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.
Then ask yourself: Can I set this suit up?
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.
That is one of the biggest lightbulb moments in bridge: your 2s, 4s, and 5s can become real tricks when opponents have no cards left in that suit.
So as declarer, don't just count your top winners. Also look for your trick source.
If your long suit is your trick source, start working on it early. Set it up, keep entries in mind, and then cash it when it is ready.
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 drawing 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
When dummy comes down, pay attention to your long suits. Make this your first instinct: Can I play that suit first? Unless you see a strong reason not to, it is often right to start there.