50 thoughts on “Quiz – Play and Defense for Beginners #2”

  9. I’ve been advised never to lead from a doubleton unless your partner bid the suit.

  10. On #7, spades are trump and I’m defending. Leading the ace and then another trump forces East to create his/her own tricks and reduces any ruffs in dummy. Maybe that’s not aggressive enough, but I don’t understand why the rules for leading a side suit apply when you have Axx in the trump suit.

  13. When the bidding goes 1S – 4S all pass in the modern game (similar to the Robot’s bidding in BBO) it is usually pre-emptive. It relies on ruffs to take tricks. Partner is unlikely to have more than one trump. Hence to reduce the number of ruffs in dummy, play Ace and another trump.

  14. Very good lesson more of it please. 9 out of 10 shows that I am getting there

  27. First time I read this Bbo newsletter, forwarded by a friend. Don’t know how to subscribe with Bbo, although I joined bbo. Couldn’t find subscription in Help menu or anywhere else. The quizzes n the answers are very enriching. Please continue n post more advanced n interesting ones. Thank you

  28. Great to have quiz at this level. The usual quizzes seem aimed at very good players. Hope you’ll do more at this level.

  30. I enjoyed this very helpful challenge and learned a lot from the thorough explanations. Hope to see more of these at this level. Thank you.

  31. Thanks for the explanations, I got more right than I thought, but the explanations clarified some of my guesses?.

  32. The reason you play for the drop with 10 cards isn’t that a 2-1 break is more likely than a 3-0 break. It’s that when you lead from hand and LHO follows low there are only 3 out of a possible 6 layouts where finessing works vs. 5 out of 6 where playing for the drop works. Also, you should lead the J to the ace in case a weak LHO covers the jack holding Qxx

  34. First attempt for me – the exercise made me stop and think and it told me something I know/knew but often ignore – I’m a ‘lazy’ defender and sometimes regard defending as something to pass the time till we are next declaring.

  41. The correct answer on problem 6 is not one of the choices. You plan to play the AK, but you should lead the J, just in case opponent has Qxx and thoughtlessly covers

  42. Thank you. Nice to have defensive situations and great explanations. 😊

  46. A number of responses gave various reasons for leading trumps in Question 7, all of which have validity in other situations but not this hand. The opener has 5 spades and the preempt response also shows 5. With this hand the best you can do is draw two rounds of trumps given that the only entry to your hand is the A and it is only an entry if the opponents lead trumps. Very rarely the opponents will have a cross ruff but even then you will be able to overruff and play another spade. It is the fact that you have the A of trumps that makes the lead of the doubleton alluring. It comes with no guarantees, but even if it finesses partner’s K it is one that the declarer could take himself. Once declarer is in he is usually going to try to draw trumps himself. If you judge that partner cannot possibly give you a ruff, then play small on the first round then A and small on the next.

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