Latest Quiz
Notrump Planning
As laid out in the book "Larry Teaches Declarer Play at Notrump" and the DVD, these are the 4 steps to plan (you must plan!) the play in notrump:
1) How many sure tricks do we have?
2) How might we get more tricks?
3) What is the stopper situation?
4) Can I afford to lose the lead; what happens if the bad guys get in?
In this quiz, some of those questions are asked.
Updated December 2019
Quiz Archives
(Declarer Suits in 1 Hour) -- Getting Rid of Losers
In suit contracts, we should always take the same approach as declarer:
1) Count losers--counting losers requires picking a "master hand" which is the hand that you count losers from. If the contract is spades and one hand has a heart holding of 
A432 and the other has 6 then one of the hands has no heart losers and the other has three. You see why it's important to pick one to be the master? In general, we pick the hand that has longer trump to be the master hand. For more information on how to pick the master hand, read this article.
2) Decide how to get rid of the losers. If you have a long suit in the other hand, or extra winners, you can use those to discard losers in the master hand. You might also be able to ruff in the other hand.
3) Draw trump--yes, no or somewhat? If you need to use trump to get rid of losers, you can not draw them all.
For more information on declarer play at suit contracts, you can find my book and dvd on the subject in our store.
Suit Contracts-Draw Trump?
In a suit contract, declarer must always decide if his first move is to draw trump, or something else. The "something else" usually involves something like:
1) Needing trumps to ruff losers in the short hand
2) Needing to first set up (or take) a discard of a loser
3) Entry issues (needing trump to get back and forth)
To Draw or Not to Draw
The most important decision in any trump contract is: "Should I draw trumps as my first move, or do something else."
Some (not a complete list) reasons to postpone trump drawing:
1) Need to trump losers in dummy
2) Need to set up (or take) a discard
3) Need trump in dummy for entries
If there is no reason not to draw trump, then draw them.
This is just a one-paragraph summary of a subject that is covered in entire books!
Try your hand at the following 5 layouts.
On the Other Hand
This quiz has 4 deals (2 pairs of 2) from the new Larry Cohen & David Bird book, "On the Other Hand."
Each pair shows 2 very similar deals, but the line of play required is different. The reader needs to understand why the 2 deals in the pair are different.
In this quiz, you can try the first and then the second deal in both pairs.
If you like the quiz, you'll love the book -- On the Other Hand.