Theory To Practice
By Andy Hung

The bidding on this deal contains a theme that we have covered before, so here's a chance to remind yourself.

Once the bidding is over you have to focus on the play.

Here, you will need to take care or otherwise your good bidding will be wasted.

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Bidding.

We open 1NT after East has Passed as dealer and partner responds with a jump to 3♠. This shows exactly five Spades and a game-going hand (10 points or more).

Our duty is to tell partner whether there is a Spade fit or not. With three (or more) card support for partner, we would oblige by raising to 4♠.

With a doubleton Spade, as here, we instead choose 3NT as we have no fit in Spades.

Play.

West leads the ♥Q against 3NT and we already face our first problem. Do we win it in dummy, or do we win it in the closed hand?

Answering that question is a little more complicated than that as it really depends on the rest of the hand. By counting our top tricks, we see two Hearts, two Diamonds, and one Club for a total of five top tricks.

We need to set up four additional tricks and a glance at dummy makes it fairly obvious that the source of those "extras" is Spades. To enjoy four Spade tricks we have to force out the ♠A and that needs doing straight away. 

That should then direct us back to the original question, whether to win the opening lead in dummy or in the closed hand. Since we do not hold the ♠A, we may be locked out of dummy were we to win the first trick with the ♥K. How? Well, as we play on Spades, the opponents may withhold the ♠A on the first and even second round of Spades.

As a result we should win the opening Heart lead in the South hand. That's not quite all. The right way to tackle this Spade suit is by playing the honor(s) from the short side first. In this case, we should remember to lead out the ♠10 on the first round of Spades. 

East can take his ♠A at any point that he wishes, but with the ♥K providing secure access to the table, we have little difficulty in collecting four Spades, two Hearts, two Diamonds and a Club for a total of nine sweet tricks.

How to Play:

There is a Chinese saying:
'An image is worth 1000 words!'

You may want to take the
Online Player Guided Tour

1 - Bidding: Click the 'Play' button in the middle of the page to display the bidding box.

When you are ready, click the 'Start Bidding' button.

When a bid is alerted, it is shown on a yellow background. You can then click that bid to display the related alert.

When there is a comment or a question about your own bid, you can read it on the bidding box comments pane, and then, click the 'Ok' button to continue bidding.

Click 'Close Bidding Box' to proceed to playing the hand.

2 - Playing: The lead is automatic if you are declarer, otherwise you'll see the 'It's your lead' warning in the center pane.

You will play your cards and dummy's as if you were at a live table.

2.1 -Touching cards are considered equivalent! e.g. if you have 876 and you play the 7 while Vu-Bridge expects you to play the 6, then the 7 will blink and the 6 will be played.

2.2 -Sometimes there will be a comment or question during the play.
You should read it and click the 'Click to continue' button at the top of the comment text.

If its a question, there will be a 'Show Answer' button to click at the bottom of the comment panel.

2.3 - When a comment bears a 'Finish flag' button, you can click it to reveal hidden hands and continue playing. We use this to explain technical coups like end-plays, squeezes etc.

2.4 - You can review the last trick by clicking on the last won or lost trick (back of card) at the bottom of the screen. The last trick will show during 3 seconds and then play will continue.

2.5 - You can click the 'Undo last trick' button at the left of the screen in order to redo one or several tricks and review the attached comments.
You can review the auction by clicking the 'Auction' tab in the same area.
3 - Moving the comment panel:

When the mouse hovers the dark green background of the bidding box or the comment panel, you'll see a crosshair cursor and you can drag and move it around the page.

The left and right arrows on the top left corner of the comment panel allows you to increase or reduce the width for better readability.

4 - When a hand is finished, you can click the 'Board List' at the top of the comment panel, and play other hands From the same Series.

To play other Series, visit the Vu-Bridge's home page and click the 'Bridge Hands' button.