Hi Everyone,

I had a great time speaking to the players between sessions on Tuesday night at the Monterey Regional.  We talked about Passive Vs Attacking Defenses.  Passive Defense is all of the fundamental defensive ideas you have learned over time: Return Partner’s suit, 2nd Hand Low, Third Hand High…But when do you know if an aggressive defense is needed?

On Tuesday, we talked about counting declarer tricks.  Let’s say you are defending 3NT.  If, as defender, you can count 9 tricks for declarer in three suits, then look for defensive tricks in the fourth suit.  In other words, don’t return partner’s suit!

Now how does partner know whether to continue the original suit or the new suit.  Well, the card you lead in the fourth suit answers this question for partner!  A low card says partner, abandon the original suit and continue with this new suit.  A high card says partner, please return to the original suit.

If you would like the handout for this Mini Lesson, please email me at Donna@playbetterbridge.com and type Passive Vs Attacking in the subject line!

If you are in the Monterey area, I will be presenting a mini lesson on Letting the Opponent’s Do the Work for You ~ Friday at 6:45pm.