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First card played from dummy
When dummy goes down, your first thoughts are encapsulated in this page. Read this first, if you haven't already done so, and pay particular attention to the sections on the significance of the opening lead. These will have a considerable bearing on your play to this first trick.
We will look at fifteen (yes, fifteen!) different situations. Cover up the answers and apply yourself to the questions first which are---what do you know from the lead and which card will you play from dummy ?
Dummy is always the hand at the top and the card led is the first one played. We assume that the suit led is not trumps, but most of the time, it makes no difference. If we think of the top and bottom hands as North and South, I may sometimes refer to the other two hands as East and West.
| (1) | A 5 4 | The six is missing so the lead could be from a five-card suit. You must hold up the ace to the third round and initially play the four. |
| 7 | # | |
| 3 2 | ||
| no-trumps |
| (2) | 10 7 5 | When the ace takes trick one and the four of the suit is returned, you don't know where the two is, so to be safe, you must hold up your king to the third round. |
| 3 | # | |
| K 8 6 | ||
| no-trumps |
| (3) | J 3 2 | It looks like a short suit lead. Play the two and you are guaranteed two tricks in this suit if you can avoid the ruff. Play the jack and you'll be lucky to get two. |
| 8 | # | |
| A 10 4 | ||
| trump contract |
| (4) | Q 3 2 | Play the two. East may play the king anyway, but if not, he becomes a safe hand in subsequent play (he can't lead this suit without giving you a trick). If the king doesn't appear, you can lead up to your queen later. |
| 8 | # | |
| A 7 5 | ||
| any contract |
| (5) | Q 3 | You must play the queen here as it is the last chance you have of taking a trick with it. The lead could be anything. |
| 2 | # | |
| A 7 5 | ||
| trump contract |
| (6) | K J 3 2 | The ace is probably with East and you don't want to waste an honour. Play the two. If the lead is a singleton, you've lost nothing. |
| 5 | # | |
| Q 6 4 | ||
| Trump contract |
You may prefer to take a break at this point before studying the remaining examples. You are about halfway through this topic. I've given you several options:-
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 'That's
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Image by courtesy of The Chelwood Gallery (Tel 01242-251-412) |