This document provides a 5-step guide for basic declarer play in bridge for beginners: 1. Count your winners and draw out opponents' trumps to make other suits winners if playing a trump contract. 2. Promote cards by playing sequences to force opponents' cards, making more winners. 3. Run long suits, making cards under honors winners, but not trump suits after opponents are out. 4. Trump in short hands, not where you already have enough tricks, to generate extra tricks. 5. Finesse by playing low towards honors, hoping opponents have the higher card, or sandwich honors.

1. Bridge Lessons - BeginnersNYU Bridge and Spades Club

2. Lesson 5Basic Declarer Play

3. Pre-requisiteReview Lesson 2 – Basic Leading and PlayingLesson 2 was introduced first to facilitate early game-playing. Now we’re getting into slightly more details regarding declarer play – the first important milestone to cross for any budding bridge player

4. Step 1: Count Your WinnersIf you have enough winners, take them and claim your contractFor trump games, you have to draw out all of opponents’ trumps before you can claim winners in other suits as sure winnersBy drawing out opponents’ trumps, you make the game an NT gameIf you don’t have enough, you have to find other ways to generate more winners

5. Step 2: PromotionHolding KQJT may give you 6 points but does not present any immediate winners. Therefore, you need to promote your winners.When holding a sequence, playing any card within the sequence will force opponents to play a higher card (if they want to win the trick). With KQJT, after opponents play A, the other 3 become winners.Drawing out opponents’ high cards to “promote” your other cards to winner status – hence this is known as card promotionThis is also known as “establishing a suit”

6. Step 3: Run Long SuitCaveat: unless it is the trump suit – there is usually no point in running a trump suit after opponents are out.Holding AKxxx opposite Qxxx may look like just 3 winners, but it stands to make 5 winners as the cards under the AK will most probably become winners as opponents will probably run out after A, K and Q are played.Again, remember to draw trumps before playing such a suit out if playing in a trump contract.

7. Step 4: Trumping in Short HandHolding 5-3 in spades (trump suit), trumping with one of the 5 does not generate an extra trick. You were already going to take 5 tricks (or however many you were supposed to get depending on which high cards you have)Only trumping in the hand with 3 trumps will generate extra tricks, provided the trump card used is not a winner

8. Step 5: FinessingReview Lesson 2.2 kinds of finessingPlaying towards an honour when missing the one above it, hoping the opponent in between has the missing honourE.g. leading low to the Q in AQxxSandwiching an honourE.g. leading Q from QJxxx into Axxx

9. Cross-ruffing as a Possible StrategySometimes, it does not make sense to play out all your trumps – you may just have insufficient winners overall. Cross-ruffing can help you make full use of your trumps. Generally this is only possible with distributional hands.E.g. Dummy’s hand: Declarer’s hand:S: Txxxx S: QJxxxxH: Jxxxx H: -D: - D: QxxxxC: AKx C: QxDeclarer opens 2S and Dummy bids up to game (4S). 2S is a pre-empt, which you will learn about eventually.Trump the hearts in declarer and the diamonds in dummy! These hands can generally make 4S even with only 15 points between them.

10. Note: FinessingIn general, we leave finessing as a last resort. This is because it only has a 50% chance of working out while other ways of playing generally have higher chances of working out.E.g. with an 8-card fit, opponents split 3-2 about 68% of the time. i.e. holding AKQ in a 5-3 fit will give you 5 tricks 68% of the time.

11. Congratulations!You are now a full-fledged Bridge Beginner!