Making a Plan at Notrump 1

Every bridge teacher will tell you to make a plan. It sounds simple, but players frequently get overwhelmed by the options. We should have a uniform approach for all of our suit contracts and, similarly, a uniform approach for our notrump contracts. 

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) This is the least important and most difficult step. Play out a few tricks in your head to see if there are hidden obstacles like a dangerous opponent, transportation problems, or the effects of a bad split. Only once you've mastered the first three steps should you worry about this one. 

This quiz will test your planning.

If you want more help planning, almost everything I've ever taught/written will help. The book "Larry Teaches Declarer Play at Notrump" and the video bridge lesson series on notrump are particularly relevant. 

  • We'll always be facing the same problem. None vul, matchpoints, the auction went 1NT-3NT (uninterrupted). 

    The lead is the spades icon5. 

    Vul:None
    Dlr: S    		 DUMMY
    ? AQ3
    ? 943
    ? A6543
    ? 75
    		  
    Lead: spades icon5    
      DECLARER
    ? 72
    ? AK8
    ? K972
    ? AK32
    		  

    How many winners do you have to start?
    Choose One:
    1. - 6
    2. - 7
    3. - 8
    4. - 9
    5. - Other
    Answer: 2 7. You can take 1 spade, 2 hearts, 2 diamonds, and two clubs immediately.
    Your result so far:
    Next
  • 3NT by South. 

    Lead: spades icon5. 

    Vul:None
    Dlr: S    		 DUMMY
    ? AQ3
    ? 943
    ? A6543
    ? 75
    		  
    Lead: spades icon5    
      DECLARER
    ? 72
    ? AK8
    ? K972
    ? AK32
    		  

    In What Suits can get you more tricks?
    Choose One:
    1. - Spades and Hearts
    2. - Spades and Diamonds
    3. - Spades and Clubs
    4. - Spades only
    5. - Diamonds only
    6. - Other
    Answer: 2 Spades and diamonds. A spade finesse can get us one more trick. Diamonds can get us as many as 3 more tricks.
    Your result so far:
    Next
  • 3NT by South. 

    Lead: spades icon5. 

    Vul:None
    Dlr: S    		 DUMMY
    ? AQ3
    ? 943
    ? A6543
    ? 75
    		  
    Lead: spades icon5    
      DECLARER
    ? 72
    ? AK8
    ? K972
    ? AK32
    		  

    What is the stopper situation?
    Choose One:
    1. - 1 spade stopper, 2 everywhere else
    2. - 1 heart stopper, 2 everywhere else
    3. - 1 club stopper, 2 everywhere else
    4. - Two stoppers everywhere
    5. - Other
    Answer: 1 1 spade stopper, 2 everywhere else. While we may stop spades twice, it requires a finesse.
    Your result so far:
    Next
  • 3NT by South. 

    Lead: spades icon5. 

    Vul:None
    Dlr: S    		 DUMMY
    ? AQ3
    ? 943
    ? A6543
    ? 75
    		  
    Lead: spades icon5    
      DECLARER
    ? 72
    ? AK8
    ? K972
    ? AK32
    		  

    Anything dangerous?
    Choose One:
    1. - No Dangers
    2. - 1 Danger
    3. - My head hurts
    Answer: 2 1 Danger. Spades. If the diamonds are not 2-2, the opponents will get to play spades again.
    Your result so far:
    Next
  • We've gone through all our steps. Now it's finally time to turn plan into action. What do we call for from dummy at trick one?

    Vul:None
    Dlr: S    		 DUMMY
    ? AQ3
    ? 943
    ? A6543
    ? 75
    		  
    Lead: spades icon5    
      DECLARER
    ? 72
    ? AK8
    ? K972
    ? AK32
    		  
    Choose One:
    1. - spades iconA
    2. - spades iconQ
    3. - spades icon3
    Answer: 3 spades icon3. If we play the Q and it loses, the opponents can keep playing spades and, if diamonds are 3-1, potentially defeat the contract. The key is that East will win this trick (he must play a card higher than declarer's 7) and if East leads spades, it will be into dummy's AQ.

    At matchpoints, it's a good idea to make sure you're not losing more tricks than necessary in the name of safety, but even if the spade finesse is onside and diamonds are 2-2, we would only take 2 spades, 2 hearts, 5 diamonds, and 2 clubs for 11 tricks, so ducking one spade can't hurt. 
    Your result so far:
    Next
  • That's the most important decision. Is there any other complication you can see if you play out a few tricks? To state our plan so far: duck the first trick, win the return, and play diamonds. 

    Vul:None
    Dlr: S    		 DUMMY
    ? AQ3
    ? 943
    ? A6543
    ? 75
    		  
    Lead: spades icon5    
      DECLARER
    ? 72
    ? AK8
    ? K972
    ? AK32
    		  
    Choose One:
    1. - Smooth sailing
    2. - The opponents could still attack hearts
    3. - We need to be careful in the diamond suit
    4. - Other danger
    Answer: 3 We need to be careful in the diamond suit. A 4-0 split is something we shouldn't worry about. It's unlikely. A 3-1 split is likely, but our first play in spades allows us to lose a trick in diamonds. The problem is that dummy's diamonds (with the exception of the A) are all very low. Our diamonds icon2 is an important card for transportation purposes.  You can see why this step is hardest. If you can mentally play out the diamond suit, you will see the problem. 

    Let's look at the full deal: 

    Vul:None
    Dlr: S    		 ? AQ3
    ? 943
    ? A6543
    ? 75
    		  
    ? J9654
    ? J72
    ? Q108
    ? QJ
    		   ? K108
    ? Q1065
    ? J
    ? 109864
      ? 72
    ? AK8
    ? K972
    ? AK32
    		  
    Had we played the spades iconQ at trick one, East wins and keeps playing spades. The defense will eventually take 1 diamond and 4 spade tricks.

    The play is also not so fun if you don't preserve that diamonds icon2 as you will likely wind up a trick short. Try it yourself with a deck of cards if you don't see it. This last step is part of improving our plan. Don't worry if you can't get it at first, making any plan is better than none and once you get in the habit of planning, you'll be better at spotting this type of problem. 
    Your result so far:
    Next