This article is part of a series on Declarer Play. Each article builds on concepts introduced in the previous ones, creating a structured progression of knowledge. To get the most out of this series and develop a solid understanding, it’s highly recommended that you study the articles in sequence.
In the previous article, we explored how to reduce losers by using Dummy’s trumps to ruff them. This technique allowed us to eliminate potential losing cards by gaining control of the suit through trumping.
Now, we’ll shift our focus to another effective method for reducing losers: discarding them on extra winners in Dummy. By capitalizing on surplus winners in one suit, we can strategically eliminate losing cards from other suits, improving the overall outcome of the hand.
The question arises: “What exactly is an extra winner? Is it the same as an overtrick? I like overtricks.”
An overtrick is one type of extra trick—specifically, a trick beyond the number required to fulfill your contract. Overtricks contribute to your score but aren’t necessary to meet the basic goal of the hand.
However, when we talk about reducing losers, an “extra winner” has a specific purpose. It refers to a winner in Dummy that Declarer can use to discard a losing card from their own hand.
This situation only occurs when Dummy has at least one more card in a suit than Declarer, and that extra card is a winner. This allows Declarer to transfer the burden of a loser onto Dummy’s surplus winner, improving their position in the hand.
Perhaps an example would make this clearer. Let’s look at one together.
Example 1
| Dummy ♥ A K 4 ♣ J 7 |
| You ♥ Q 2 ♣ 8 5 |
Let’s assume a different suit is trump, and for now, we’ll focus solely on these two side suits (the non-trump suits).
When taking inventory, we concentrate only on the number of cards Declarer holds in each suit. This process is not about how the hand will ultimately be played but rather a method for evaluating the situation.
The first step is to identify winners and potential losers within Declarer’s hand. Once we have a clear inventory of these, we can create a plan for minimizing the number of losers, ensuring a stronger position in the overall play of the hand.
Take inventory:
When taking inventory, we consider your distribution, which includes 2 hearts and 2 clubs.
In hearts, you have 2 winners and 0 losers, as both cards are high enough to secure tricks.
In clubs, you have 0 winners and 2 losers, as neither card can win a trick based on the current distribution and available high cards.
This inventory provides the foundation for planning how to maximize your winners and minimize your losers as the hand develops.
Make a plan:
Your club losers cannot be eliminated by ruffing them in Dummy, as Dummy must follow suit for both rounds of clubs.
When taking inventory, you counted only 2 heart winners because you have just 2 hearts in your hand. However, during the actual play, Dummy’s third heart becomes an additional winner. This extra winner can be used to discard one of your club losers. To do this effectively, remember to play the honor from the shorter hand first—in this case, the ♥Q.
This strategy highlights the importance of considering how Dummy’s surplus cards can be leveraged to reduce your losers and improve the overall outcome of the hand.
Dummy’s third heart winner is referred to as “extra” because it wasn’t included in the initial inventory. During inventory, only the cards in Declarer’s hand are considered when counting winners and losers. The third heart in Dummy becomes a winner only during the actual play of the hand, which is why it is considered an additional or “extra” winner.
Example 2
| Dummy ♥ K J 4 ♣ A 7 |
| You ♥ Q 2 ♣ 8 5 |
I’ve adjusted Dummy’s honors. Now the defenders hold a heart stopper (♥A), but Dummy has gained a club stopper (♣A).
Let’s take inventory:
In hearts, you have 1 winner and 1 loser, as the ♥A held by the defenders will win a trick.
In clubs, you also have 1 winner and 1 loser, with the ♣A securing a trick while the remaining club is a potential loser.
This new distribution sets the stage for refining your strategy to minimize losers and optimize your overall play.
The defenders must play their ♥A on one of the first two rounds of hearts. If they delay and wait to play it on the third round, you’ll be able to trump it, and they’ll lose their chance to win a heart trick.
Once the ♥A is out of play, Dummy will hold a third-round heart winner, referred to as an “extra winner.”
Evaluate the competing priorities:
Your goal is to establish Dummy’s extra winner to discard your club loser.
Their objective is to drive out your club stopper (♣A), allowing them to cash a club trick later.
This creates a race to remove stoppers. The defenders are focused on removing your club stopper, while you’re working to neutralize their heart stopper. Success in this contest will determine which side gains the upper hand in controlling the play.
When both sides have an equal number of stoppers, the outcome often depends on who acts first. To gain the upper hand, you should focus on establishing your extra winner in hearts before the defenders have an opportunity to lead clubs. Acting quickly and decisively ensures that you can set up your play and discard your club loser, preventing them from gaining control of the situation.
Make a plan:
Avoid making plays in the other two suits if there’s any risk of losing the lead. If the defenders gain the lead, they will likely switch to clubs, allowing them to win the race to cash a club trick before you have a chance to discard your club loser.
If you can draw trumps without surrendering the lead, it’s safe to do so before playing hearts. However, if pulling trumps carries a risk of losing the lead, prioritize establishing your extra heart winner and discarding your club loser first. This approach ensures that you secure your position and maintain control before addressing the trumps.
Example 3
| Dummy ♥ K J 4 ♣ J 7 |
| You ♥ Q 2 ♣ 8 5 |
This time, I’ve removed your club stopper, changing the dynamic of the hand.
Take inventory:
What is the count of winners and losers?
Assess the threat:
The defenders aim to cash two club tricks, capitalizing on their position.
Your objective is to discard one of your club losers, limiting them to cashing only a single club trick.
The challenge lies in the fact that they hold a heart stopper, while you lack a club stopper. As a result, even if you initiate the play first, you won’t be able to win this race to control the number of tricks they can take.
Here’s how it (most likely) would go wrong:
- You drive out their ♥A to develop an extra winner in dummy.
- They would have the lead. What would they do?
Example 4
| Dummy ♥ K Q T |
| You ♥ A 7 2 |
3 winners, 0 losers
Do you have an extra winner in dummy?
Example 5
| Dummy ♦ Q J 4 |
| You ♦ A 2 |
1 winner, 1 loser
Do you have an extra winner in dummy?
A thoughtful question arises: “Couldn’t I lead the ♦Q from Dummy and finesse for the ♦K?”
Yes, that’s certainly an option, my curious friend.
However, we’ll explore the concept of finessing to reduce losers in greater detail in the next article. Stay tuned!
Example 6
| Dummy ♣ A K Q 4 |
| You ♣ 7 3 2 |
3 winners, 0 losers
Do you have an extra winner in dummy?
What should you do before you play your clubs?
Example 7
| Dummy ♣ A K Q 4 |
| You ♣ 7 3 2 |
1 winner, 1 loser
Do you have an extra winner in dummy?
Example 8
| Dummy ♥ K Q J 4 3 |
| You ♥ A 7 |
2 winners, 0 losers
How many extra winners do you expect to have?
Example 9
| Dummy ♠ A Q J 2 ♥ K J 4 ♦ K 7 6 4 ♣ A 7 |
| You ♠ T 7 6 5 3 ♥ Q 2 ♦ A Q 9 3 ♣ 8 5 |
Your contract is 5♠. You can only afford to lose 2 tricks.
The opening lead is the ♠8.
Take inventory:
spades: 4 winners, 1 loser
hearts: 1 winner, 1 loser
diamonds: 4 winners, 0 losers (assuming a normal 3-2 split, your fourth round ♦9 will be a skater)
clubs: 1 winner, 1 loser
Assess the threat:
You have too many losers.
Can you trump any of them in dummy?
Which suit can be developed for an extra winner in dummy?
Which loser can you discard on dummy’s extra winner?
This hand revolves around a race to resolve your club loser. The defenders aim to cash the club loser, while you seek to discard it. They hold a heart stopper, and you hold a club stopper. The outcome hinges on who can eliminate the opponent’s stopper first—whoever succeeds will gain the upper hand in the race.
Make a plan:
What should you play on the opening spade lead?
What will you play from dummy after winning the opening lead?
Example 10
| Dummy ♠ J 7 6 4 |
| You ♠ A K 2 |
Count your spade winners and losers.
What lucky lie of the cards would make this spade loser go away?
If the ♠Q doesn’t drop, as is likely, what other scenario could occur to create an extra winner in Dummy, potentially resulting in a fourth-round winner?
What must you do before you play your spades?
The response comes confidently, “I already knew that.”
Example 11
| Dummy ♠ J 8 5 2 ♥ Q J 3 ♦ K J 4 ♣ K 5 4 |
| You ♠ K Q T 9 4 ♥ K 9 2 ♦ Q 2 ♣ A 6 2 |
As Declarer in a 4♠ contract, your objective is to secure 10 tricks to fulfill the contract requirements.
“This looks straightforward,” comes the observation. “I see the 10 tricks I need: 4 spades, 2 hearts, 2 diamonds, and 2 clubs. There doesn’t seem to be any immediate danger. However, if the defenders manage to ruff one of my winners, that could spell trouble. To prevent that, I’ll prioritize drawing trumps as soon as possible.”
“All right, my optimistic friend,” I reply. “It sounds like you’ve jumped straight to making a plan without first counting your winners and losers, as we usually do. Let’s play through the hand and see how your strategy unfolds.”
(Here’s a little secret: the diamond winners were counted incorrectly. The master hand only contains two diamonds, meaning there’s only one actual winner in that suit.)
The opening lead is the ♣Q.
- You win the opening lead with your ♣A. Then, following your plan, you lead spades, beginning to pull trump.
- They win your spade lead with their ♠A, and return to leading clubs.
- You win this second club lead with your ♣K, and finish pulling trump.
- It doesn’t matter which suit you lead next. They have the master cards in all three side suits, so they can quickly seize the lead and cash the rest of their winners.
- With your plan, they can win ♠A, ♥A, ♦A, and the third round of clubs. Four defensive winners is too many. Your contract fails.
“Well, that didn’t go as planned,” comes the disappointed observation.
(repeated)
| Dummy ♠ J 8 5 2 ♥ Q J 3 ♦ K J 4 ♣ K 5 4 |
| You ♠ K Q T 9 4 ♥ K 9 2 ♦ Q 2 ♣ A 6 2 |
You can succeed, but only if you start by carefully counting both winners and losers. Let’s reset. You’re missing three aces, and you also have a third-round loser in clubs. That totals four potential losers—too many to make your contract.
Your first priority should be to reduce your losers. By eliminating just one, you’ll have the flexibility to focus on developing the 10 winners you need.
There’s nothing you can do to prevent the opponents from cashing their three aces, but you can address your club loser—provided you act quickly enough.
Now, consider Dummy’s hand. Which of Dummy’s suits could be developed into an extra winner?
Which suit in Dummy’s hand has the potential to be developed into an extra winner?
A successful plan works like this:
The opening lead is the ♣Q.
- You win the opening lead with your ♣A, and lead (NOT trumps) but ♦Q, to drive out their ♦A and establish dummy’s diamonds as winners. You are preparing to discard your club loser on an extra diamond winner before they can win a club trick.
- When they win with their ♦A, they play a second round of clubs. This establishes a third-round defensive club trick, but you’re not going to let them cash it.
- You win their second club lead with your ♣K. To prevent your conniving opponents from cashing a club trick when they next have the lead, you…
- Cash the dummy’s diamond winners, discarding the losing club from your hand. In effect, you turn your club “loser” into a winner by playing it on a trick you win – dummy’s extra diamond winner.
- Now that you’re out of clubs in your hand, you can trump any future club leads the defenders might make.
- Next, turn your attention to pulling trump. And last, establish your 2 heart winners.
If the defense tries to cash a club trick at any time, you’ll trump it.
That’s the beauty of playing with a trump suit. Sometimes you can trump their “winners”.
And that’s why we begin our planning for trump contracts by counting losers. Getting rid of an excess loser needs to happen before the defense can cash it.
In no-trump contracts, both sides often compete to establish and cash enough tricks to either fulfill or defeat the contract. This race typically revolves around securing control of an entire suit.
In contracts with a trump suit, the focus often shifts to eliminating a specific loser before the opponents have a chance to cash it. In this hand, the critical race centers on avoiding the loss of the third round of clubs.
| Dummy ♦ K J 4 |
| You ♦ Q 2 |
“Extra winners in Dummy can be a tricky concept,” comes the thoughtful remark.
“When I drive out the ♦A, I’ll have 2 diamond winners in Dummy. I know I only have 2 diamonds in my own hand, but why can’t I count both of Dummy’s winners?”
Extra winners in Dummy are only valuable if you have losers in your hand to discard on them. If your hand has no losers in that suit, the extra winner in Dummy becomes redundant, as you’d simply end up discarding another winner instead.
Let me show you…
Example 12
| Dummy ♠ A J 8 ♥ A K Q J T ♦ 4 3 ♣ 8 5 4 |
| You ♠ K Q T 9 4 ♥ 4 3 2 ♦ A K ♣ A K Q |
With spades as trump, you can easily win all 13 tricks by starting with the opening lead, drawing trumps, and playing carefully.
Using your hand as the master hand, you have no losers. For winners, you can count:
5 spades, 3 hearts, 2 diamonds, and 3 clubs, totaling all 13 tricks.
It’s important to remember that a bridge hand consists of only 13 tricks, so it’s not possible to win 15 tricks by playing for 5 heart winners in Dummy. While creative thinking is great, the math of the game is fixed!
It’s true that you can draw trumps (spades) and cash all five of Dummy’s hearts. However, what will you discard on the fourth and fifth heart winners? For example, if you choose to discard your ♦A and ♦K, how does that impact your overall strategy?
At the end of the hand, you will have secured a total of…
5 spades, 5 hearts, 0 diamonds, and 3 clubs—adding up to the same total of 13 tricks. No more, no less.
Using the extra winners in Dummy didn’t increase your overall trick total. All that happened was a shift—two diamond winners were replaced by two heart winners, leaving the total number of tricks unchanged.
Now let’s change the hand a little.
Example 13
| Dummy ♠ A J 8 ♥ A K Q J T ♦ 4 3 ♣ 8 5 4 |
| You ♠ K Q T 9 4 ♥ 4 3 2 ♦ 5 2 ♣ A K Q |
Let’s adjust the scenario: your ♦A and ♦K are replaced with two diamond losers.
Now, counting your master hand, you have 11 winners and 2 losers.
If you gain the lead, you can draw trumps and then cash all 13 tricks by discarding your two diamond losers on Dummy’s two extra heart winners. This allows you to convert your 2 potential losers into winners, increasing your total from 11 tricks to 13.
However, if the defenders lead with a diamond at the start, they can cash both diamond tricks, leaving you with only 11 tricks. This emphasizes the importance of timing and seizing control early in the hand.
Once your diamond losers have been taken, you would still be able to cash 5 spades, 3 hearts, and 3 clubs, resulting in a total of 11 tricks.
Cashing all five of Dummy’s hearts wouldn’t be beneficial because it would require you to discard two of your club winners, ultimately reducing your overall trick count.
You would win 5 spades, 5 hearts, and 1 club—resulting in the same total of 11 tricks as you would without cashing Dummy’s extra winners.
The key takeaway is this:
“Extra winners” will only add to your total number of tricks if they allow you to discard losing cards from your hand.
Combining two techniques
Sometimes, having an extra winner in your own hand can help you reduce your losers.
You won’t need to ruff it in Dummy since it’s already a winning card. However, if you can discard a card from Dummy in a suit where it holds a loser, you might shorten Dummy’s holdings in that suit enough to ruff your loser later.
Before we dive in, a puzzled voice cuts in: “I’m already lost. This sounds boring. Where’s the excitement?”
All right, let’s make this clearer by walking through an example hand.
Example 14
| Dummy ♠ K 6 5 2 ♥ A J 5 3 ♦ A 7 4 ♣ Q 4 |
| You ♠ Q 8 4 ♥ K Q T 2 ♦ 9 2 ♣ A K J 2 |
It seems someone decided these cards were strong enough to bid beyond the game level. (Was it you by any chance?)
In any case, you’ve landed in a contract of 5♥.
A 4♥ contract would have been more manageable, but here we are—let’s focus on trying to make the 5♥ contract.
Begin by taking inventory: count your winners and your losers.
The total is 10 winners and 3 losers. We need to turn one of the losers into a winner.
Can you trump any of your losers in the dummy?
Does dummy have any extra winners that you could use to discard a loser?
Now let’s turn our attention to your own winners. In which suit do you have extra winners where dummy won’t follow suit?
What could you discard from dummy on your extra winners which would later allow dummy to trump one of your losers?
Discarding from Dummy onto extra winners in your hand does not immediately reduce your losers. However, it can serve an important purpose by shortening Dummy’s holding in a critical suit, enabling you to later ruff one of your own losers. Ruffing a loser in Dummy does directly reduce your total losers.
What do you need to do before you can cash your extra club winners?
The response is quick and confident: “I know this one. I need to draw trumps first. I also see that the trumps must split 3-2 so that Dummy will have a trump left when I want to ruff one of my losers.”
Who are you, and what have you done with the earlier version of yourself? Just kidding—great job! You’re becoming more skilled and confident in your declarer play with every hand. Keep it up!