low ). Then and only then could he hope to hoodwink the opponents and reap nine tricks .
Over to East ! East was paying close attention in spite of his paltry high cards . When his partner led ♠6 , East did some arithmetic as he had just learned the Rule of Eleven .
He subtracted partner ’ s ♠6 from the number 11 . Answer : 5 . That told East that there were five cards in the Spade suit in the remaining three hands that could beat the 6 . He counted carefully . Two in Dummy , two in his hand ( ♠J and ♠9 ) and South just won the ♠K . All five cards that could beat the ♠6 were now accounted for .
That meant that South had no more stoppers or high cards in the Spade suit . That meant that West had to have all the remaining high cards in the Spade suit . All of them would be winners . Time to hop up with the ♥A . NOW !!!
Alas for poor South . East-West took four Spade tricks PLUS the ♥A . Down one . Paying attention to the bidding and watching the spot cards will always yield great results . If East had ducked his ♥A , South would have been able to “ steal ” one Heart trick and now take his tricks and run . Second hand low does not apply when there are enough tricks there for the taking to beat the contract .
The Rule of Eleven is a nifty tool designed to help both Declarer and Defenders . ( Is the Rule of Eleven a new idea for you ? Don ’ t worry , more information below . Keep reading !)
Take your time . Plan ahead . You can do it . Practice makes perfect ! Always take a few moments as a defender at trick one and work out who has what . You will hardly get a chance later and major decisions often have to be made right then and there . This hesitation at trick one also applies to Declarer .
Here ’ s another key idea for cooperating in partnership defense : At the first opportunity , Third Hand should return partner ’ s suit if there is any possibility that tricks in it can be established . If you are defending a Notrump contract , it wastes precious time and entries if , instead , the Defenders leapfrog from one suit to another .
Cooperation In Defense • 63