Have a good laugh

like this guy, if

 you're finding

 this page difficult.

Preservation or creation of entries 

Entries to both hands are very important during the play since they enable us to cash tricks, take finesses and generally make the most of our two hands. Most of the time, declarer has the stronger hand and plenty of entries, but dummy is often deficient in high cards and as a consequence can be short of entries.

Much of our energy in play is thus concentrated on using dummy's entries sparingly, and creating extra ones when possible.

The page on unblocking has points also relevant to this issue.

If this suit is led at you, you would preserve the high card in the hand with fewer entries, taking it in the other.

This is a more dramatic example.

The contract is seven spades (don't panic!), and the lead is the jack of clubs. Which two cards will you play to the first trick?

I'm sure you spotted how crucial it is to leave the king or queen of clubs, as bosses, as an entry to dummy so it follows that the ace of clubs must be played at trick one. You then coast home to six spades, one heart, four diamonds and two clubs, making sure you cash the diamond ace and queen before you enter dummy via your carefully preserved queen of clubs.

You are sure to get this one right ! The contract is three no-trumps.

A spade is led. In which hand will you take the first trick?

You own, of course, since if defenders hold up the ace of clubs, then your king of spades is your only entry to the established suit.

This is another tricky one from Terence Reese.

The contract is four spades, and the lead is the king of diamonds. See if you can spot the problem here before I tell you.

If you've counted your tricks, you'll know that you have eight on top with two more possible from either the heart finesse and/or the K Q of clubs.

The clubs must be led from declarer's own hand and, strangely enough, entries are short. When you are in on trick one with the ace of diamonds, you must lead towards the K Q of clubs and when the ace doesn't appear, take a round of trumps and do the same again. If the ace is with South, you can throw your heart on the established club and reject the finesse. But only if you have tackled the club suit as your first priority.

You may prefer to take a break at this point before continuing this topic. You are about halfway  through.  I've given you several options:-

• Continue with this topic
• Return to the top of this page
• Return to my home page
• Exit my website altogether in your usual fashion
• Explore this printing option if you wish to print out all or part of this page without the tedious heading or left-hand green strip