Preparing Your Escape

South Deals N-S Vul	♠ A Q 10 5 ♥ A K ♦ Q J 10 5 4 ♣ A 10
	N W E S	♠ K 9 2 ♥ Q J 5 4 3 2 ♦ 6 ♣ Q J 2

West	North	East	South
			2 ♦
Pass	2 N1	Pass	3 ♦2
Pass	4 N3	Pass	5 ♥4
Pass	6 ♦	All pass

asks for outside feature no outside A or K key-card Blackwood two keycards, no Q

You are East. Partner leads the ♥ 10, and declarer plays the ace. What do you do? Look again. What should you do?

ANSWER: Move the ♣ 2 into your heart suit! That way you won't play it by mistake when declarer leads the ♣ A later. Having prepared your escape, you can then play a heart to the first trick.

You no doubt realized that your ♠ K should be a winner as long as declarer has at least two spades. And based on the auction, partner must have the ♣ K. But you should also notice that declarer can endplay you in clubs by playing ♣ A then the ♣ 10 -- unless you play an honor under the ace, and play the ♣ 2 on the next round to escape the endplay. Yes, partner should rescue you from the endplay. But partners do make mistakes on occasion; far better to create and save your own "get out of jail free" card.

THE PRINCIPLE: Before playing to the first trick, always take some time to think through the entire hand. The acronym "ARCH" -- Analyze, Review, Count, How -- is a useful mental checklist for what needs to be done.

When you are third hand (playing behind dummy), you are entitled to a reasonable amount of time for thought before playing to the first trick. Use that time to think through the entire deal so that you can play in tempo for the rest of the hand. Starting when the opening lead is faced, 15 to 30 seconds is entirely appropriate. If declarer plays immediately from dummy, you are still entitled to your analysis time; a simple announcement "I'm not ready yet" is apropos.

BONUS MINUTE: "Hiding" an important card that you want to play later is from a classic Bols Bridge Tip by the Australian internationalist Joyce Nicholson.

South Deals N-S Vul	♠ A Q 10 5 ♥ A K ♦ Q J 10 5 4 ♣ A 10
♠ J 8 7 6 ♥ 10 9 8 ♦ 2 ♣ K 8 6 4 3	N W E S	♠ K 9 2 ♥ Q J 5 4 3 2 ♦ 6 ♣ Q J 2
	♠ 4 3 ♥ 7 6 ♦ A K 9 8 7 3 ♣ 9 7 5

-- Ray

Better Bridge in 5 Minutes. Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)