the diamond king. If the adverse spades are divided 2-1, there are 12 certain tricks (six spade tricks, two hearts, one diamond and three clubs) and the possibility of a 13th by correctly guessing the two-way finesse (or dropping the queen) in hearts. But if the spades are 3-0, declarer will need an endplay to avoid the heart guess. He should start by winning the diamond ace and ruffing a diamond in dummy, then cash the spade ace and spade king. If this reveals a 3-0 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
