[kgr]

Defence certainly is my weakest spot.
Yesterday I defended a 4♠ contract. Declarer has one ♠ left and 3 ♥'s. Partner had signalled ♥K and I had ♥A myself with ♥Qxx in dummy. I could lead a top ♦ for declarer to ruff, but did lead ♥ myself which made it easier for declarer to develop an extra trick in heart.
What technic should I develop to better see what cards declarer has left and what problems he's facing.
As Christmas is appraoching and too avoid silly presents: tips for good expert (I'm not really an expert , but want to think I'm) books around this are welcome as well.
Thanks,
Koen
PS: I thought to give this post the title <How better "visialise"?> , but is it visialise or visiulise,..? (too difficult after some Duvel's )

[Robert]

Hi everyone

Mike Lawrence, "How the Experts Read the Cards" gave me a big step up the bridge learning curve. It is an older book, however, still very good.

Regards,
Robert

[gwnn]

visualize

In general, it is useful to use some sort of spelling checker script in your browser. If I don't recall wrong, Mozilla Firefox has one built into it. Of course it doesn't help in other questions, such as "loose/lose", "to/too", et cetera, but it's certainly a nice thing and will help everyone's spelling.

[neilkaz]

It seems that on this hand you did "see" what declarer had. If you knew that declarer had only 1 trump and 3♥, no harm can come from forcing him to ruff and then he has to start the ♥ himself and is more likely to end up taking no tricks with Jxx opposite dummy's Qxx.

[pclayton]

Visualization is all about the processing of information which may be reliable or not. I believe there are three tiers of data:

1. Declarer discarded on the 2nd round. Therefore, he started with one. This is proven unless it turns out he revoked.

2. Declarer opened 1S in 1st chair. He 'probably' has at least 5 but this isn't certain. He may have opened a very strong 4 card suit or even psyched. Similarly, declarer rebid 2H after opening 1S after dummy bid 2C. Probable but not certain that declarer has at least 4 hearts and his spades are equal or longer than his hearts.

3. Declarer leads a small card away from dummy's AJTx. You are looking at the Queen. Unless there are some extenuating circumstances, declarer has the King. Similarly, pard leads a small card against a suit contract. We can infer that pard doesn't have a 3 card sequence or the AK or even the Ace. These inferences are the least reliable of all and they vary greatly in degree depending on the type of hints and the player involved. Judgment is very important in weighing these factors.

These three forms of information are hierarchal. I can't tell you how many times I've put declarer on a pattern and not 'seen' declarer discard or not 'seen' him follow suit. For instance declarer plays 3N after 1S -2C - 2H - 3C - 3N. Declarer is a lock to be 5-4 (maybe 6-4) in the majors right? Maybe pard leads a heart and we go back and forth. My point is that sometimes declarer has only three hearts, yet because of the bidding, I wont see declarer 'show out' on the 4th heart.

Because of the hierarchy, inferences from what you see always take precedence over what you infer.

Anyway, once you have built up a good picture of the unseen hands can you start counting tricks, points, honors and focus on your task of taking tricks.

[Fluffy]

On the given problem, always make declarer ruff when dummy has nothing left. He will have to open the suits himself (there are very few exceptions to this)

[kgr]

neilkaz, on Dec 9 2007, 07:09 PM, said:

It seems that on this hand you did "see" what declarer had. If you knew that declarer had only 1 trump and 3♥, no harm can come from forcing him to ruff and then he has to start the ♥ himself and is more likely to end up taking no tricks with Jxx opposite dummy's Qxx.

The problem was that I didn't realise declarers remaining cards whilr I should. If I knew at the table that declarer had 3 ♥'s left and a trump then I would have made him ruff.
... So that's the issue: I need to count better and visualize what he has left.

[PassedOut]

kgr, on Dec 10 2007, 12:34 PM, said:

... So that's the issue: I need to count better and visualize what he has left.

On defense, I recommend that you pause when dummy comes down and -- from the bidding and what you see -- estimate partner's points and declarer's distribution. Update those estimates as play progresses.

That way you will be able to "see" the high cards partner holds and the losers declarer must deal with. Those estimates are always helpful on defense.

With those two pieces of information in your head, you can work out partner's distribution and declarer's high cards when you need to.

After you play for awhile, you'll find that you can keep track of the high cards and the distribution of both unseen hands as you defend.

[CSGibson]

PassedOut, on Dec 10 2007, 10:23 AM, said:

kgr, on Dec 10 2007, 12:34 PM, said:

... So that's the issue: I need to count better and visualize what he has left.

On defense, I recommend that you pause when dummy comes down and -- from the bidding and what you see -- estimate partner's points and declarer's distribution. Update those estimates as play progresses.

That way you will be able to "see" the high cards partner holds and the losers declarer must deal with. Those estimates are always helpful on defense.

With those two pieces of information in your head, you can work out partner's distribution and declarer's high cards when you need to.

After you play for awhile, you'll find that you can keep track of the high cards and the distribution of both unseen hands as you defend.

Everything PassedOut said is important

I'd also start making inferences from declarer's line of play. Estimate how many tricks he has, and what hand he would have for his declarer play to make sense. This is not easy for most people; it takes discipline, imagination, and the ability to estimate your opponents skill.

A good way to practice: when you read bridge problems, don't just skip to the solution! Actually take 2 minutes to follow the bidding, do your counting, and visualizing the play happening at the table. Then take another 30 seconds to analyze. You'll be amazed at what you come up with when you work at the table instead of lazily following suit until it's time to play your honor cards.

[gwnn]

The ♥A play was -as it seems- nullo, it could never have benefited your side. When dummy doesn't have good (and reachable) cards on which declarer can throw away his losers, cashing out is either neutral or bad, and making declarer ruff is either neutral or good, and this is true 99% of the cases. I think this is not a matter of visualization, it's just a common situation that one needs to recognize.

[kgr]

PassedOut, on Dec 10 2007, 08:23 PM, said:

kgr, on Dec 10 2007, 12:34 PM, said:

... So that's the issue: I need to count better and visualize what he has left.

On defense, I recommend that you pause when dummy comes down and -- from the bidding and what you see -- estimate partner's points and declarer's distribution. Update those estimates as play progresses.

I routinely do this to estimate partner's points and fllow that during the play.
I will take this advice and start looking more at total distribution (instead of suit per suit) as well. I guess it will be easier and more usefull the more I train myself in it.