Social Lesson 11 – Bridge Declarer Play, Part 2, Pull trump?

You are playing in a suit contract and you have two choices – pull trump and either promote a side suit, or first ruff losers in dummy’s short side suit.   But wait, there ARE other considerations when we should “do something else” before playing trump, right?

In this lesson we will start off considering what to do after the dummy hits the table and we say, “Thank you partner.” Sometimes we count winners, sometimes we count losers, and for those who love counting you’ll probably do both!

In this lesson while we will focus on bidding and play, we will start off segment one and two reviewing the fundamentals of making your best lines of play.  Certainly paying attention to entries and transportation is important, yet knowing the odds based on normal suit distribution as well as “extra information” learned during bidding and play can also help you bring home that close contract.  And yes, at BridgeHands you can count on us to take a close look at “human factors” – considering opponents gestures, mannerisms, delays, hesitations and the like (as well as tips on how to avoid doing so ourselves).

To get warmed up, we will start off slowly bidding and playing an easily attainable contract suit contract using our classic declarer play methods.  Then over the next 11 hands, we will learn from the Good, the Bad and the Ugg (in fact, sometimes even the opponents give the declarer an unnecessary trick).  So better we learn from our animated screen players than when your are orchestrating your declarer play with your hopeful partner praying for you…  So as always, we will entertain you with hand variations to underscore valuation with illustrative bidding examples with lots variations including animated card play and commentary.  Of course here at BridgeHands, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and as always you’ll see lots of action playing hands at the table!

So sit right up and tune in to our BridgeHands videos!

Premium and ULTRA members are welcome to enjoy the three-part lesson segments (part 2 is 46 minutes, split into Part 2a and 2b).   Additionally, be sure to check out the hundreds of hours of videos in our archive by clicking “Index to Videos” on the navigation above or simply click this link.

Part 1 – Declarer play in suit contract – for all audiences – click here to view 29 minutes of video

Free, Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 1b with 5 hand variations and 23 minutes of video

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 2 discussing when NOT to pull trump – 16 minutes of video

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 2b with 3 hands and 24 minutes of video

Premium and ULTRA Members click here to view Part 3 with 4 hands and 27 minutes of video

Happy Trails,

BridgeHands