Defensive card play

Second hand low

When declarer leads a small card and you're next to play, play low. Your partner plays last to the trick and can beat whatever comes.

Playing an honour early gives declarer two chances instead of one: they may win with a card that would have been beaten by partner anyway.

Play high instead when:

• The trick sets the contract. If it's the last trick you need, take it.
• Dummy has a long suit about to be established and this is your last chance to take an ace.
• Playing low lets a singleton or doubleton honour in dummy win a trick it didn't deserve.
• You can see the trick is yours (a bare ace over dummy's king, say).

Third hand high

When partner leads and dummy plays low, play your highest card. Nobody on your side plays after you, so a cheap card can give the trick to declarer.

With touching honours, play the lower: from Q J, play the jack. If it loses to the king, partner knows you hold the queen. The higher card would have told them nothing.

Play lower than your highest when:

• Dummy's card is already high enough to beat. Play just enough to beat the card in front of you.
• The rule of 11 says you need not. If partner led fourth-highest and the arithmetic proves declarer has nothing above your ten, play the ten.
• Dummy has an honour you are sitting over. Keep it guarded and let declarer come to you.

Cover an honour with an honour

When declarer leads an honour, covering can promote a card in your side's hands. Declarer leads the queen, you cover with the king, and partner's jack or ten may be promoted.

Cover when it can promote a card for your side. You can usually tell at the table whether it can.

Don't cover when:

• It is the first of touching honours. Dummy holds Q J 10: cover the second one. Covering the queen lets declarer run the rest.
• Nothing can be promoted. If dummy's honours are backed by enough length, your king is falling under the ace whatever you do.
• You would be covering a singleton honour in dummy with nothing behind it.

Discarding

Discards cost defenders a lot of tricks. When you can't follow suit, it's easy to throw a card without thinking.

• Your first discard is a signal. It says whether you like that suit (see defensive signals).
• Don't bare an honour. If you discard down to a bare king, declarer can drop it under the ace.
• Keep length with dummy. If dummy has four of a suit, keeping four stops the fourth card being a winner. Declarer will often try to make you let go of it.
• Count before you throw. Work out which suit is really worthless before you discard from it.

Counting comes first

These rules are shortcuts for when you haven't counted the hand.

If you know declarer began with five spades and three hearts, you know whether ducking is safe without consulting a rule about second hand. Counting the hand is the skill these rules stand in for.

Use the rules while you're learning to count. Once you can count, you'll need them less.