Overview
You are playing in Notrump, but you do not have enough sure tricks. How can you develop more tricks to make your contract?
There are 3 primary methods:
Finesse
Length
Promotion
(These methods are also viable in suit contracts once opponents are out of trumps)
Finesse
When finessing, you are hoping that a certain card is with a certain opponent.
North: AQ7
West: K84 East: JT96
South: 532
If you play the A, then the Q, you only take one trick (with the A).
Instead, you should lead from South towards the AQ7. What can West play? If West plays low, you can win the trick with the Q. If West plays K, you win with the A and your Q will be “promoted”.
Note that had East held the K, you would not be able to score the Q, so a standard finesse has a 50-50 likelihood to succeed.
Length
When you have a long suit, you can set up your smaller cards once your opponents do not have any more in that suit.
AK765
QJT 98
432
You have two sure tricks (A & K). After playing the AK and then a third one, your opponents can win but will have no more cards in the suit and your last two cards are winners. Thus, you created two extra tricks.
Promotion
You can develop winners by driving out your opponent’s high cards.
KQJ
A32 T976
854
After you play the K, your opponent can win the Ace whenever they want, but the other two honors in dummy will win 2 tricks. This is called “driving out” or :knocking out” the opponent’s Ace.
Examples:
1.
Contract: 6NT
Opening Lead: West leads the ♠T.
Dummy: ♠Qxx ♥xxx ♦AKQJ ♣xxx
Declarer: ♠AKJ ♥KQJ ♦xxxx ♣AQJ
You count 3 spade winners, 0 heart winners, 4 diamond winners, and one club winner. You can establish two more heart tricks after the ♥A is knocked out (promotion). You can hope to score your ♣QJ through finessing; lead from dummy towards the ♣AQJ.
2.
Contract: 3NT
Opening Lead: West leads the ♠T.
Dummy: ♠Jxx ♥Jx ♦Axx ♣AQJxx
Declarer: ♠AK9 ♥Qxxx ♦Txx ♣xxx
You count two spade winners, one diamond winner, and one club winner.
If you cover the ♠T with the ♠J. If East has the ♠Q, East must cover with it. However, that will promote your ♠9. If West has the ♠Q, the ♠J will hold. So, in total, you will always have 3 spade tricks.
You can find the rest of the needed tricks in clubs. Finesse the clubs and hope West has ♣K. Furthermore, hope that clubs split 3-2; after you play three round of clubs (AQJ), your last two cards will become winners (length)
As shown in the examples, you will likely utilize all three techniques in a hand, sometimes even in the same suit, to maximize your chances of making the contract.