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Andrew:
When to duck and the Rule of Seven
| (i) | ♥ 7 4 | (ii) | ♠ 8 6 2 | |||
| ♥ 6 led | --- | (E) | ♠5 led | --- | (E) | |
| ♥ A 5 3 | ♠ A 7 3 |
In (i) it is almost certainly correct to delay winning ♥ A until the third round. The reason for doing this is to exhaust East of his hearts – should West begin with five and East three asseems likely. If you then lose a subsequent leadto East, he will have no more hearts.
(ii) is less clear, but if the spades are 5-2 – the dangerous division – then ducking (ie not winning) once and winning ♠ A on the second round will exhaust East of spades.
The Rule of Seven states that the number of times you should duck is given by the number of cards held between your hand and dummy subtracted from seven. Ie. duck twice in (i) [7 - 6] and duck once in (ii) [7 - 5]. Next lesson I will tell you why I am not mad about the Rule of Seven, but for now understand the basic point of it (a very valid one): that you are trying to exhaust one opponent of his cards in the suit led, yet not duck too many times.
Click to play this hand
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South Deals None Vul |
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| West | North | East | South |
| 1 N | |||
| Pass | 2 N1 | Pass | 3 N2 |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
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| 3 NT by South |
| Lead: ♠ 3 |
On our 3 NT deal, West led the three of spades to East’s queen. When should you win your ace? Using the Rule of Seven, you have six spades between your hand and dummy. Taking six from seven tells you to duck your ace once and win it on the second round.
You let East’s queen of spades win and take his spade return with the ace. You now lead the king of clubs, pleased to see that it is East who holds the ace. If East did hold a third spade and led it, the opposing spades would be 4-3 and the defence would only be able to win three spades (plus a club). East proves to have no more spades so you can win any return and cash out for nine tricks via four clubs, three hearts and the aces of spades and diamonds. Game made.
Note that had you ducked a second spade, an alert West would have switched to (specifically) the ten of diamonds (key play) after winning his spade (knowing his spades were dead for the lack of an entry). That ten of diamonds would kill you.
Note finally that if West’s opening spade lead had been the two, indicating just four cards, you would win the ace immediately, for fear of a diamond switch.
