Playing Long Suits: Build Extra Winners Early
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Playing our long suits: a key source of extra tricks
One of the best habits you can have as a bridge player, whether you are newer to bridge or already experienced, is to focus on your long suits.
Give them a good look every time you are declarer.
Extra tricks usually come from long suits, not just from aces and kings.
This applies in both no-trump contracts and suit contracts.
It's simple advice: when dummy comes down, look for your 5-card suits, or even 6+ card suits. The longer, the better.
Very often, the answer is yes. You might lose a trick or two while doing it, but once defenders run out of that suit, your small cards can become winners.
So as declarer, don't just count your top winners. Also look for your trick source.
Examples
Playing in 4♠, you get the K♥ lead. Its a good idea to stop here and look at the hand properly, think how you would play it.
N North
♠ A982
♥ 3
♦ K10842
♣ K73
S South
♠ KQ1043
♥ A82
♦ A3
♣ Q96
Lets build the skill right here and now.
Step 1 - look for your longest suit, outside of trumps. Here that is diamonds, did you notice that?
A lot of people see 2 diamond tricks when they look at that suit, the Ace and the KIng. I see 3 or 4 diamond tricks, knowing that there are hidden tricks waiting in your long suits!
Step 2 - play your long suit. A lot of the time you will want to play your long suit before drawwing trumps, but that is beyond the scope of this article - the main thing to get out of this now is to identify your long suit, and get in the habit of playing it.
💡 what does playing the suit mean? Not just one or two rounds, playing it repeatedly until it is setup, and then enjoying your winners in the suit. Remember at some point you will have to draw trumps so the opponents don't just ruff your winners!
A simple habit that will serve you well for your entire bridge career
Where to next
Beginner learning path
Use this sequence to stay consistent: start with the first lesson, then move forward one step at a time.
Build the habit with guided practice
Reading helps, but trainer reps are what make bidding decisions automatic under pressure. Use the trainer to train your mind and lock this theme in.
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