I've seen a few variations on that theme over the years, mostly in books on Declarer play. Spotting the possibility at trick one at the table is really hard . It's almost easier when you consider the hand in a book, because you know there must be some trick to the hand.

By comparison, this one was relatively easy to diagnose, given the bidding.

This was a nice hand Eszter and I played today. I nearly got this one 100% right, but was distracted by Naomi towards the end and lost track of what I was trying to achieve. Even so, it was a good result:

EW Game, Dealer South

North (Dummy)
  AQ108
  1043
  8
  A6432

King led

South
  J2
  AQ7652
  AJ106
  10

Bidding
South     West     North     East
1          2        2NT(1)    No
3 (2)     No         3 (3)    No
4          No         No           X
All Pass

Right fro the start I was anticipating a bad trump split with East holding at least 3 (just from the bidding). West led the King of Clubs, which I won in Dummy with the Ace (East played the Jack) and led a Diamond to my Ace and ruffed a Diamond in Dummy (both Opps following). A Club from Dummy gave East pause and they eventually discarded a Diamond. I ruffed in hand and ruffed a second Diamond with Dummy's 4. On this trick West played the King and East the 9. Another Club from Dummy followed and East now discarded the Queen, so my 10 was now good.

So the position was now as follows, with the lead in my hand:

North (Dummy)
  AQ108
  10
  -
  64

South
  J2
  AQ76
  10
  -

East was known to have started with 5-card Diamonds and a singleton Club, and West with 6-card Clubs and 3-card Diamonds. If East held the KJ9( 8 ), it seemed likely that West held the King. I don't need any discards on the Spades, however, but what I do need is the entries to Dummy. At trick 7, therefore, I led the Jack and overtook with Dummy's Queen. This loses nothing if the finesse is failing, as I've pointed out, because East must have at least 3 Spades and I don't need any discards on the Spades anyway. The Queen held, however and I now ran the 10. Once East followed with the 8 I was fairly confident (he'd definitely have covered with  KJ98) and, sure enough, the 10 brought the 9 from West.

Now West was known to have started with exactly Kxx, x, Kxx, KQxxxx and East with xxxx, KJx, Qxxxx, J. In preparation for the trump coup I now led a 4th Club, on which East discarded a Spade and which I ruffed with my 7. It was at this point that Naomi asked me something and I got distracted, because I forgot to take the marked Spade finesse when crossing back to Dummy, which would have allowed me to cash the Ace, discarding my 10, and then lead a black card through East's KJ, up towards my AQ, which would have been a very satisfying 3 doubled overtricks. As it was I had to be content with +790.

The thing with trump coups is that you need to reduce the number of your trumps so that you have no more than RHO, and keep your entries to Partner's hand so that you can lead a plain card from partner's hand at the pivotal trick (normally trick 12). No question here that East could have done better (by covering the 10), but he wasn't to know Partner had the 9 or that I was intending the trump coup all along if the King was onside.

Sometimes you can be in too much of a hurry to grab tricks. Jeremy and I combined well on this hand, but our good result was mainly down to Jeremy not being too hasty:

Game All, Dealer West

You are North, holding

North
75
J107
A9742
AK6

Bidding
West     North     East     South
No          1        No        1
1         X⁽¹⁾       2       No⁽²⁾
No          2NT⁽³⁾   No        3 ⁽⁴⁾
No          3 ⁽⁵⁾   No        No
3         All Pass

⁽¹⁾ Support Double, showing 3-card Hearts
⁽²⁾ Lower range or only 4-card hearts (or both, in this case  )
⁽³⁾ Lebensohl
⁽⁴⁾ Forced
⁽⁵⁾ Competitive with 5+ Diamonds

A nice sequence in which we competed as high as we dared and then went quietly over 3 . No need to double on what was clearly a 20-20 hand or thereabouts. If 3 was off it would be a decent result and if it was making, then clearly it was their hand.

Jeremy led the King and Dummy went down:

East (Dummy)
J93
AQ62
Q105
983

                   North
                    75
                    J107
                    A9742
                    AK6

South encourages with the 7 on trick 1. What do you do?

A lot of people would blindly continue with the King. If there are 3 Club tricks, however, it is unlikely that West will ever be in a position to discard a Club unless they have Kx (which, though not impossible, is unlikely). Bearing in mind that you have led the King at trick 1 (asking for attitude in my suggested methods), partner is just as likely to encourage with the Jack as with the Queen, in case you are leading from KQx.

Jeremy did very well to switch to the Jack at trick 2. Declarer rose with Dummy's Ace and led a small Spade from Dummy. South hopped up with the Ace and led the Jack and Jeremy took Declarer's Queen with his Ace and returned a 3rd Club, won by South's 10. The 8 followed. North took his Ace and switched back to  the 10, covered in Dummy and won by South's King.

6 tricks for the defence in a Spade contract looks fairly normal, but lots of EW Pairs were making 2 , mostly because North was too impatient to cash out the Clubs, which costs the defence a trick.

So well done Jeremy! As Declarer remarked part-way through the defence "You guys are playing me like a piano"

This was an interesting hand I played with a South African * player in a match yesterday, the result of which hinged totally on my choice of opening lead:

EW Game, Dealer North

You are South:

South
  K1098763
  6
  A6
!K KJ7

Bidding
North     East     South     West
1         1       1 ⁽¹⁾    3
4         No        4 ⁽²⁾     5
No          No        ??

(1) 5+ Spades
(2) Obviously 6-card or longer Spades

What now? It's fairly obvious that West and North are both fairly short in Spades (West because of their 3 jump, which sounds like a void, and North because of their failure to support Spades), so I wasn't about to insist on my Spades. Similarly, given the vulnerability it was fairly obvious that EW were playing poker rather than Bridge, because clearly North has a Minor 2-suiter and we certainly appear to have the balance of the points. I didn't think we could possibly make 6 in either Minor either, so I was left with simply doubling 5 and everyone passed.

What to lead? I decided that a Spade lead was not likely to be a success, especially if West was void in Spades (although both North and West having a singleton seemed more likely otherwise that would probably give East 5-card Spades). A trump wasn't indicated either since clearly EW had a big Heart fit and so I was unlikely to cut down much in the way of ruffs (I'm provisionally putting Partner with something like 1255 shape).

It seemed to come down to leading one of the Minors, therefore. In the end I chose the wrong one (Diamonds), but I'm pretty much on a complete guess anyway. This was the hand:

                   North
                    A
                    K
                    QJ8743
                    Q6542
West                                 East
  Q                                    J542
  J108753                          AQ942
  109                                K52
  A1083                            9
                   South
                    K1098763
                    6
                    A6
                    KJ7

As you can see, any lead other than a Diamond takes 5 off and a Spade lead will get it -2 ( switch at trick 2). After the lead of the Ace of Diamonds, however, Declarer can just cross-ruff his way to glory, losing only a Spade. Even against perfect defence, 5 !SX is only -2, which would have been cheaper than 5!HX making LOL.

Some hands are awkward in that you cannot make a really concrete plan until part-way through the hand. Some hands, however, are much easier, and the plan should be obvious at trick one. The following hand is a really good example, on which you are sat North:

Love All, Dealer West

Bidding
West     North     East     South
No          1         1       X⁽¹⁾
No          1 ⁽²⁾    No        1 ⁽³⁾
No          2 ⁽⁴⁾    No        2
All Pass

(1) 5-7 any shape
(2) 2-way
(3) Relay
(4) / 2-suiter

South (Dummy)
  A106542
  865
  Q10
  107

3 led

North
  -
  QJ932
  K84
  AKQJ8

On the lead of the 3 you think a while and then go up with Dummy's Ace (West plays the 7 and you discard a Diamond from hand). What should your plan be?

Looking at Dummy and with the friendly lead, you're now probably wishing you had made an invitation over 2 , because lots of pairs will surely be in game here. With 5 Club tricks waiting to be cashed, it's clear the main emphasis of your plan should be drawing trumps as quickly and safely as possible. The lead has given you a free, extra entry to Dummy which means that leading trumps twice towards your QJ is now easy, allowing you to play for split heart honours or the 10 onside.

Since you have absolutely no need to ruff anything in Dummy, there's no need whatever to delay drawing the trumps, so you should lead a Heart from Dummy at trick 2, because the only real danger on this hand is losing trump control if Opps decide to force you in Spades. You cannot afford to do anything other than lead a trump immediately. If you do, West plays the 7 and East takes your Jack with the Ace and leads the Queen. Now you can ruff in hand, cross to the 10 and lead another Heart, which West takes with the King and leads a third Spade. You can now ruff, draw the last trump and run all of your Clubs. At the end, East still has to give you a Diamond trick for your 10th trick, because they only have Diamonds left.

At the table, Partner led a Diamond at trick 2 to her King and East's Ace, and was got forced in Spades. Now Declarer crossed to the 10 and forced her own hand by ruffing a 2nd Spade, crossed back to Dummy's Queen and led a Heart to her Jack and East's Ace. East continued with a Diamond, so Declarer ruffed in Dummy and discarded a Club Winner from hand. Still she neglected to lead trumps and crossed back to hand with a Club and then played a 3rd round of Clubs, which East ruffed with the 4 and on which Declarer discarded a Spade rather than overruffing in Dummy. Another Diamond followed and Declarer discarded yet another Spade from Dummy rather than ruffing with the 8. That allowed West to  discard their last losing Club and forced Declarer to ruff with the 9, with the K10 still out there. Needless to say, that was the last trick and the defence took the last 2.

4 Pairs were going off in 4 , but 7 bid it and made it. 2 making only 8 tricks was not a disaster, therefore, but almost every other Pair were making 9 or 10 tricks. The point about this hand is that you really need to concentrate on identifying the essential issues in a hand. Here, with a cast iron 7 tricks outside the trump suit (1 , 1 and 5 ), the looming threat of being forced in Spades and West overuffing Diamonds, the essential feature of the hand is drawing trumps as quickly as possible.

Eszter did really well on the defence of this hand. Lots of other pairs missed getting the defence right. You are North at Love All and West was the Dealer.

North
  AQ103
  A9654
  2
  J53

Bidding
West     North     East     South
1        1         X          No
2        No          3NT       All Pass

Partner leads the 10 (playing Strong 10's) and Dummy goes down with

                     West (Dummy)
                      4
                      2
                      K9854
                      AKQ1074

North
  AQ103
  A9654
  2
  J53

How do you plan the defence?

Since Partner couldn't even bid 2 over East's negative double, it's almost inconceivable that they have an interior sequence here (because it would have to give them AJ10 or KJ10 and they surely would have doubled 3NT  with a 3-card holding that good). It's much more likely that they have 10x in Hearts (in fact I had 1083 but really didn't want Eszter to think I might have a top honour in Hearts and rightly felt she'd realise this couldn't be a "strong" lead). Eszter went up with the Ace at trick 1, smartly switched to her 3, and we took the first 5 tricks.

3NT by East was the overwhelmingly popular choice of contract on this hand and made more often than not, despite a Heart bid by North most of the time and a Major suit lead all of the time. Where a Spade was led it usually went off (apart from a couple of ridiculous misdefences), but when a Heart was led by South after a Heart overcall by North, the contract usually made (especially when South led a small Heart, because North continued Hearts after taking their Ace and Declarer took the rest. At one table, North even ducked the first Heart and Declarer made 13!

So well done, Eszter, for switching to a Spade when the Hearts were clearly hopeless (if only from the bidding).

This was an informative hand that Eszter and I played today. Defence is never easy, but it really helps if you take note of every card that's played and try to work things out from there: On this hand you are North. West opened a 2nd-in-hand 1NT and everyone passed. You are looking at

North
A63
J943
97
AQJ7

You choose to lead the Queen (I think that would probably have been the last card in my hand I would have chosen, but that's not the issue here). Dummy goes down:

East (Dummy)
K542
108
J632
543

                 North
                  A63
                  J943
                  97
                  AQJ7

On trick 1 everyone ducks and Partner plays the encouraging 9. You continue with the 7, which runs to Partner's 10 and Declarer's King (ooops). Declarer now leads the 10 (You play low) and overtakes with Dummy's King and leads the Diamond Jack off the table. Partner rises up with the Ace and leads a 3rd round of Clubs. Declarer follows with the 8 and you take your two Club tricks. On the last Club Dummy sheds the 2, Partner the Heart 6 and Declarer the 2.

Now what?

East (Dummy)
542
108
53
-

                 North
                  A6
                  J943
                  7
                  -

You've taken 4 tricks at this stage and Declarer only two. Partner's 6 is not encouraging a Heart switch, but it's difficult to read it as a clear suit preference signal for either Spades or Diamonds.

The play at trick 2 was a little curious: Partner's 9 is clearly suggesting an even number of Spades, but if Declarer has 4-card Spades including the QJ10, leading the 10 and overtaking with the King solely to get to Dummy in order to lead the Jack of Diamonds would be a curious play. Clearly the Diamond suit is important to Declarer and it sounds like Declarer was missing the Ace and the Queen, which Partner must have, so a Diamond switch should clearly be right off the menu. The choice, then, should be one of the Majors.

In practice it Doesn't matter which Major you choose. The main thing is not to lead a Diamond. The full hand:

                 South
                  J987
                  Q76
                  AQ8
                  1096
East (Dummy)             West
K542                            Q10
108                              AK52
J632                            K1064
543                              K82
                 North
                  A63
                  J943
                  97
                  AQJ7

Clearly Declarer would have done better to lead a small Diamond from hand at trick 3 rather than touching the Spades, but if you play the Ace of Spades at trick 7, the Queen falls and Partner takes 2 more Spades and then switches back to a Heart. If you lead a Heart, then Declarer has to put Partner in with the Queen at some point and Partner (me) definitely would have switched back to Spades (I nearly switched to Spades at trick 4 rather than continuing Clubs, because I was suspicious of the 10 at trick 3 when Partner played the 3).

At the table Eszter led a Diamond and Declarer was easily able to wrap up 3 Diamonds to add to the Spade, Club and 2 Hearts. Maybe I should have encouraged Hearts with the 7 rather than playing the ambiguous 6 on Eszter's last Club (and riasking a Diamond from Eszter), but I can't afford to play either a Spade or a Diamond and I really want a Spade rather than anything else whether Declarer started with Q10 or A10, so I felt I had to hope Eszter could read the 6 and would realise that I had almost certainly started with AQx and Declarer with K10xx, because nothing else would explain using up Dummy's only possible entry just to lead the Jack of Diamonds.

Ho Hum...

LOL, Ash: It's been one of the fundamental tenets of playing Precision Club since the late 1960's. It's not my approach. It's Precision's approach.

As I said before to Brian, OCP doesn't say you must pass with this kind of hand. It's simply a matter of where you, Brian or I, personally, draw the line between passing and bidding. For myself, I tend to pass with less than an 8-count (and maybe even some poor 8-counts), and take some action (eg: 1NT) if I have a decent 8 or more but, as always, I take each hand as it comes rather than giving myself hard and fast rules set in concrete.

If someone else sets their line lower (or even higher), that's absolutely fine with me. OCP doesn't set a line. All the system says is that a hand that would typically bid a limit 1NT over a Major Suit opening, playing Acol or Standard American, will normally pass when playing Precision. I may be wrong, but I rather think that is almost identical to what Eric Jannerstern says somewhere in his excellent book on Precision (which is what I read when I first really started to learn Precision).

Similarly with the order of priority with Opener's rebids over a Forcing 1NT response. Those are definitely not my original ideas. Admittedly, the reasoning behind them may originally have had less to do with making the bidding as constructive as possible and more to do with  keeping the bidding as low as possible for times when when Responder has the "long weak suit" variety of response (which, if you're not playing Asking Bids, is always available in Precision [and 2/1]). I don't know.

Once again, if you decide to rebid 2M on a 6-card suit and hide a 4-card Minor rather than showing it, that's a matter for you to decide (you're playing the hand, after all), but that approach definitely is at odds with Brian's strategy of bidding 1NT on a 1444 6 or 7-count in the hope of Opener showing a second suit, because when you're 6-4 you are not going to be showing the second suit and will simply end up playing in 2 rather than 1 .