Opening Lead
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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 ...
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Contract Bridge
Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions of people play bridge worldwide in clubs, tournaments, online and with friends at home, making it one of the world's most popular card games, particularly among seniors. The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the governing body for international competitive bridge, with numerous other bodies governing it at the regional level. The game consists of a number of , each progressing through four phases. The cards are dealt to the players; then the players ''call'' (or ''bid'') in an auction seeking to take the , specifying how many tricks the partnership receiving the contract (the declaring side) needs to take to receive points for the deal. During the auction, partners use their bids to also exchange information about their hands, including o ...
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Finesse
In contract bridge and similar games, a finesse is a type of card play technique which will enable a player to win an additional trick or tricks should there be a favorable position of one or more cards in the hands of the opponents. The player attempts to win either the current trick or a later trick with a card of the suit he leads notwithstanding that the opponents hold a higher card in the suit; the attempt is based on the assumption that the higher card is held by a particular opponent. The specifics of the technique vary depending upon the suit combination being played and the number of tricks the player is attempting to win in that suit. Terminology To ''finesse a card'' is to play that card. Thus, in the example, the Queen is finessed. The outstanding King is the card finessed ''against'', or the card the player hopes to capture by the finessing maneuver. Thus, you finesse against a missing honor, but you finesse the card you yourself play, the card finessed being s ...
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Rule Of 11
In contract bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions ..., the Rule of 11 is applied when the opening lead is the fourth best from the defender's suit. By subtracting the rank of the card led from 11, the partner of the opening leader can determine how many cards higher than the card led are held by declarer, dummy and himself; by deduction of those in dummy and in his own hand, he can determine the number in declarer's hand. Logic The rule works because the opening leader is known to have exactly three cards higher than that led and the number of cards lower in rank to that card is also known. The following reasoning applies when the lead is known to be or is suspected to be the lead of opener's fourth best card in the suit: * the total number of cards greater than the ...
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Rusinow Leads
Rusinow leads is a bridge convention used as part of defensive carding. Rusinow leads are commonly used only on the opening lead against a suit contract; nevertheless, some experts use Rusinow leads only against notrump. They were devised by Sydney Rusinow and used by him, Philip Abramsohn and Simon Rossant in the 1930s, but were banned until 1964 by the American Contract Bridge League. Application Using Rusinow leads against a suit contract, the second highest honour card is led from touching honours against a suit contract. So from KQ94, a player using Rusinow leads would lead the queen. This eliminates the ambiguity of the more traditional lead of the king against a suit contract where the partner of the leader may not be clear whether his partner has the ace or the queen. Accordingly, * the lead of the ace denies the king except with A-K doubleton. * the lead of the king is made from a holding headed by A-K. Third hand should encourage holding the queen or a doubleton. * t ...
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Roman Club
Roman Club ( it, Fiori Romano) is an artificial bridge bidding system devised in the 1950s by Giorgio Belladonna and Walter Avarelli of Italy's Blue Team. They used it to win twelve WBF World Teams Championships, three Olympiads and numerous European and National titles. A variant, ''Little Roman'' or ''Arno'', was played by their Blue Team-mates Massimo D'Alelio and Camillo Pabis Ticci. Once radical, ''Roman'' has long been superseded by more advanced relay systems, but it was remarkable for the ideas it introduced or fostered in the bridge world. So was teammate Eugenio Chiaradia's Neapolitan Club and its offspring, Forquet– Garozzo's Blue Club. The convention got banned at the time for play in tournament Overview Roman Club can be classified as a "small club" system, where 1 opening bid has a wide range of meanings. In Roman, it includes weak balanced hands, stronger hands with secondary club suit, and very strong hands. Other 1-bids are made in strict accordance with ...
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Journalist Leads
Journalist leads are an opening lead convention in the game of contract bridge. The method is designed to solve some problems with traditional agreements regarding opening leads. It bears some resemblance to Rusinow leads but differences exist. Journalist leads were advocated and publicized in 1964–1965 by ''The Bridge Journal'' and were written under the name Journalist, which meant that they were a compilation of the opinions of the entire editorial staff of the magazine. (The ''Bridge Journal'' ceased publication in 1968 when its editor, Jeff Rubens, joined the editorial staff of ''The Bridge World''.) Not only do Journalist leads attempt to show what the opening leader has, but may also request the partner of opening leader to take specific actions, such as unblocking. There are entirely different leads against notrump and suit contracts. Against notrump contracts: * A = demands unblock or count * K = normal from AK or KQ * Q = from QJ, KQ10, AQ10, or AQJ; demands J * J = ...
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Rule Of 10-12
In contract bridge, the Rule of 10-12 is applied when the opening lead is the third or the fifth best from the defender's suit. By subtracting the rank of the card led from 10 or 12 respectively, a defender can determine how many cards are higher than the card partner has led. Ten is used if the lead is fifth best and 12 is used if the lead is the third best. The Rule of 11 applies when the lead is the 4th best. When following the Rule of 10-12, the lead is the third card from a three or four-card suit and the fifth card from a five-card or longer suit. Leading the third best is also applied to interior sequences (K J 10 x x) which is less ambiguous than the top of interior sequence. The third best lead from an interior sequence is called a coded 9 & 10 lead. Sometimes opening leader may choose to lead the fourth best card from a four-card suit against a notrump contract if the third card is a spot card. The spot-card lead may give declarer a trick that he can't get if the fou ...
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