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Andrew finds the Queen
Andrew receives his OBE at Buckingham Palace from her majesty the Queen
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Andrew's life in Bridge
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If you remember_just one_thing
In this series Andrew, features one improtant point per Article. Bit by bit the reader will improve their game.
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Andrew:
The Unblocking Rule
Last deal we looked at how to count top tricks. Here we learn how to ‘cash’ them (play them out) without getting stuck in the wrong hand. Consider the following suit: AQ2 facing KJ43. You have four top tricks, but cashing them correctly may not be trivial.
Here is the Unblocking Rule: If you are leading from the hand with the Longer length, lead the Lowest card (L-L). If you are leading from the hand with the sHorter length lead the Highest card (H-H). NB: The Unblocking Rule is only to be used when the relevant cards are in sequence, not when there are gaps. Back to AQ2 facing KJ43. The first round should see the ace and three appear (regardless of which hand leads); the second round should see the queen and four; the third the jack and two and the fourth the king.
Our featured deal – a small slam – sees West lead ♣ K. Following the correct procedure, you count up your top tricks before even playing from dummy. You have four spades, four hearts, three diamonds and one club. Most contracts have fewer top tricks initially than the number of tricks ultimately required to succeed; sometimes many fewer. Here you have the 12 top tricks you need. The only problem is cashing them in the right order.
Click here to try our deal
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South Deals None Vul |
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| West | North | East | South |
| 1 ♥ | |||
| Pass | 1 ♠ | Pass | 1 N1 |
| Pass | 4 N2 | Pass | 6 N |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
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| 6 NT by South |
| Lead: ♣ K |
What happened
I won’t dwell on this, but declarer’s last three cards were ♣ 742 and dummy’s were ♠ QJ and ♣ 9. The trouble was that the lead was in declarer’s hand.
What should have happened
Win ♣ A, cash ♠ K, lead ♠ 2 to ♠ J, cash ♠ AQ (discarding ♣ 42). Cash ♥ KQ, lead ♥ 2 to ♥ J, cash ♥ A (discarding ♣ 3). Lead ♦ 3 to ♦ A, return ♦ 4 to ♦ Q, cash ♦ K. Lose ♣ 7 at Trick 13. Slam made.
The order of which suit to play fi rst, second and third is irrelevant; but how to play each individual suit matters hugely.
Tip: The Unblocking Rule for which order to play out sequential high cards: If you are leading from the hand with the longer length, lead the lowest card. If you are leading from the hand with the shorter length lead the highest card.
