Declarer's Arch

Photo: Jonathan Zander

Yes, that's Delicate Arch in southern Utah, but today we're talking about Declarer's Arch. Or more accurately, Declarer's ARCH; it's not in Utah.

Playing matchpoints, nobody vulnerable, you are the dealer.

♠ K Q J 10 x x   ♥ --   ♦ K Q 10 x x   ♣ Q x

S (you)	West	North	East
1 ♠ 3 ♦ 3 ♠	2 ♥ Pass Pass	Pass Pass 4 ♠	Pass 3 ♥ All pass

West leads the ♦7. 

North

♠ 9 8 x ♥ x x ♦ A 9 8 x x x  ♣ x x

South (you)

♠ K Q J 10 x x ♥ -- ♦ K Q 10 x x  ♣ Q x

West leads the ♦7. Your play?

ANSWER: Which card you play here doesn't matter much. But did you remember to ARCH ?

THE PRINCIPLE: Before playing to the first trick, take a few moments to think the hand through.  A handy checklist is the acronym ARCH: Analyze, Review, Count, How.

• ANALYZE the lead; Is it from an honor sequence, or fourth best from length, or a doubleton, or a singleton, or something else? 
• With only the J and 7 of diamonds missing, it looks like a singleton ♦7.
• REVIEW the bidding: Did the opponents bid or not, and what does that suggest about the shape and values of their hands? 
• West overcalled hearts at the two-level, and East raised only under duress. West didn't bid 4♥. Most of the missing high cards (and there are lot of them!) must be in West's hand. East has long hearts and almost nothing else.
• COUNT your tricks: At suit contracts, it's usually more effective to count losers; at notrump, count your winners. 
• I have a spade loser, two club losers, and maybe a diamond loser but only if West led the 7 from J 7, which doesn't seem likely. Making four looks good, and there's a chance for five.
• HOW will you play: Plan at least a general strategy before playing to the first trick. Will you draw trumps, postpone drawing trumps in order to cross-ruff, try to set up a side suit, or ?? That strategy may affect your play to the first trick. 
• I will lead spades to punch out the ace, when I get back in I'll draw the remaining trumps and run the diamonds. If they don't take both of their club tricks right away, I'll discard a club loser on dummy's sixth diamond. If I play the Q♣ smoothly to the first club trick maybe they'll be persuaded to switch to hearts instead, and I make an overtrick.

So before playing from dummy at trick one -- even if it's a singleton -- remember Declarer's ARCH. Analyze the lead, Review the bidding, Count your tricks, and plan How to play the hand. It wouldn't hurt to arch your back, too; being hunched over all the time is bad for your posture :)

Druid Arch, photo: J. Benjamin Wildeboer