The PRINCIPLES OF PLAYING THE HAND.
                                                                                                                                                                                                             Back

A. Definitions:

    "DECALRER" the player of the pair who won the final contract in the bidding & must play his and partner's
    (dummy's) hand.

    "DUMMY" the partner of the declarer who must expose his hand after the opening lead for declarer to play.
    Aka. the "TABLE" or "BOARD" not to be confused with actual physical entities.

    "RHO" means "Right Hand Opponent".

    "LHO" means "Left Hand Opponent".

    "STRENGTH" pertains only to the potential high card natural winners in a suit (8 or higher) , regardless of length
    in that suit.

    "LENGTH" pertains to the number of cards in a given suit beyond the first 4 cards. Length does not mean strength.

    "TRICK" pertains to the sequence of four cards played in clockwise rotation which is normally won by the
    highest played card.

    "LEAD" pertains to the first card played on a trick. It is normally the winner of the prior trick that leads to the
    next trick, except for the

    "OPENING LEAD" is the lead to the first trick by declarer's LHO.

    "FOLLOWING SUIT" refers to the requirement that after the lead to a trick, all other players must play a card of
    the same suit if they can.

    "TRUMP" pertains to a suit being declared in the bidding as "TRUMP", wherein every card in that suit is
    capable of winning a trick in another suit that is led, assuming the player cannot FOLLOW SUIT
    of the trick led. If two or more trumps are played to a trick, the higher one wins. The more trump
    a player has, the better.

    "DOMINANT LENGTH" pertains to the hand among all players that has the greatest length in a suit.

    "PREDOMINANT LENGTH" pertains to the hand between partners that has the greatest length in a suit.

    "SUBORDINANT LENGTH" pertains to the hand between partners that has the shorter length in a suit.

    "SUPPORTED" means a high card has at least 2 low cards beneath it.

    "BACKED" means a high card has touching underlings.

    "UNDERLING" means a card touching a higher card.

    "SHELTERED SEQUENCE" pertains to a continuous sequence of touching cards above & including the 8, said sequence
    being long enough to drive out the higher honors and produce at least 1 natural winner.

    "AT RISK HONOR" is an honor card which can be lost to the next higher honor, and is not covered by the AK (as in AKJ), and is not part
    of a naked 3+ card sheltered sequence, with the additional provision that in playing no-trump it must not be part of
    any 3+ card sequence (naked or otherwise) & it must not be accompanied by any more than 1 other honor card.

        In AKJx, the J is not at risk, because there is more than 1 other honor.
        In KJT98, the J is top of a complete sequence, BUT THE K IS AT-RISK .
        In AJT98, the J is not at risk in no-trump, but the J IS AT-RISK in a trump contract.
        In QJx, the Q IS AT-RISK , because the Q is not part of a sheltered sequence.
        In QJT, the Q is not at risk, because the Q is part of a sheltered sequence.
        In AQxx, the Q IS AT-RISK , because it has insufficient honors surrounding it.
        In AQJx, the Q is not at risk in no-trump, but the Q IS AT-RISK in a trump contract.
        In AQJT, the Q is not at risk in no-trump, but the Q IS AT-RISK in a trump contract.
        In KQxx, the K IS AT RISK , because it has insufficient honors surrounding it.
        In JT98, the J is not at risk, because the J is part of a sheltered sequence.
        In JT9x, the J IS AT-RISK, because the J is not part of a sheltered sequence.

    "CASH" means to lead out your winners.

    "THE LENGTH-STRENGTH THRESHOLD" is the point where we stop counting winners and begin counting long tricks.
    It is where the holdings 789T & 89TJ meet.

    "LONG NOTHING SUIT" is one containing 4+ cards but has no card higher than the 9.

    "SHORT NOTHING SUIT" is one containing less than 4 cards but has no card higher than the 9.

B. OBJECTIVES: Usually in playing the hand, you are attemtping to do any of five things.

    1. Promote your high cards into winners & Promote your suit length(s) into being runnable.

    2. Keep the opponent under control and force him to lead to you for an extra trick.

    3. Extend your trump suit by ruffing to maximize it's ability to win tricks

    4. Squeeze the opponent in the end game.

    5. Defend.

C. The following describes the general principles of playing the hand roughly in the order of OBJECTIVES above.
    Note: Unless specifically indicated these principles apply to BOTH declarer and defenders.

    1. PRELIMINARY CONCEPTS and PROMOTING YOUR HIGH CARDS and SUIT LENGTHS.

        a. The PRINCIPLES OF MINDSET.

            PRINCIPLE #1: The NO SUCH THING AS ALWAYS principle.
            In defending a hand, you may hear an irrate partner exclaim "Why did you not return my opening lead?", insisting that you
            should always return his opening lead. This is non-sense, unless of course he also bid the suit. But more than likely,
            he is complaining, because you switched suits in compliance with the PROMOTION principles and the LEAD RISK AVOIDANCE
            principle, expecting him to also be in compliance.
            If there is anything we learn in playing bridge, it's that there is NO SUCH THING AS "ALWAYS".
            But there are some "NEVERS".

            PRINCIPLE #2: The POLITENESS principle.
            Do not scold your partner or opponents.
            Do not insist that your opponents bid or play your way.

            PRINCIPLE #3: The DON'T GO TO SLEEP & DON'T GET ANXIOUS principle.
            Pay attention, even if you have a lousey hand. Stay alert.
            But don't get hyper either and start cashing your winners immediately.

            PRINCIPLE #4: The ECONOMY OF MEMORY principle.
            Some people try to count every card played in every suit played from beginning to end.
            As a beginner, unless you have a photographic memory, don't waste your time trying to remember every card played.
            Instead keep track of the number of tricks played in a suit, the first two of which will generally have 4 cards in the suit without
            any discards.
            Also, track what cards have been promoted both in your own hand and in dummy's hand.
            This is far more important than trying to count each and every card that has been played.
            If you need exact counts, I suggest keeping track of how many cards in a suit remain out, not how many have been played.
            Observe suit distribution starting with the SPLIT PERCENTAGE ESTIMATE dynamically modified by observation as the play
            progresses.

            More advanced players will be concerned with actual card count and RECONSTRUCTING THE CARD COUNT for the purposes of
            CARD PLACEMENT. But for the beginner and intermediate player, there are more important other things with which to deal first.

            PRINCIPLE #5: The REEVALUATION principle.
            As the play of the hand proceeds, always be re-evaluating yours & partner's hand in light of the dummy & the
            manner in which the other players manage their cards. As defender, always keep close watch of the dummy &
            your partner's play throughout the course of the play.

            PRINCIPLE #6: The GLOBAL VISION principle.
            Don't just play your own hand. Play everyone's hand, especially your partner's even when on defense.
            Try to ANTICIPATE how the hand is going to play.

            PRINCIPLE #7: The PLAY-TO-WIN principle.
            NEVER ALLOW THE OPPONENT TO WIN ANY MORE TRICKS OTHER THAN THOSE TO WHICH HE IS
            ENTITLED.
            NEVER GIVE THE OPPONENT ANY TRICKS THAT HE WOULD NOT OTHERWISE GET.
            DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO PROMOTE YOURS & PARTNER'S LOWER CARDS INTO WINNERS.
            Have a purpose in playing to every trick, even if you have a bust hand.

            PRINCIPLE #8: The DEFENDER HOPE NOT principle.
            Defenders, NEVER LEAD INTO 4TH HANDS STRENGTH "HOPING" YOUR PARTNER CAN RUFF. NEVER GUESS.
            Observe the bidding & your partner's OBVIOUS SIGNALS. BE PRUDENT.
            Only lead into 4th hand's strength on the opening lead (if necessary) to avoid finessing yourself, or when you have a SINGLETON
            and with a PROTECTED TRUMP that gives you a sure shot at ruffing that suit the next time it is lead.

            PRINCIPLE #9: The COMMON SENSE principle.
            USE IT...your common sense that is.
            Whether you are declarer or defender, the object is to win as many of 13 tricks as possible. Therefore, you should not
            allow your opponents to take any tricks that they would not otherwise get. This may sound like a very simple & common
            sense task, but you would be surprised how easy it is to violate, especially when it comes to "cashing in" your winners or
            rigidly adhering to an agreed upon signaling system ignoring what is in the dummy. You want to win tricks as cheap as possible.
            Treat your cards like money.
            You wouldn’t pay $1000 for a pencil, would you? So don't waste your higher cards catching little fish. Don't waste your ace
            capturing a duece. You want the most bang for your buck. Use your 5, not your ace, to win the 2,3,4 on a trick. Conserve
            your highest cards, ie, "honors", for capturing the opponents' highest cards just below yours & promoting your lower cards.
            Aces are for capturing kings, kings are for capturing queens, etc..

            You would not open your door to a burglar to come in and rob you. Neither should you open the door for your right hand opponent
            to get away with making his king good by under-leading your ace. If you were interested in capturing a bird who got loose in the
            room, you wouldn't open the front door, would you? By the same token, do not underlead your high cards making it possible for
            your high-valued prey to allude capture by your higher cards.

            Example of Common Sense:
            Holding AQ sitting behind right hand opponent's (or dummy's) king, play the queen unless the
            opponent plays the king. This is an example of a "short-card finesse". If you hold the ace,
            but not the queen, & the right hand opponent does not play the king, then do not play your ace,
            because you want to catch that king.

            Examples of lead mistakes.
            Being on opening lead, you lead out the ace of a suit in which you don't have the king & partner
            has not bid the suit. Guess what the other three players do? They play their deuce, 3 & 4 on
            the trick underneath your ace. You have effectively squandered the value of your ace,
            because you did not catch a big fish.

            Having the A of a suit, you under-lead it. Not seeing the ace in sight & being the last to play to
            the trick, the opponent will gladly take his king, leaving you there with your ace to capture his
            deuce on some subsequent trick.

            And whatever you do, certainly do not lead suits in which you hold AT-RISK HONORS.
            Leave this kind of suit alone & let it be lead to you, except when your partner has bid (or signaled) in the suit or you are in danger of
            not getting your winners due to the opponents having a side suit established where they can dump their losers in the suit.

            Many people, myself included, have failed to recognize that the lowest card must be promotable such as leading out the queen
            from QJ9. And many times I have regreted leading that queen when I see AT in the dummy & declarer takes my queen with his king.
            When leading out the top of the promotable sequence observe your partner's play & look very closely at the dummy. I cant tell you
            how many times I've seen the opening leader take his king, & looking straight at the protected queen in dummy & with a negative
            signal from partner he proceeds to cash his ace, thereby setting up the queen as an extra trick for declarer. As the play progresses
            you may want to cash your ace, but not normally in the beginning of play. More will be said later on leads.

        b. The PRINCIPLES OF INDIIVIDUAL HAND EVALUATION.
            (BEFORE OPENING LEAD & BEFORE DUMMY GOES DOWN)

            PRINCIPLE #10: The PRE-PLAY REVIEW principle.
            Evaluate Your Hand Before Playing a card.
            a] In what suits do you have AT-RISK HONORS WHICH ARE TO BE AVOIDED IN LEADING?
            b] What was bid by your partner during the bidding?
            c] What was bid by the opponents?
            d] What is TRUMP (if any) and the length & strength of your holding in it?
            e] In what suits do you have nothing of value? These are EXITS or LOSERS .

            PRINCIPLE #11: The DROP PROTECTED principle.
            A card is said to be "DROP PROTECTED" if there are a sufficient number of other cards in the suit to prevent the opponents from
            capturing that card by simply leading out all of their high cards in that suit, thereby promoting that card into a natural winner.
            The term "DROP PROTECTED" is a pretty common term among bridge circles and means that the highest card will become
            a winner IF THE OPPOSITION LEADS OUT THEIR HIGH CARDS IN SUCCESSION, because there is a sufficient numer of
            lower cards in the suit to buffer against this event.
            Example: Your Qxx in a suit is drop protected. If opponents lead out their A & then K, your Q will
            become a winner. By the same token, your Jxxx is drop protected. But your Qx or Jxx are NOT drop protected.

            PRINCUPLE #12: The POSITIONALLY PROMOTED principle.
            A card is said to be "POSITIONALLY PROMOTED" if it is in the hand immediately behind the would-be higher captor cards sitting in
            the RHO's hand. "POSITIONAL PROMOTION" gives rise to the possibility of "3RD HAND SHORT CARDING" which is also called
            "FINESSING" . A card is FULLY POSITIONALLY PROMOTED if it is positionally promoted & drop protected.
            Example: Your Qxx in a suit is FULLY POSITIONALLY PROMOTED if the AK are in your RHO's hand.

            PRINCIPLE #13: The SHELTERED CARD principle.
            This principle defines a "SHELTERED CARD" as being one that is not only drop protected or positionally promoted, but it is also
            shielded by higher cards from being taken by potential captor cards in the LHO's hand.
            If there is a sheltered card in a suit, then there is a SHELTERING SEQUENCE of cards above that card, whereby the sheltered card can
            be promoted to becoming a natural winner by simply leading out the upper sheltering cards to drive out the opponent's higher cards.

            PRINCIPLE #14: The NATURAL WINNERS principle.
            "NATURAL WINNERS" are those cards which will or may take a trick in their suit , assuming the absence of a trump suit.
            Natural winners are of 3 types: SURE, POSITIONAL or PROMOTIONAL.
            Your greatest concern is the promotion & development of natural winners & the establishment of runnable suits in your hand
            & in partner's hand. In a trump contract, no card is guaranteed to be a "sure winner" except the ace of trump. Just because you
            hold a non-trump ace does not mean it wont be taken by a small trump card when the opponent is void in that suit. But were we to
            always be so pessimistic we would never be able to evaluate our hand. Therefore, we treat our hand as if we were in a no-trump
            contract & evaluate our high cards in each suit as being "Natural Winners", of which there are four types.

            a] Potential Positional Natural Winners are winners only if their would-be captor cards are in RHO's hand.
            They are AT-RISK potential winners.
            Example: Q96 <- Queen drop protected by 9-6
            The Q is only a winner if left hand opponent does not have AK.
            For that reason it is only a POTENTIAL WINNER & not a sure winner.

            Teds Rule : In breaking a NEW SUIT, as long as there is a chance that an AT-RISK honor can be positionally promoted into
            a winner by virtue of playing position, then that suit should not be led by the holder of that honor until there is
            further information acquired regarding that suit.
            Example Holding AKJX or KQJx calls for the lead of the K, because there is a higher promotable sequence.
            But AQJx does not contain a higher promotable sequence over the Q. The lead of this suit gives
            the opponent's K a free ticket, as opposed to holding off to see if the A might not capture the K.

            b] Sure High Natural Winners are Aces only.

            c] Length Promotable Winners (aka, Long Tricks/Reserve Tricks or Distributional Winners).
            Of all the hands at the table, if you have the DOMINANT LENGTH in a suit, then you may be able to run it. if you have a 7 card suit or more
            all in one hand, then you defnitely have a long trick (or tricks) in that suit, because there can be no more than 6 out all in one hand. With
            less than a 7 card suit, you may still have long tricks in a 6 or 5 card suit even if your partner has none in the suit, because you may stil
            l get a favorable split which would establish a long trick(s) for you. With a 4 card suit the chances are slim to find the remaining cards
            distributed 3-3-3, but that does not mean it cannot happen.
            Example: 8765432 <- The deuce is definitely a long trick.

            Runnable suits are especially valuable in no-trump contracts, because once they are established, no one can stop the extra reserve
            of cards (ie, long tricks) held in the dominant hand from winning tricks, ("IF" the player gets in the lead that is). Normally, in a trump
            contract you longest suit will be the trump suit. But you may have a secondary runnable suit called a side-suit. In trump contracts
            these runnable side suits are also useful, especially for declarer, because once he has pulled all outstanding trump, he can run the
            side suit as in no-trump. They are also useful to declarer in helping to pull trump via a tactic called "the Coup" which is discussed
            later. And they are also useful to defenders in their attempt to defeat a no-trump contract or to tap the declare r out of trump in a
            trump contract.

            d] Promotable Sheltered Sure Natural Winners.
            These cards are sheltered (ie, protected) from left hand opponent as described in the SHELTERED CARD
            principle. To determine if a given suit is of this type, we must start from the top & seek out the "LOWEST PROMOTABLE CARD(s)" in
            the suit (if any) based upon increasing suit length.
            Example: QJT <- Ten is sheltered by QJ against the AK & a sure natural winner.

            Identifying the HIGHEST SHELTERED CARD .
            Starting from the top of the suit down, the highest sheltered card can be identified by the following formula:
            REQUIRED # Of Cards Above It = Required Protection = RP = ((16 - Value Of The Card) / 2 ) - 1
            Where A = 14 K = 13 Q = 12 J = 11
            Example: Given QJT is there a sheltered winner/stopper?
            Examining the Q, we compute RP = ((16 - 12) / 2) - 1 = 1. The Q is not sheltered.
            Examining the J, we compute RP = ((16 - 11) / 2) - 1 = 1.5 = 2 . The J is not sheltered.
            Examining the T, we compute RP = ((16 - 10)/ 2) - 1 = 2. The T IS SHELTERED.
            Example: Given KJ98 is there a sheltered winner/stopper?
            Examining the K, we compute RP = ((16 - 13) / 2) - 1 = .5 The K is not sheltered.
            Examining the J, we compute RP = ((16 - 11) / 2) - 1 = 1.5 = 2 . The J is not sheltered.
            Examining the 9, we compute RP = ((16 - 9)/ 2) - 1 = 3.5 The 9 is not sheltered.
            Examining the T, we compute RP = ((16 - 8)/ 2) - 1 = 3. The 8 IS SHELTERED.

            In addition to any sure natural winners (stoppers) in a suit, you may also find long tricks. As stated previously, for any long tricks to exist,
            the suit should be at least 4 cards in length. A question arises as to where sure winners end and long tricks begin?
            The dividing line between length vs strength, what I call THE LENGTH-STRENGTH THRESHOLD, centers about a 4-card holding containing
            the 89T. If the 4th card is an x (ie x89T), then there is ONLY the possibility of 1 long trick and no natural tricks.
            If the 4th card is a J, (ie, 89TJ), then there is ONLY the assurance of a natural trick and NO LONG TRICK.
            In either case, the addition of a 5th card does not create any more natural tricks, but does produce the possibility of another long trick.
            These observations in conjunction with Ted's Rule & Lead Risk Avoidance will play an important role in determining how we lead
            & defend against no-trump as well as trump contracts.

            NOTE:
            The method for identifying the highest sheltered card is derived from a process I call Identifying The LOWEST
            PROMOTABLE CARD:
            It is rather simple to identify our sure high winning cards, ie, the aces. But it becomes a little more difficult task to identify the
            lower valued cards that may be promotable into winners. It is at this point we realize that we must use our higher cards not just
            to win a trick, but to make sure we use our highest cards to capture & eliminate the opponent's highest cards that might otherwise
            capture our lower valued promotable cards. It becomes necessary to identify such "Low Promotable Cards" and ask "What is
            the Lowest Promotable Card in each of our given suits?". Assuming a no-trump contract & given the length of a suit, it is
            possible to determine what is the lowest valued card that can be promoted into a natural winner.
            The formula for this is:

            LPC (lowest promotable card) = 16 - 2 X Suit Length

                          Where: jack equals 11, queen equals 12, king equals 13, and ace equals 14.

            Suit
            Length    LPC
            ------         -------
            1             Ace
            2             Queen
            3             Ten
            4             Eight
            5             Six
            6             Four
            7             Two
            8             0

            Thus, for a 2-card suit, the lowest card value that can be promoted into a winner is the queen, ie, 16 - 2 x 2 = 12 = Q.
            For a 3-card suit, the lowest card value that can be promoted into a winner is the ten, ie, 16 - 2 x 3 = 10.
            And so on. In other words, the lowest promotable card becomes lowered by 2 as the suit's length increases by 1.
            Interestingly enough, the lowest promotable card is always an even valued card.

            Now armed with this information, we must ask, "Do we in fact have any promotable cards in a given suit?".
            This requires carefully and thorough examination of the suit, beginning with the lowest card in the suit and seeing if it is
            promotable.

            Example: Take two 5-card suits both containing KJ98x, but where one of the suit's lowest card is the 5 while
            the other suit's lowest card is the 6. Is there any way of telling if their lowest card is a winner?
            The answer is "yes". First, we compute the
            LOWEST PROMOTABLE CARD for a 5-card suit to be the 6,
            ie LPC = 16 - 2 X Suit-Length = 16 - 2 x 5 = 16 - 10 = 6.
            For a 5-card suit the LPC is the 6 (just as the table above says) . Thus, in our example, in the suit
            whose lowest card is the 6 (KJ986), the 6 is a natural winner, where in the other suit whose
            lowest card is the 5 (KJ985), the 5 is not a natural winner. However, there still may be a natural
            winner higher up from the 5. As a matter of fact, the 8 in both hands is a natural winner, because
            the LPC for a 4 card suit is the 8.

            Given this table, it's a fairly simple process to compare your lowest card in a suit to the lowest protectable card for that suit's'
            length & decide if your lowest card is promotable into a natural winner. If your lowest card is less than the LPC, then it is not
            promotable. But that does not mean that you have no promotable natural winners in the suit, because the next from the lowest
            card might be promotable. So younow compare the next lowest card in the suit to the LPC for an adjusted suit length that is
            reduced by 1. It suffices to say that the LPC value will increase by 2 for each downward adjustment in suit length by 1.
            So all you have to do is add 2 to the prior LPC value when examining the next card up. You may find yourself going through
            this repetitive process all the way up to your top card in the suit without finding any promotable cards. BUT once you have found
            a low card in a suit that is in fact promotable, then you will know you have at least one natural winner in the suit and you have
            the suit stopped.
            END NOTE.

        c. The PRINCIPLES OF COMBINED HAND EVALUATION. (IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE DUMMY GOES DOWN)

            PRINCIPLE #15: The SPLIT PERCENTAGE principle.
            What are the most likely distributions in each suit?
            You can reckon by the bidding & the manner in which the cards are played as to how the outside cards in a suit are split.
            But there is an additional aide for estimating the suit distribution, & it's called "Split Percentages", which is employed
            immediately after dummy is exposed.

            In short, this principle says that if you and another visible hand start with an even number of cards between you, the other remaining
            unseen cards will be split evenly between the other two unseen hands at least 51% of the time. If you have an odd number of cards
            between the two of you, then the cards will not be split evenly, but instead split with a 2 card difference between them at least 51% of
            the time. This principle is applicable to both declarer & defenders.
            A prior study in random suit distribution showed the following table to be true.




            Whether you are defending or declarer, knowledge of the suit split percentages provides you with a strategy for bidding & playing the
            hand. As declarer, use your hand & dummy's hand to figure the number of cards in a suit in the opponent's hands & then apply the split
            percentage. As defender, do exactly the same.

            Why is suit distribution (ie, split) awareness important? The first answer that comes to mind is "trump management". As declarer in a
            trump suit you want to be sure of having as many, if not more, of trump suit than the defenders, otherwise you most likely will not make
            your contract. And as declarer or defender in either a trump or a no-trump contract, you want to be able to "establish" your long
            "runnable side suits" , meaning you want to continue to win tricks in the suit, because you have more of that suit than anyone else,
            including your partner. In this respect, you want the cards that you don't have in a suit to be split as evenly among the other hands as
            possible, because it means the opponents will be out of that suit quicker. More on this will become evident as we continue this
            discussion.

            PRINCIPLE #16: The POST DUMMY REVIEW / DUMMY TELLS ALL principle.

            a] Declarer - PUT THE HANDS TOGETHER & IDENTIFY The combined strengths and weaknesses of your two hands meshed togeather.
            Before playing your first card, there is is general guideline called "CRAP".
            C = "C"ard. Study the opening card lead. Identify what signal is being conveyed to the 3rd hand opponent.
            This may give you a clue as to how the cards are split.
            R = "R"eview the bidding. If the opponents did any bidding, then use this info to further guess at how the cards lay.
            A = "A"nalyze your hand combined with dummy.
            The declarer is in the position of seeing both his & partner's hands. His job is to combine/mesh the suits of both hands
            together & determine which suits are the best to attack & which suits he should avoid. It goes without saying that the trump
            suit is the most important suit in a trump contract & should always be considered first. But the evaluation of side suits is
            equally important. Whether in a trump contract or no-trump, you are going to evaluate your combined hands as if they wre
            one & as previously described, looking for your most promotable suits.
            P = "P"lan your strategy & line of play.
            In no-trump, your plan will normally be to establish your side-suit by playing it repeatibly until the opponent's are out, after
            which point you can continue winning tricks in the suit with the lowest of cards.
            In a trump contract, you will study the dummy closely & decide whether or not you need to get ruff of any losers with the
            trump in the subordinant hand before pulling trump. If you're missing the top trump, you may want to dump some losers on
            the immediate sure winners in another suit before pulling trump. If you decide it unnecessary to postpone pulling trump,
            then your line of play is to pull trump & set up a side suit for running as in no-trump. You may have the added advantage of
            establishing the suit by trumping the long suit until the opponents are out, a process known as stipping. After you've
            established the side suit, you can proceed to dump your losers from your other hand on it.

            b] The declarer's ROAD MAP & STRATEGY FOR PLAYING THE HAND IS WRITTEN IN THE DUMMY.
            Before beginning to play, declarer should plan his play per the dummy.
            So defenders, be alert. If defending, try to anticipate how you would play the hand if you were declarer, & then adjust your defense
            accordingly. Pay VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to the strengths and weaknesses in the dummy.
            Observe the SEQUENCES, broken and unbroken, in each suit of dummy's hand. Does dummy have missing honors?
            What are dummy's LONGEST suit(s)? Are they potentially runnable? Is there adequate transportation to them?
            What TRANSPORTATION might there be between the opponents' hands? Is there an absence of transportation in a suit due to:
                1] One partner not having any cards (ie, a void) in the other partner's suit.
                2] One partner having only high cards in the other partner's suit, thereby creating a BLOCKED siituation.
            Identify your entrees into each hand & make sure you have enough to get into your runnable suits.
            Is there a way to foul it up so the opponent cant get to his runable suits after trump are gone?
            Can you create a blocked situations for the opponent?
            In a trump contract, what is dummy's trump holding & what are dummy's shortest weakest suits where declarer might ruff losers?
            Identify any suit shortness in one hand where you have losers in the other that you want to ruff before your trump are depleted.
            Should trump be pulled by declarer or by the defenders?

            c] Use the SPLIT PERCENTAGES as a guide to estimate what the distribution splits in each suit might be.

            PRINCIPLE #17: The CARD PLACEMENT principle.
            Card placement is the ability to "guess" who has what cards in what suits between the two hidden hands that you cannot see. More
            specifically, the question is who has the missing HIGH cards that can not be seen. Some people seem to have a little mental antennae
            for this & are able to do quite well. But most of us don't have this crystal ball capability. There are some other tools that can help you out
            in placing the cards. One is to reckon by the bidding. The other is to reckon by the manner in which the other two players play their
            cards. But there is no absolute certainty in either of these tools.

            For the defender, the most common such problem is trying to decide which suit to lead in order to get into partner's hand. But if the
            defenders have a comprehensive signaling system, this problem should be minimized.
            For declarer, the problem is quite different. The most common card placement problem that declarer has is that of having to decide
            which way to finesse for the missing high cards in a suit. More advanced players will be concerned with actual card count and
            CONSTRUCTING THE CARD COUNT for the purposes of CARD PLACEMENT. It is a difficult task, and for that reason has been place at
            the back of the bus in this writting.

        d. The PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL WINNER PROMOTION.

            PRINCIPLE #18 : The PRIORITY OF PROMOTION principle.
            The promotion of strength should always preceed the promotion of length.

            PRINCIPLE #19 : The CONSERVATION OF CAPTOR HIGH CARDS principle.
            Be like a PREDATOR.
            CONSERVE YOUR HIGH CARDS FOR CAPTURING YOUR PREY which are those opponents' hiigh cards that are just under yours in
            value. An eagle cannot capture its prey unless he sees it. And the bigger the prey, the healthier he becomes. So it should be
             with you. DON'T WASTE YOUR WINNING HIGH CARDS BY CASHING THEM WITHOUT CAPTURING THE OPPONENT'S HIGHEST CARDS,
            UNLESS YOU HAVE A VERY GOOD REASON. ACES ARE FOR CAPTURING KINGS, KINGS FOR CAPTURING QUEENS, .ETC.
            IN THAT WAY, YOUR LOWER INTERMEDIATE CARDS ARE PROMOTED INTO WINNERSm because their predators are removed.
            Normally, USE YOUR HIGHEST CARDS TO CAPTURE THE RHO'S HIGHEST CARDS without getting your own intermediate cards
            captured by the LHO. The ace and king in each suit are considered PRIMARY HONORS, where the queen & jack
            are considered SECONDARY HONORS.

            PRINCIPLE #20: The BASIC TRICK PLAYING SEQUENCE primciple.
            If you understand the trick playing sequence, it should be obvious that the first hand (ie, the LEAD) to play to a trick is at greater
            disadvantage than the second hand to play to the trick, which in turn is at greater disadvantage than third hand , which again is at
            greater disadvantage than fourth hand. This means that fourth hand has the greatest advantage, since it can see all of the cards played
            on the trick & play accordingly. But this does not mean 4th hand will always win the trick. It merely means he can play more efficiently.

            Based upon these relative advantages/disadvantages, an old playing guideline was established for each playing position which says
            "FIRST & SECOND HANDS PLAY LOW, THIRD & FOURTH HANDS PLAY HIGH".
            For declare,r another way of stating it is:
            a] Lead from first hand's weakness up to third hand's strength.
            b] Second hand plays low.
            For defense, it cn be stated as:
            c] Lead through second hand's broken strength up to fourth hand's weakness.
            In this case, weakness means a suit that is neither excessively long and lacking in high cards.
            Weakness may even be a trump suit. In the absence of trump, weakness is a void.
            For dummy's LHO, " When the DUMMY IS ON THE RIGHT, LEAD THE WEAKEST THING IN SIGHT".
            For each trick, this is the usual sequence of play.
            The disadvantage to being on lead is called the "Lead Risk", because it cannot see what the other players are going to do.
            Therefore, 1st HAND NORMALLY LEADS LOW (a non winner), PRESUMABLY THROUGH 2ND HAND'S BROKEN WINNERS (WITH 2ND
            HAND NORMALLY PLAYING LOW), UP TO 3RD HAND'S STRENGTH (WHO EITHER ATTEMPTS TO WIN THE TRICK OR FORCE 4TH
            HAND TO PLAY HIGH), & HOPEFULLY INTO 4TH HAND WEAKNESS. "WEAKNESS" means no high cards and includes voids in the
            absence of a trump suit.

            But again, there can & will be EXCEPTIONS to this BASIC PLAY SEQUENCE principle when it comes to 1st & 2nd hand play.
            There are certainly times when 1st hand will want to lead out a high card, especially when it comes time to cash winners.
            In 2nd seat, there are also exceptions to 2nd hand low, particularly when it comes to promoting his cards.
            These exceptions will be described in more detail shortly.

            In 3rd seat you don't want 4th seat to get away with murder. You are the Messiah & sacrificial lamb all in one. I have already
            given an example of sitting behind right hand opponent's king with you holding the AQ. Win as cheap as you can. But if you
            can't win the trick, then you still want to force 4th hand to play as high as possible. Therefore, you will want to beat 2nd hand's
            card as cheap as possible to force 4th hand. Your hope in so doing is that your lower cards (or partner's) will be promoted into
            the winners of the subsequent tricks in that suit. In such a position & holding touching high cards, play the lower of the sequence
            to show partner that you can force big cards out of 4th hand with small cards. From this, partner can infer that you may yet have
            higher cards. If you are declarer holding touching high cards, then the opposite is true, ie, you will play the higher card of the
            sequence to prevent revealing your hand. Of course, if you can't beat 2nd hands card, then give your partner a signal.

            In 4th seat, you normally want to win the trick for as cheap as you can, if you can. Otherwise, toss in your pennies & not your dollars.

            PRINCIPLE #21: The FORCING TO PROMOTE (ie, ESTABLISH) YOUR STENGTH principle.
            As already mentioned in the BASIS PLAY SEQUENCE principle, 3rd hand will always at least attempt to force 4th hand to play high.
            And as we mentioned in the BASIC PLAY SEQUENCE principle, there are EXCEPTIONS to the 2ND HAND LOW principle.
            Sometimes 2nd hand will have a sheltered sequence, & it becomes necessary to play the bottom of the sequence in order to
            force out the opponent's captor cards & thus ultimately promote the winner. And there is an old expression that says "Cover an
            honor with an honor for the purpose of promoting yours or partner's lower cards" , unless you can see that opponent has the
            lower card(s) being promoted.

            Example: With the KQx of the suit lead by declarer, you're looking at the dummy which contains the AJ.
            Here, you would play your queen to prevent the dummy from winning the trick with the jack.
            In effect, you are promoting your king.

            Example: As defender with QJx sitting in front of dummy's AT, play the jack to promote & protect your
            queen.

            Example: 1st seat leads out an honor that you can beat. In this case, if you cannot see the opponent
            promoting any lower cards by such a lead, then you should normally cover the honor with your
            honor, because it may be that partner's cards (or yours) are the ones actually being promoted.

            Example: Dummy has Q xx on the board & the Q is led. You should cover , since you cant see the JT.
            But if dummy has QJT & leads the Q, then you would not cover until the T was led.

            Example: Yet another exception to second hand low occurs with the declarer's attempt to make a ZOOM
            Play. This can occur when you are defending against a trump contract & declarer leads a small
            card to his queen doubleton on the board. In this case, 2nd hand plays his king to be sure of
            getting it at all. Declarer could have ace in his hand, so he could win the queen & the ace if 2nd
            hand doesn't go up, leaving defender's king stranded.

            PRINCIPLE #22: The FINESS principle.
            The underlying logic of the finess is to take advantage of any POSSIBLE POSITIONAL PROTECTION from the opponents high cards in a
            suit, wherein the 3rd hand to play to a trick holds a high valued card which could be captured , but with the 50-50 hope that it cannot
            be beaten by 4th hand. There are three types of finesses:

            a] SHORT CARD FINESS.
            The SHORT-CARD FINESSE is an attempt to take advantage of a POTENTIAL POSITIONALLY PROTECTED card in 3rd
            hand without promoting any underling cards. It relies solely upon the 3RD HAND PLAYING POSITION for it to work. It is
            using 3rd hand's less than the top high cards to take the trick. Another term might be called "SHORT CARDING" or "SHORT
            CIRCUITING ".
            Example: Holding AQx (with Q "UNBACKED", ie, no J) sitting behind RHO's (or dummy's) K, you lead low
            from the opposite hand. If opponent in 2nd hand ducks, you play the queen to win the trick. If
            2nd hand plays his K, you win with the A. This is an example of a "Short-Card finesse".
            There is no guarantee that 2nd hand has the K. The K may be in 4th hand in which case you will
            lose playing the Q. It is a 50-50 chance you take.

            b] TRAP CARD FINESS.
            The TRAP-CARD FINESSE seeks to take advantage of both POTENTIAL POSITIONAL PROTECTION in 3rd hand while
            a lower underling card sequence. A high TRAP CARD is led with the hopes of finding a higher card in 2nd hand, which can be
            beaten by 3rd hand. If 2nd hand covers the trap card, 3rd hand wins with its higher card, thereby promoting the lower cards
            in the underling card sequence.
            Example: With Axx in the dummy and holding QJTx in your hand, you lead the Q as a trap card and only
            cover with the ace if the left hand opponent covers with his king. Thus you jack is promoted to
            a winner.
            Example: With AJT on the board and Qxx in your hand, you lead the Q.
            The Q is a trap card allowing you to stay in your hand for another lead in the suit if LHO does
            not cover with his K.

            THIS TECHNIQUE SHOULD NOT BE USED IF THERE IS NO UNDERLING SEQUENCE.
            In the absence of having alower promotable sequence, do not lead the Q to yourA, because you have nothing to promote.
            When holding the A in one hand & the Q without a promotable sequence in the other, with the exception of the ZOOM PLAY, the
            normal proper way to lead the suit is to play the A first hoping to drop the K, & then lead low up to your Q.

            c] RUFFING FINESS.
            The RUFFING FINESSE is similar to the trap-card finesse only instead of a high card in 3rd hand, you are in a trump contract & void in
            the suit you are leading.
            Example: With trump in the dummy and KQJx of another suit that is void in the dummy, you lead the K
            which you will ruff in dummy if 2nd hand plays his A. If 2nd hand ducks, you do not ruff.

            To improve your chances of winning more tricks in that suit, you should always try to identify any alternative lines of play before
            resorting to taking the finesse. Consider any and all other methods that will produce the same results as having a finess win.
            A wise pkayer once said, "I spent the 1st half of my bridge life learning how to finess. I spent the 2nd half learning how not to finess".
            These other methods include things like 1) the END PLAY, 2) the SQUEEZE PLAY, 3) the ELIMINATION PLAY, etc.
            But this is not always possible & you may have no alternative.

            Sometimes, you will have a choice in which way to finess. In this case, there areseveral factors to consider such as:
            Which suit do you want to promote first or
            Who can you not afford to let in the lead should the finesse fail.
            But in addition, this is where card placement comes into play, because you need to guess at which way will most likely work.
            You need to assess all of the information available to you, such as which opponent bid what, how are the opponents leading
            and platying their hands. Another technique, if you can afford to do so, is to put off taking the finesse until you get a reading on
            the card holding in the opponent's hands by RECONSTRUCTING THE CARD COUNTING, which is a very difficult thing to do and beyond
            our course herein.

            PRINCIPLE #23: The PROMOTABLE SUIT LENGTH principle.
            Between you and partner Identify not only those suit(s) in which you have the most cards & but also those suit(s) where there is a long
            predominant length that might be promotable into a runable suit.

            In a no-trump contract, attempt to "ESTABLISH" (ie, promote) yours or partner's longest runnable suit(s) without conceding any extra tricks.
            Try to establish the lower cards in the suit(s) as winners by playing that suit repeatedly. Eventually, your opponents will run out of cards in
            that suit, at which point all of your remaining cards in that suit(s) will have been promoted to LONG TRICKS (or RESERVE TRICKS) winners.
            And by all means, the subordinant length hand should be sure to keep a low card in the suit as an entry into the dominant length hand
            to prevent BLOCKING the suit, ie, UNBLOCK.

            In a suit contract, the declarer's trumps are generally presumed to be his longest suit, although this is not always the case. And many
            times, the decalrer will have a second suit called a SIDE-SUIT which becomes runnable after trumps are pulled from the defenders.
            From the defenders' point of view, having a long strong suit(s) in a trump contract can become useful for forcing the declarer to trump
            from the hand having the greater number of trump, a process called TAPPING , thereby depleting the trump in declarer's controlling
            hand. HOWEVER, THERE IS A DANGER HEREIN IF THE DECLARER IS OUT OF THE TAPPING SUIT IN BOTH HIS HAND & THE
            DUMMY, BECAUSE HE MAY NOW HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY FOR A RUFF & SLUFF, WHICH NORMALLY YIELDS HIM AN EXTRA
            TRICK THAT HE WOULD NOT OTHERWISE GET. So tapping must be closely monitored for the declarer being out of the tapping suit in
            both hands.

            PRINCIPLE #24: The UNBLOCKING principle.

            a] The purpose here is to not take the lead away from partner's hand as he runs his established suit.
            This technique entails saving a low card in a suit where the partner hand has the greater length in that suit.
            To be blocked in a suit means you cannot get from one hand to the other in that suit, either because you have no cards in the suit
            to lead to the other hand, or because the cards you do have are not low enough to get to the other hand.
            KEEP THE FLOW OPENED FROM ONE HAND TO THE OTHER HAND IN A SUIT.
            DON'T "BLOCK" your ability to get from the hand having the shorter SUBORDINANT LENGTH in a suit to the hand having the
            greater runnable PREDOMINANT LENGTH in that suit. Always UNBLOCK by keeping a low card in the SUBORDINANT
            LENGTH for the purpose of getting to the hand with the PREDOMINANT LENGTH.
            Be especially aware of UNBLOCKING your partner's long suit by assuring you have a low card left as your last card in that suit.
            That way, you will be able to transfer the play to him, & he will be able to run the suit without you over-taking him.

            Example: In hearts you hold KQ3 and partner holds AJTxx. Partner leads out his A. You play your 3.
            You have now BLOCKED yourself from getting back to partner in that suit so he can run them.
            The solution is for you to play your J on his ace, keeping the 3 to get back to him after taking
            your Q.

            b] The SAFETY PLAY is employeed in situations where there is a shortage of transportation to what could become an established
            suit with winning long tricks. It entails giving up a trick early in order to assure continued access to the would-be established suit.
            Utilize the SAFETY PLAY to assure transportation to your long runnable suit.

            Example: You hold two little diamonds in your hand with 5 diamonds headed by the AKQ on the board.
            Your hope is for a 4-2 split. If you cash the ace king immediately, you will loose the third round
            of diamonds and not be able to get back to them. Therefore, you lead a small diamond and loose
            a diamond trick on its first play. You now have your second diamond to go to the ace king &
            continue running the diamonds, assuming they break 4-2.

            Example: In defending a no-trump contract, you hold AKxxx of hearts. You have no other entrys. Your
            partner has xx in hearts and the Axxx of spades. Declarer has QJT of hearts. If you lead out
            your A or K of hearts, your partner will never be able to get to you, enabling you to continue
            being in the lead. Therefore, you lead a low heart the first time. Now when partner gets in &
            returns his last heart to you, you will be able to run the suit without giving up control.

    2. KEEPING THE OPPONENT AT BAY.

        e. The PRINCIPLES OF TIMING & VISIBILITY.

            PRINCIPLE #25: The TRICK TIMING/VISIBILITY principle.
            Timing & Visibility are all important in bridge.

            Not only is the advantage of visibility arising from the sequence of play to a trick, ie, 1st hand lead, 2nd hand, 3rd hand, 4th hand,
            important, but the visibility of the dummy and the manner in which the cards are played from trick to trick are important as well.
            As the play progresses from trick to trick, more things become visible, & the high cards become expended with lower cards being
            promoted into winners. Eventually, the suits you tried to avoid must be played. The catch is in getting them to be played in the way
            and at the time that is most favorable to you.

            Timing is a very large part of becoming a good player.
            Timing is not only knowing when to play what card on a trick, it is also knowing when & where to be in or out of the lead, where the
            most favorable lead position should be to the next trick, & when to cash your winners, all for the purpose of preserving & promoting the
            value of each card in your hand & in partner's hand.

            THERE ARE NORMALLY FOUR STAGES IN PLAYING THE HAND, with a give and take transpiring between opponents.
            a] The FIRST HALF BEGINNING, ie, THE FIRST 6-7 TRICKS.
            b] The MID-PLAY between the first and second stages.
            c] The SECOND HALF BEGINNING, ie, THE LAST 6 TRICKS.
            d] The END GAME, ie, the last 3 tricks.

            Many of the exceptions to our basic principles normally occur at mid-play and in the 2nd half.
            However, there are times when you don't have much time and cannot afford to let the opponent's in before cashing your
            winners. IN DEFENDING SLAM CONTRACTS, THERE MAY BE LITTLE TIME TO CASH BEFORE IT BECOMES TOO LATE,
            WHICH IS WHY WE ARE TOLD TO LEAD OUT OUR WINNERS IMMEDIATELY.

            PRINCIPLE #26: The CASHING OF NATURAL WINNERS principle.
            It has been said that the play of the hand is a cat & mouse game.
            CASHING is the process of playing all of your winning tricks before the opponents have a chance to shed their
            losers to your winning tricks. It can be a very delicate matter of knowing when to start collecting your tricks.
            Sometimes the declarer will want to cash before the opponents discover his weakness and get in to exploit it.
            And many times the defenders will want to cash when it becomes very clear that the dummy has an established
            long runable suit on the board. But the general axiom is, "Dont fire until you see the whites of their eyes".
            You want to make every shot count and take out as much of the opponent's power as possible

            NORMALLY BE PRUDENT. DO NOT BE PREMATURE IN TAKING YOUR WINNERS. BUT DO NOT GO TO SLEEP WITH THEM
            EITHER. Another way of exprssing it is.... your CASH is your assualt weapon & your "INSURANCE" is your rear guard.
            And whatever you do, don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes. Separate your winners (high cards) into two
            categories, ie, those which represent CASH and those which represent INSURANCE STOPPERS.
            Those winners that represent CASH are the winners you have in your own promotable runnable suits.

            PRINCIPLE #27: The SUPPRESSION OF NATURAL WINNERS principle.
            Those winners in your short suits represent INSURANCE are the STOPPERS & will prevent the opponent from running his long
            suit(s) on you. The opponent's potentially runnable suits are "PANDORA'S BOX" which you want to keep shut using any "LIDS"
            (ie, containment) you may have. Know when and how to play cat and mouse KEEPING THE "LID ON" ON OPPONENT'S
            PROMOTABLE/RUNNABLE SUITS (ie, PANDORA'S BOX) while trying to establish yours.

            Example: As defender, imagine seeing the KQJT9 in a suit on the board and you hold the ace in that suit.
            It's as if the opponent's suit is hot water ready to boil & you have "THE LID" to the pot to keep it
            under control. The last thing you want to do is remove that lid by playing your ace and unleashing
            the opponent's power in that suit. If you do have to play your ace, then you better be prepared to
            CASH all your other winners, because your opponent will be dumping losers on that unleashed
            suit.

            PRINCIPLE #28: The HOLDUP principle.
            The HOLD UP is the refusal to take a trick in the opponent's suit until you know one opponent is going to be out of that suit.
            Don't win tricks immediately that help set up opponent's side suit(s). Take your winner just when opponent is about to be void.
            Use split percentage table to estimate card distribution.
            By refusing to win a trick immediately, you deplete the opponents hand having the shorter number of cards in the suit, thereby
            making it more difficult for opponent to get back to the hand having the greater length in that suit, which he would run on you.
            By holding up, it causes the opponent to use a winner in another suit if he wanst to get to thea runnable suit.
            It contributes to the depletion of opponents entrys.

            It is frequently used by declarer in playing a 3NT contract. If is also used by defenders in both trump & no-trump contracts.
            However, there is rarely any advantage for a defender to hold up on taking his ace of trump immediately once trump has been led.

            The HOLD UP PLAY is a good example of using your insurance smartly.
            It is also the converse of the UNBLOCKING principle, wherein you DO ATTEMPT TO CAUSE THE OPPONENT TO BE BLOCKED
            FROM GETTING TO HIS RUNNABLE SUITS. You dO keep control over the opponent's runnable suits by keeping the LID ON and not
            opening PANDORA'S BOX. In attempting to cause the opponent to be blocked in his suit(s), THIS PRINCIPLE MAY OVERRIDE THE
            PROMOTION PRINCIPLES.

            For declarer ABSORBING THE OPENING LEAD can be very important.
            It is not too uncommon for declarer's first mistake to be made on the opening lead. Of course if he can't take the 1st trick, then there is
            nothing to be done. But if he can win the 1st trick, then he should be sure that he does in fact want to win it & identify the best hand to
            win it in (if there is a choice). In other words, he may want to HOLD UP on trick 1.

            Example:
            SOUTH holds:    H=AJX
            WEST holds:    H= KQXXX
            Your are South. West leads out his K of hearts. You refuse to take it. If West leads a heart, you get 2
            heart tricks.

            Example: Contract = NT. Opening Lead = .
            SOUTH holds:    C=AKX    D=AKXX    H=AKQ    S=KX
            WEST holds:    C=XXX    D=XXXX    H=XXXX    S=XX
            NORTH holds:    C=JT9    D=XX    H=XXX    S=QJTXX
            EAST holds:    C=QXXXX    D=XX    H=XXX    S=AXXX
            You are East. South leads his K of spades. You hold up, refusing to take it with your Ace.
            South now leads his other spade to the Q. You take it, thus preventing declarer getting to
            the rest of the spades in dummy to run them.

        f. The PRINCIPLES OF LOSING TO WIN.

            PRINCIPLE #29: The TRANSFER OF LEAD RISK IN BREAKING A NEW SUIT principle.
            TRANSFER OF LEAD RISK means that when you are in the lead, you want to get out of the lead without giving opponents an extra trick.

            At this point we asked, is there any advantage or disadvantage to being in the lead?
            Well, it all depends upon what your holding is and which hand are you in.
            If you have a sequence in a suit, then being in the lead can be a very good thing for the purpose of establishing that as runable suit.
            If you are deep into the play, it can be advantageous, because now you can take your winners or run you runable suit with impunity.
            If you have losers to dump on winning tricks before the opponent can cash his winners, then being in the lead can be a good thing.
            But if none of the above apply, then being in the lead can be a bad thing.

            If you have to lead suits in which you dont have continuous sequences, but instead have broken honors, that can be very bad and cost you
            tricks. IF YOU HAVE A HOLELY SUIT WITH NON-TOUCHING HONORS, DO NOT LEAD ANY CARD FROM THAT SUIT. LET
            THAT SUIT BE LED TO YOU. This is in compliance with Ted's Rule.
            A VERY IMPORTANT PART of defense is to be able to get into partner's hand so he can lead through second hand's broken winners to
            your broken winners in the same suit. But at the same time, that is exactly what the declarer is trying to do, ie, "bridge" from one of his
            hands to the other to gain a lead advantage.

            We've already mentioned some common sense aspects of lead risks. But to make sure we are perfectly clear let's continue.
            Being in the lead can put you at risk (called the lead risk) resulting in giving the opponent an extra trick by forcing you to either lead
            from a suit containing high cards or lead into what's known as a "ruff & a sluff" (to be discussed later). Such conditions can develop
            and manifest themselves at any point, from the very first opening lead & right up to end. Always be on guard & watch for developing
            situations that would result in your getting stuck in the lead when it is not to your advantage. Therefore, it is important to be aware of
            your "Exits" which are losers that are "unsheltered" by higher cards & will cause you no damage in leading them. They are your tickets
            out of trouble. In this way, you can avoid getting into these bad positions & prevent the opponent from getting an extra trick.

            For more information regarding defender opening leads, refer to the DEFENDER SECTION at the end.

            PRINCIPLE #30: The EXIT "COME TO DADDY" principle.
            It is a very sophisicated effort to put the opponent in the lead at the right time so he is forced to give you an extra trick.

            a] Sometimes you want the opponent to lead to you, particularly if you hold a in a suit.
            This is the technique of giving up the lead to Force an Advantageous Lead from the opponent into your BROKEN WINNER
            to give you an extra trick. It applies to both defenders and declarer.

            Defenders should do everything you can to protect each other from being put in the position of "Coming To Daddy".
            This is why 1st hand should lead through 2nd hand's broken winners. Pay attention to your low card "EXITS" to avoid being
            "END PLAYED" and to avoid blocking your partner's hand.
            On opening lead, "exit" your hand by leading the TOP OF a NOTHING suit which normally does not give the opponent any tricks
            he would not otherwise get. You may be finessing your partner, but it is better than finessing yourself, ie, leading from your
            strength. You have probably heard the old expression "When in doubt lead trump". This is alluding to the avoidance of lead risks
            & the exit principle, but again there are exceptions.

            b] The END PLAY.
            The END PLAY transfers the lead to your opponent on the 11th trick & forces him to lead into you on the 12th trick, giving you two
            winners at the end. It takes a rather astute player to recognize the conditions for an end-play, but the basic premise is this. You have
            worked yourself down to the last three tricks, and rather than immediately cash your sure winner, you let the opponent in on trick
            eleven, and he has to lead into you giving you two trick instead of one.

            Example: You hold AQ of clubs & a loosing heart. Your left hand opponent holds Kx of clubs & the A of
            hearts. You let your left hand opponent in with his heart & he has to lead clubs into your ace
            queen.

            Example: In the last 3 tricks to be played, you are in the lead having the ace, jack, ten in a suit, where
            the opponent has king, queen, nine. If you cash your ace first, then you are still stuck in the
            lead & you will lose the last two tricks. On the other hand, if you throw the lead back at the
            opponent by leading your jack or ten, then you will win the other two tricks, thereby "End
            Playing" your opponent out of an extra trick.

            Example: Contract = 3NT holdup, finess, end play
            SOUTH holds:    C=AXX    D=J9X    H=Q8765    S=XX
            WEST holds:    C=KQJT98    D=KTX    H=J9    S=XX
            NORTH holds:    C=X    D=AQ873    H=AXXX    S=KJT9
            EAST holds:    C=XXX    D=XX    H=KTX    S=AQ8XX
            (Needs description)

            c] The ELIMINATION PLAY (aka. the EXIT STRIPPING PLAY). (For Declarer)
            The declarer normally executes this play if he has the appropraite holding for it.
            It is a technique to avoid taking a finess by forcing the defender to lead either into his broken winner sequence or into
            giving declarer a ruff & a sluff. It relies upon the defender not having an exit, which the declarer previously stripped from him
            before throwing him into the lead . Before throwing the defender in the lead, the declarer will void himself in both his hand & the
            dummy in a given suit and still have trump in both hands. At the prorper time, he puts the defenders in the lead & they are forced to
            give him either a ruff & a sluff or PREMATURE END-PLAY, thereby giving him one extra trick.

            Example. Contract = 5S. Opening Lead = a diamond.
            SOUTH holds:    C=QX    D=AKQ    H=AQX    S=AKTXX
            WEST holds:    C=KXX    D=XXX    H=KJXX    S=XXX
            NORTH holds:    C=AX    D=XXX    H=XXXX    S=QXXX
            EAST holds:    C=XXXXX    D=XXXX    H=XXX    S=X
            WEST leads his top diamond (top of nothing).
            SOUTH wins it and pulls three rounds of trump, after which a finess in hearts for the king
            would lose. Therefore, SOUTH decides to strip WEST of his exits and then throw him in the
            lead with a club. SOUTH leads out all his diamonds, thus stripping WEST of his diamond
            exits. SOUTH then leads his ace of clubs, followed by another club lead to throw WEST in
            the lead without any diamonds to lead. WEST has no option other than to lead a heart right
            into SOUTH's AQx or to lead a club which gives SOUTH a RUFF & a SLUFF. COME TO
            DADDY. Thus, SOUTH has lost only one heart & avoided losing two hearts.

            Example: Contract = 4S. Opening Lead = Q-C.
            SOUTH holds:    C=63    D=A97    H=9X    S=AKJ973
            WEST holds:    C=Q9    D=Q542    H=KQJ83    S=85
            NORTH holds:    C=TXXX   D=KT6    H=AT    S=QXXX
            EAST holds:    C=AKJ84    D=J83    H=XXXX    S=T
            SOUTH should lose first 2 clubs. EAST comes back a heart which SOUTH wins. If EAST comes back a club, SOUTH
            trumps high. SOUTH pulls 2 trump and ruffs remaining 2 of dummy's clubs. SOUTH then
            throws them into the lead with a heart. If they either lead a heart or club, SOUTH gets a ruff & a diamond
            sluff. If they lead a diamond, SOUTH captures either J or Q. SOUTH then finesses a diamond and makes his contract.

    3. EXTENDING TRUMP.

        g. The PRINCIPLES OF TRUMP.

            PRINCIPLE #31: The EXTENSION OF TRUMP TRICKS principle.
            This principle says that, if you & your partner have a suit split between you & that suit is declared a trump suit, then
            you can gain more tricks, because you will be able split off some individual cards of the suit to ruff other suits rather than always
            play a card from each hand on each lead of that suit.

            Example: Contract = 6C. Opening Lead = a club .
            SOUTH holds:    C=AKQ    D=AKXXX     H=AKQ    S=XX
            WEST holds:    C=XXX    D=XXXX     H=XXXX    S=XX
            NORTH holds:    C=JT9    D=XX     H=XXX    S=AKXXX
            EAST holds:    C=XXXX    D=XX     H=XX    S=XXXX
            WEST leads a Club trump which SOUTH wins. SOUTH leads A K of diamonds, followed by a diamond
            which he ruffs. He now has 4 tricks. He then leads dummy's A K of spades, followed by a spade
            which he ruffs. He now has 7 tricks & back in his hand. He now leads A K Q of hearts for 10 tricks.
            He now cross ruffs the last 2 tricks in spades & diamonds for 12 tricks.

            PRINCIPLE #32: The RUFFING HAND & SHAPE / FIT principle.
            a] The hand having the shorter length in trump is the RUFFING HAND.
            The hand having the greater predominant length in trump is the TRUMP-PULLING hand.
            Generally, the declarer's hand has the greater number of trump (ie, the predominant length) in relation to the dummy
            (ie, the subordinant length). In this case, declarer's hand is the trumping hand, and dummy is the ruffing hand.
            However this is not always the case, especially if responder has transferred the no-trump opener, a situation which gives rise to
            the REVERSAL OF DUMMY.
            Regardless, the hand holding the predominant length is for pulling opponents' trump, and the subordinant length is the ruffing hand.

            DO NOT IDLELY TRUMP SUITS IN WHICH YOU ARE VOID IN THE TRUMP PULLING HAND.

            b] The 4-4 FIT.
            With a 4-4 trump fit, you are more likely to take an extra trick with that suit as trump than if that suit was not trump,
            because the outstanding five trump cards in opponents' hands will be split 3-2, thereby making it possible to extend the
            two remaining trump card via CROSS-RUFFING. There are even times when a 4-4 fit will make more than a 5-4 fit,
            PROVIDED YOU HAVE ALL THE TOP HONORS FOR PULLING TRUMP BEFORE OPPONENTS RUFF YOUR 5-4 SUIT.

            An extension of this principle says that the best suit to have as a trump suit is where you have the same number of trump
            in both hands, Ie, not only 4-4 fits, but 5-5 fits & even 3-3 fits if you have all the high trump.

            c] The 5-4 SPLINTER FIT.
            With a 5-4 fit (or better) in trump, you are more than likely to take more tricks with that suit as trump & have a greater possiblity
            of slam with fewer high card points, if one of the hands also has a SPLINTER SHAPE, ie, a singleton or void in a non-trump suit.
            This is in compliance with what is called "THE LAW OF TOTAL TRICKS".

            d] The 5-3 FIT.
            You are just as likely to take the same tricks in no-trump as opposed to playing the 5-3 fit as trump.

            PRINCIPLE #33: The REVERSAL OF DUMMY principle. (For Declarer)
            This applies to the declarer in a trump contract, wherein the dummy has the greater predominant length in trump, and therefore
            becomes the trump pulling work horse instead of the declarer's hand. Normally, the declarer will have the predominant length in
            trump, with the dummy having the shorter subordinant length. And normally, the dummy is considered to be the "RUFFING HAND"
            as opposed to the declarer being the "TRUMP PULLING HAND". However, there are times (especially after dummy has made a
            TRANSFER BID) when the dummy (having the predominant length) is the TRUMPING HAND and declarer is the RUFFING HAND.
            Under these circumstances, this represents a role REVERSAL between DUMMY and declarer hands in the playing of the hand.

            REVERSAL OF DUMMY.
            Sometimes, especially when responder has transferred the NT opener to a trump suit, the dummy will have more trumps than the
            declarer. The PREDOMINANT LENGTH is in the dummy's hand, not the declarer's hand, which is not the usual case. In this
            situation, declarer needs to consider his hand to be the ruffing hand and the dummy to be the trump pulling hand.

            An example is 1NT -> 2H (phoney transfer bid) -> 2S -> pass. The opener winds up playing in a trump
            contract ( ex 2S) where he has less trump than the responder who becomes the dummy. This results in playing the
            hand as a Reversal Of Dummy's role when it comes to pulling trump. Normally, the declarer's hand will be the trump pulling hand
            and the dummy is the ruffing hand. But in this case, these roles are reversed. The defenders will want to recognize this and change
            their defense to FORCE DUMMY TO TRUMP, ie, TAPPING.

            PRINCIPLE #34: The TRUMP MANAGEMENT principle.

            Declarer should be sure that he is making THE PURPOSEFUL RUFF, remembering the "RUFFING HAND / PULLING HAND " principle.
            He should not waste the trump in the predominant length hand by trumping a suit he does not need, unless he intends to strip down &
            establish that suit as a side suit or he needs to be in a position for another beneficial lead. The defenders will be more than happy to
            "TAP" declarer with the intent of depleting declarer's long trump suit so they can run their own suits. So declarer should not help
            them out by IDLE TRUMPING. Make every ruff have a purpose.

            Normally, declarer will pull trump immediately, ie, PLAN A.
            But before pulling trump, declarer should examine the combined hands to see there is any reason to postpone pulling trump.
            Postponement of pulling trump does not mean declarer never pulls trump. It simply means taking a brief detour before pulling trump.
            Such a detour would include identifying any suit shortness in dummy which would allow the losers in the same suit in declarer's hand
            to be RAPIDLY RUFFED in dummy. Only POSTPONE PULLING TRUMP when:
            a] You need to RAPID RUFF before expending the trump in the ruffing hand.
            b] Opponents can get in with their high trump & cash their winners before you can immediately sluff some losers on a strong side suit.

            In the absence of these situations, declarer should begin with pulling the opponent's trump, UP TO THE POINT THAT ONE OF THE
            OPPONENT'S is out. At this point, declarer should reevaluate the situation to see if there is any more advantage in continuing the pull
            of opponent's remaining trump. Situations where declarer might not be advised to pull trump include:
            c] There is only 1 trump out & it is higher than declarers. In this case declarer should simply ingore the high trump and switch to his
            best side suit to force the defender to trump with his last high trump. Never pull the last remaining trump if it is the highest trump
            out. Conserve your remaining trump.
            d] If there are still trump in bith dummy and declarer's hands, and declarer continues to pull trump, then he is expending
            2 of his for only 1 of theirs, ie, TWO FOR ONE. In this case declarer should consider any alternative courses, ie, PLAN B,
            to pursue before pulling any more trump. Declarer may want to ruff a loser, after which he could pull the last of the trump.
            Or he may find it more profitable to postpone playing trump at all if he has a good cross ruff going or he needs to trump
            some immediate losers before the opponent's get in with their high trump and cash their winners (which would take the
            declarer's ).
            c] In HANDLING BAD TRUMP SPLITS. affter pulling the trump down to one opponent's hand, allow the opponent having the greater
            number of trump to expend his trump on your side-suits until you have more trump than he does.
            But normally in the absence of any good reason to postpone pulling all of the trump, the declarer will proceed to pull the
            remaining trump.

            Example: Contract = ?C. Opening Lead = a club.
            SOUTH holds:    C=AKXX    D=AQJT9     H=AQJ    S=X
            WEST holds:    C=J98XX    D=X     H=KXX    S= AKQJ
            NORTH holds:    C=QT62    D=K8     H=X    S=XXXXXX
            EAST holds:    C=    D=76XXX     H=T98XXX    S=T9

            As a final note, for the reason just mentioned, declarer might
            find it more profitable to postpone playing trump at all if he has a good cross ruff going or he needs to trump some immediate losers
            before the opponent's get in with their high trump and cash their winners (which would take the declarer's losers).

            For defenders, If they have no potential high card winners in the trump suit & if they have no possibility of getting a trumped
            trick , then the defenders will want to pull trump, particularly if they can pull two of the declares trump for one of theirs.
            This is called the TWO FOR ONE defense.

            PRINCIPLE #35: The FLEXIBILTY / PRESERVATION OF OPTIONS principle. (For Declarer)
            Declarer should avoid immediately expending all his high cards in just one hand, especially when pulling trump.
            This principle is in accord with the CONSERVATION OF ENTREES principle.
            Between your hand & the dummy, try to keep as many high cards in the dummy as in your hand for transportation & control.
            In pulling trump, always try to leave a balance of high trump in both hands before determining who has the high trump.

            Example: In pulling trump, with AK in your hand & queen in the dummy, don't take the first trick with the
            queen. Instead take your ace, thereby leaving you with strong cards in both places in case of a
            bad split. In other words, stay flexible.

            PRINCIPLE #36: The SIDE SUIT STRIPPING principle. (For Declarer)
            SIDE SUIT STRIPPING.
            This principle is used by declarer to set up a RUNNABLE SIDE-SUIT by initially trumping that suit enough times until the
            defenders are out of that suit.

            Example: With hearts as trump, you have AQxxx of hearts in your hand and Kxxx in dummy. You also have
            1 club in your hand with 6 clubs in dummy headed by the A . You have 3-4 of the other suits in
            your hand, and in dummy you have 3-1 of the other suits headed by aces and spaces. After an
            opening lead in spades or diamonds, you get in the lead immediately with dummy's A.
            You cash you A of clubs, voiding yourself in your hand and then lead a small club which you
            trump. You now pull trump having a 2-2 split, ending up in dummy. You lead a club from dummy
            and trump it, discovering a 4-2 club split. You get back to the dummy with your other ace, lead
            another club which you trump which strips the last club from opponents and leaves 2 good clubs
            in dummy. Being in your hand, you finally lead to dummy's void and ruff it, enabling you to now
            play those last 2 clubs and dump the losers in your hand.

            PRINCIPLE #37: The COUP. (For Declarer)
            This is a technique wherein you have an established side-suit (not trump) in dummy & you are void in the side suit with trump are still
            out in right hand opponent's hand .
            The idea is to catch dummy's left hand opponent void in the suit as well. If he does not trump, then you do not trump, but dump a
            loser from your hand. If he does trump, then you beat his trump. It is a great way for pulling trump when you cant afford to pay two
            for one.

            Example: With hearts as trump and being out of trump in dummy, you discover RHO having Q8
            remaiining. You hold K97 behind him. In dummy, you hold the remains of a side suit having
            QJT and in which both you and RHO are void. Assuming you have an entry to dummy, you use
            it and then lead Q of your side suit. If RHO trumps, you over-trump him, otherwise you let it
            ride. You continue this side-suit until RHO trumps, at which point you can now over-trump and
            pull his lastt rump.

            PRINCIPLE #38: The ZOOM principle. (For Declarer)
            The ZOOM PLAY is when declarer holds Axx in his hand & Qx in the dummy, with trump in the dummy. It is
            declarer's attempt to make his Q good while concealing where the A is located. A sleeping 2nd hand will fail
            to rise with his K, thereby giving decllarer an extra trick.
            This is an example of an EXCEPTION TO 2ND HAND LOW, ie, 2nd hand must play high to cash his king or else he will never get it.

            PRINCIPLE #39: The RUFF & SLUFF AVOIDANCE principle.
            A "RUFF & A SLUFF" occurs when there is trump in both partner's hands & where a suit has been led in which both
            partner's hands are void in that same suit. It allows a sluff of a loser to occur from either 2nd or 4th hand while
            ruffing it in the other. Such action usually results in an extra trick being gained which would not have occurred otherwise.
            For this reason, the declarer wants to be sure to pull trump unless he has a very good reason for postponing the pulling of trump.
            But even more importantly, the defenders want to be very cautious about leading a suit in which the dummy is void when the dummy
            still has trump.

            Example: Normally, this principle is addressed to defenders, but it also applies to declarer.
            You are declarer and have neglected to pull trump which both defenders have. You have decided to
            attack a side-suit which you have established and in which the defenders are both void, but in
            which you and dummy still have cards. You lead your side-suit again and one defender trumps while
            the other defender sluffs the last of another suit. The defender who won the trick now leads the suit
            that the other sluffed, thereby giving him another trumped trick

            PRINCIPLE #40: The TWO FOR ONE principle.
            The TWO-FOR-ONE Tactic .
            This principle is particularly applicable to trump contracts & the pulling trump.
            If you can pull two of the opponents trump for one of yours WITHOUT COMPROMISING A WINNING TRUMP, then that is a great benefit
            to you.

            Is there ever a time when declarer wants to pull trump when he has no trump control? Just because opponent's
            have more trump than you, DO NOT PUT OFF PULLING TRUMP AS LONG AS YOU CAN GET AT LEAST 2 OF THEIRS.
            Sometimes declarer will find himself in a trump contract where he wished he were in no-trump. The defenders may have more
            trump than him, and maybe he has only one trump in the dummy. Assuming he is evenly balanced in both his hand & dummy, he
            should NOT put off pulling trump, but he should keep leading trump for as long as he can to get 2 of the defender's trump for 1 of his.
            This diminishes the possibility of the defenders cross ruffing and extending their trump.

            Conversely, for defenders sometimes the best thing to do is lead non-winning trump to force declarer to pay 2 for 1 and diminish
            he ability to extend trump. But if there is a shortage of trump in the dummy, then it normally becomes a not good idea.

            Example:

    4. SQUEEZING & USING CARD COUNT.

        h. The PRINCIPLES OF THE SQUEEZING.

            PRINCIPLE #41. The SQUEEZING principle. (For Declarer)
            This is a technique used by the declarer to gain an extra trick at the very end of the hand.
            SQUEEZING entails developing the hand down to the end game to where you have not more than 2 losers which are THREAT CARDS.
            A THREAT CARD is one which is greater than the 8 & a potential winner in the absence of the opponents captor card(s).
            It is imperative that all other loosers must be disposed of before beginning the squeeze by a process called
            Rectifying The Count. In addition, you must have a WINNING SQUEEZE CARD in a suit , of which the opponent's have none.
            The idea is to put the opponent in the position of having to unprotect the suit(s) on which you have threat cards
            by causing him to sluff on the play of your squeeze card .
            It should be noted that the PSUEDO SQUEEZE is not a squeeze. The PSUEDO SQUEEZE is simply the process
            of playing out all your winners down to youur last loosing card, which you hope the defenders have forgotten about.

            Example: SQUEEZING LHO.
            You are down to the last 3 tricks and in your hand.
            You lead the x of hearts which is your SQUEEZE CARD, because nobody else has it.
            West, being out of hearts is squeezed, either having to throw off his K of clubs or an honor in
            diamonds. Your THREAT CARDS in the dummy are the Q of clubs and the J of diamonds.
            Whatever West discards, you discard the opposite suit from dummy, making the dummy good.

                 SOUTH    WEST    NORTH    EAST
             C       X               K             Q
             D       X               KQ           AJ
             H       X
             S

            Example: SQUEEZING RHO.
            You are down to the last 3 tricks and in your hand.
            You lead you spade which is your SQUEEZE CARD which no one else has & play the heart
            from dummy. East, being out of spades is squeezed, either having to throw off his K of clubs
            or an honor in diamonds. Your THREAT CARDS in are the Q of clubs and the dummy J of
            diamoinds. If East discards his K of clubs, your Q of clubs is good on which you can sluff the
            J of diamonds before going down to the A of diamonds. If East discards a diamond on your
            heart, your AJ of diamonds are good.

                 SOUTH    WEST    NORTH    EAST
            C       Q                                          K
            D       X                        AJ              KQ
            H                                   X             
            S       X                                         

            Example: SQUEEZING RHO. Contract = 4H. Opening Lead = diamond or spade .
            This hand is one of the hardest I have ever seen.
            How you know what your line of play should be is not clear.
            Usually when you see a bad trump split, you stop pulling your trump.
            But in this case, you want to ciontinue pulling trump to enable you to set up one of your two
            side suits, ie, spades or diamonds.
            Usually the SQUEEZE PLAY is earmarked by holding an extremely long trump suit.
            But this is an example of the principle of the squeeze with a relatively balanced hand.

                 SOUTH       WEST       NORTH       EAST
            C     QX         AXXXX         XX          KTXX
            D     Q8X         XX            AK9X         JTXX
            H     A765      KXXX          QT98          J
            S     Q9XX       XX              AK8          JTXX

            All you need to make this contract is to get 3 hearts, and either 3 spades & 4 diamonds, or 3
            diamonds & 4 spades, for 10 tricks.
            The KEY to this hand is to force East to throw off on trump after he is out of trump.
            The minute East throws off anything but a club, you then know which suit between the spades
            & the diamonds will set up.

            If the defensive opponents cash even one of their honors in clubs immediately before you get
            in , then you are assured the contract.
            And if West opens the lead with a trump, then you are nearly assured the contract.
            But if they hold off on their clubs, and Wests leads one of his doubletons , then you have a
            problem. If he leads his doubleton spade, then win with your ace. East will play low keeping his
            jack & ten. If he leads his doubleton diamond, then win with you queen. East will be forced to
            play his jack or ten.

            The first thing after getting in with one your aces is to pull trump.
            If trump have not been played already, then play the ace of trump.
            East's jack will fall.
            Now play a low trump to the board. (They are all the same on the board at this point).
            West may elect to take his king . If he doesn't, then lead another heart, at which point he will
            take his king to protect his last trump.
            East should sluff two clubs on the 2nd & 3rd round of hearts.
            When West finally takes his King of hearts, he will return the last card of his original doubleton.
            (Were he to cash his ace of clubs & then lead the last card of his doubleton, you would be
            assured the contract, because East would be ultimately forced to sluff his good king of clubs or
            a spade or a diamond on the 4th round of trump, thereby setting up either your queen of clubs
            or establishing your spade or diamond suit.)
            If West leads a spade, play high from the board. East will still have the JT of spades.
            If West leads a diamond, then win the trick from the board.
            Now lead the 4th round of trump to pull West's last trump..
            East now has a serious problem and is SQUEEZED.
            He must either sluff another club leaving his King of clubs unprotected or sluff a spade or a
            diamond. If he sluffs either a spade or a diamond, "Bingo", you are home free, because what
            have 4 tricks in that suit.
            But if he sluffs a club leaving the king unprotected, he cannot return a club to his partner
            to cash their 2nd club trick and will be forced to lead either a spade or a diamond.
            At this point, it's between you and the East, because west is out of it.
            Lead a small club and play small from the board.
            If West rises with his Ace, East's king will fall, making your queen good.
            If West ducks, then East will win with his King.
            At this point East will return a spade not wanting to lead into board's strength in diamonds
            & thereby finessing himself.

            If West had oriiginally led his doubleton in spades, then East will have the ten & jack, one of
            which he will lead to set up the other. If this is the case fine. Win with your Queen of spades &
            return a spade to his good spade, thereby forcing him to lead a diamond to you. You will then
            be able to finesse him in diamonds and win all 4 diamond tricks. You will have won 3 heart
            tricks, 3 spade tricks & 4 diamond tricks, having given up a1 heart trick, 1 club trick, & 1 spade
            trick.

            If West originally led his doubleton in diamonds, then East will still have his original 4 spades,
            and no matter what he leads in spades, you can rangle 4 spades out of him. If he underleads his
            jack / ten, your 9 will win and you can now drop the ace, king, queen of spades. If East leads
            his jack of spades, you can win it with the ace on the board, take your king, & then finesse him
            for his 10 of spades, giving you 4 spades tricks.

            In summary, East is squeezed either out of his protection in spades or diamonds, or he
            is squeezed out of his transportation to his partner's winning ace of clubs.

            Example: SQUEEZING RHO. Contract = 6NT. Opening Lead = J of Clubs.

                 SOUTH       WEST       NORTH       EAST
            C     AX                               XXX            KQX
            D     AQX                            KXXX         JTXX
            H     KQXX                         AXX            JTXX
            S     AQTX                           KJX            XX

            It makes no difference how West opens the lead to trick #1.
            Declarer wins the 1st trick with his A of clubs. It would appear we now have a club loser.
            And if we try to run diamonds or hearts, we have the portect jacks in East' hand.
            So let's attack spades, and play 4 rounds of spades on which East must now sluff 2 cards.
            But which cards should he slfuff. Well his best choice for the 1st sluff is his q of clubs,
            because if he sluffs from the other 2 suits, he gives us a trick by having unprotected his
            jacks . But on the 2nd sluff he has no choice. We now throw him in the lead with a club
            which he wins with his last K of clubs. And now he is at risk, being in the lead and has
            to give us an extra trick.

            Example: SQUEEZING LHO. Contract = 7NT. Opening Lead = K-S .

                   SOUTH             WEST             NORTH             EAST
            C    AKQX                T                     JXXX                98XX
            D    AKQXXX           XX                 T9XX                X
            H    XX                       KQXXX        AJX                   TXX
            S    X                          KQXXX         AJ                     98XXX

            At first glance, it looks lie we have a heart loser. Fear not. We take the spade and then play 2
            diamonds. We now play 4 clubs on which West has to sluff, probably 3 hearts. Next we play
            out 3 more diamonds to which West has to sluff 3 more, probably 3 spades, leaving him with
            just Q in spades and KQ in hearts. We finally lead out our last diamond, and WEST is
            squeezed to drop one of his queens. Which ever suit West sluffs, wediscard the opposite,
            thereby making our dummy good for 13 tricks.

            Example: Contract = 4S. Opening Lead = Q-C.

                   SOUTH             WEST             NORTH             EAST
            C    63X                    Q9                   TXX                  AKJ84
            D    A97                    QJXX              KT6                   XXX
            H    9                         KQJ83            ATX                   XXXX
            S    AKJ973               85                   QXXX                T

            Lose first 3 clubs. East comes back a diamond, West plays his J, which you win with the King.
            Pull 2 trump. Play 3 more trump. West has to sluff 3 more cards in additon to what he sluffed on
            the 3rd club trick. So he is probably down to Qx of diamonds and KQ of hearts. You are left with
            1 more spade, A9 of diamonds, & 1 H with AT of hearts & 2 diamonds in dummy .
            Lead your last spade on which West has to unprotect either his K-H or his Q-D. Whatever he
            throws, you throw the opposite from dummy and the;ast 3 tricks are yours.

        i. The PRINCIPLES OF CARD PLACEMENT BY COUNTING.

            PRINCIPLE #42. The RECONSTRUCTING THE CARD COUNT principle.
            More advanced and really good players will utilize every piece of information they can in playing the hand, including
            what was bid & how the opponents are playing their cards.

            Example: Contract = 4S. Opening Lead = K-H .
            SOUTH holds:    C=KX    D=A9X     H=JTX    S=AQJ76
            WEST holds:    C=TXX    D=X     H=AKXXXX    S=XXX
            NORTH holds:    C=AXX    D=KJT     H=Q83    S=KT98
            EAST holds:    C=QT9XX    D=QXXXXX     H=X    S=5
            West leads KA of hearts on which East dumps a diamond. We now know that West had 6 hearts
            to start. West follows with a small heart which East trumps. We're already booked with a decision
            as to which way to finess the diamonds. East returns the 10-C which we win with the K. We now
            pull 3 rounds of trump and note that west had 3 spades, leaving him originally with only 4 cards
            in clubs and diamonds. But he has already played 1 club, so now he has only 3 cards in clubs
            & diamonds. We now play our A clubs, followed by a low club which we trump in our hand, and
            discover that West had only 1 diamond to start. Therefore, we lead low to our K of diamonds,
            followed by another diamond to finess East out of his Q.

            Example: Contract = 4H. Opening Lead = A-D .
            SOUTH holds:    C=AQXX    D=X     H=KQJXX    S=AQX
            WEST holds:    C=    D=A9XXX     H=XX    S=KJ9XXX
            NORTH holds:    C=9876    D=QJ     H=ATXX    S=TXX
            EAST holds:    C=KJTXX    D=KTXXX     H=XX    S=X
            The bidding went S - 1H W - 1S N - 2H E - 3C
            S - 4H
            From this bidding, we deduce that East must have 5 clibs & West has none. And since East
            clubs are not strong & he did not support West's spades, then he must also have a long
            diamond suit with at least 5 diamonds. This leaves East with just 3 Cards in hearts & spades.
            Since West is missing his high cards in spades, he must have overcalled with a 6 card suit.
            That leaves East with just 1 spdae & 2 hearts.

            West opens with his A-D. Seeing a signal from East, he leads another diamond which we
            trump. we now pull 2 rounds of trump to get them out of opponents hands & end up in
            dummy. It would appear that we have 1 diamonds loser, 2 spade losers & 1 club losers.
            We lead a low spade, finessing the Q which we lose. Having no exit from his hand, West is
            forced to either lead a spade which would promote our 10 or lead a diamond, which gives us a
            ruff & a spade sluff from dummy. Getting to dummy twice, we now lead clubs to finess East &
            win 3 club tricks.

    5. DEFENDING.

        j. The PRINCIPLES OF DEFENDING.

            PRINCIPLE #43: The DEFENSIVE CARD SIGNALING principle.
            Before you even begin to play bridge at all, you and partner should agree upon a defensive card signaling system, by which you can
            "talk" to each other during the play of the hand.

            Most of the signals convey a favorable or unfavorable "ATTITUDE" for the suit being led by giving a HI-LO or LO-HI signal.
            These signals, HI-LO or LO-HI, refer to the sequence in which the cards are played to a suit by an individual player.
            Many players will consider any card played that is greater than a 6 to be a Hi card.
            However, really good players will recognize that a LO card is the very bottom of a suit, where the NEXT from bottom is a HI card,
            because there is no guarantee that one will always have cards distributed in a suit with a mixture of cards above and below the 6.
            What is important is the sequence of play relative to the actual lowest card in the hand which could be higher than the 6.
            Generally speaking, any system that relies soley upon absolute values of the cards is inherently flawed, because those absolute values
            may not be present when needed. For that reason, I do not advocate the use of ODD-EVEN or LAVANTHAL DISCARDS (described
            below). Addiitionally, the HI-LO can be further enhanced by incorporating a HI-MIDDLE-LO sequence to further show a preference for
            other suits, though this gets little more sophisicated & may be impractical in many situations, because of the diminishing availability
            of low vards. These ATTITUDE signaling systems are most frequently used to show that the signaler has a high card in a suit or no
            honors in a suit. BUT THEY SHOULD ALSO BE USED TO CONVEY THAT A SUIT IS "SAFE" OR "UNSAFE" TO CONTINUE LEADING.
            Regardless of the agreed upon ATTTITUDE meaning for the sequence played, when an attitude is being signaled in the face of an
            obvious unfavorable opponent holding, then the signal pertains to a SUIT PREFERENCE for another suit other than the one being
            played and as explained by the LAVENTHAL SYSTEM below.

            An older signal system uses HI-LO as opposed to LO-HI to give a CARD COUNT in the suit being led.
            And other discard signals convey a SUIT PREFERENCE for another suit other than the one being played by using a HIi-LO system or
            an odd-even system.

            There are three general categories of signaling systems depending upon whether you are leading, following non-trump suit,
            following suit in trump, or sluffing (discarding).
            And each category has any number of systems.

            a] In-The-Lead Signals & Following Suit Signals are synomous..
            These are given by the leader to a trick.
                1] In HI-LO POSITIVE ATTITUDE SIGNAL:
                A HI card followed by a LO card means you like the suit & the suit is "SAFE".
                A LO card followed by a HI card means you do not like the suit & the suit is "UNSAFE".
                The lead of 4th best from longest & strongest against no-trump complys with POSITIVE ATTITUDE.
                2] In NEGATIVE ATTITUDE or UP-SIDE-DOWN or LO-HI POSITIVE ATTITUDE:
                A LO card followed by a HI card means you like the suit or the suit is "SAFE".
                A HI card followed by a LO card means you do not like the suit or the suit is "UNSAFE".
                The lead of TOP-OF-NOTHING complys with NEGATIVE ATTITUDE.
                3] In MIDDLE-UP-DOWN (MUD) the opening lead of a nothing suit conveys a suit preference for which of the other suits is best to
                lead back. If you lead the very bottom card of the suit (even against no-trump), then you like it. If you lead the middle card of the
                nothing suit, followed by the higher (UP) card, then you prefer the other lowest ranking suits. If you play the 3rd highest of your
                nothing suit, followed by a down card, then you like the highest ranking of the other suits.
                4] In HI-LO CARD COUNT SIGNALS. This is the oldest of signals.
                A HI card followed by a LO card indicates and even number of cards in the suit, such as a doubleton ..
                A LO-HI sequence says you have an even number of cards in the suit.

            b] SIGNALS IN TRUMP.
                5] HI-LO and LO-HI are the only things you can do. You need to agree with partner what they mean.

            c] Discard Signals.
            These can be given when you are void in the suit being led.
                6] In HI-LO POSITIVE ATTITUDE SIGNAL:
                A HI card followed by a LO card means you like the suit you are sliffing & the suit is "SAFE".
                A LO card followed by a HI card means you do not like the suit you are sluffing &r the suit is "UNSAFE".
                The lead of 4th best from longest & strongest against no-trump complys with POSITIVE ATTITUDE.
                7] In NEGATIVE ATTITUDE or UP-SIDE-DOWN or LO-HI POSITIVE ATTITUDE:
                A LO card followed by a HI card means you like the suit you are sliffing & the suit is "SAFE".
                A HI card followed by a LO card means you do not like the suit you are sluffing &r the suit is "UNSAFE".
                8] Middle Card Positive Attitude - A middle card means you like the suit you are sluffing.
                9] Odd-Even - The suit you throw says you don't like that suit and:
                An Even card says I like the lower ranking suit.
                An Odd card says I like the higher ranking suit.

               10] Laventhal - The suit you throw says you don't like that suit and:
                High indicates preference for higher ranking.
                Low shows lower ranking.

            I have high-lighted in blue the signal systems I like & recommend.
            Regardless of which system is used, when it comes to having to choose between partner's signal(s) & dummy, the dummy takes
            priority.

            PRINCIPLE #44: The DEFENSIVE OPEN LEAD principle.

            a] RECAP OF THE STANDARD LEAD SYSTEM.
            In the absence of your partner bidding, the opening lead in the play of the hand is a blind shot in the dark, because the dummy is not
            revealed. Once the dummy goes down on the board, a line of defensive strategy becomes clearer. But until then, the opening leader
            can only make inferences from his own hand and how the bidding progressed.

            Over the years, there has evolved a STANDARD SYSTEM for making an opening lead.
            Basically, this system has called for the lead of the top of an honor sequence against any contract and the lead of 4th from longest &
            strongest against a no-trump contract. The intent of these leads has been to signal partner that this is a good suit. HOWEVER,
            experience has shown that these standard leads usually give the declarer an extra trick and are impracticle, because they ignore the
            principle of LEAD RISK.

            b] DEPARTURES FROM THE STANDARD SYSTEM - SAFE / UNSAFE SUIT SIGNALING.
            The following states the departure from the standard system with respect to all contracts, no-trump & trump alike.
            If you don't lead an honor, then you don't have a solid honor sequence.
            And the higher the non-honor card that you lead, the more you dislike that suit.
            On the other hand, the lower the non-honorcard that you lead means you like that suit.
            Example: Holding only the 932 in a suit, your lead of the 3 says you do not like that suit, ie, it is unsafe.
            Holding only the T98632 in a suit, your lead of the 2 says you do like that suit, ie, it is safe.
            The following will shed more light on these departures which will be highlighted in red as (departure).

            c] LEADS HOLDING Aces and spaces or Kings and spaces.
            If you have all aces & spaces and the contract is trump, then lead one of your aces that has a big space beneath it.
            If you have all aces & spaces and the contract is no-trump, then underlead one of your aces that has a big space beneath it.
            If you have kings in 3 suits and an ace in one suit and the contract is trump, then lead your ace.
            If you have kings in 3 suits and an ace in one suit and the contract is no-trump, then underlead your ace.
            If you have all 4 kings and spaces and the contract is trump, then lead out the king in the longest suit.
            If you have all 4 kings and spaces and the contract is no-trump, then under lead the king in the longest suit.

            d] LEADS HOLDING AK.
            The most desirable opening lead requires having the AK in a suit where one of those two cards is led. This lead has a nearly
            guaranteed chance of winning the 1st trick and allows you to see the dummy and partner's signal, while keeping control of the suit.
            Which card should be led first between the A and the K has become a contested issue. My recommendation is to lead the K if you
            have at least 3 cards in the suit, because the lead of the K promises a toucking honor, either the A or the Q. But the lead out of an A
            does not necessarily promise the K, especially against a trump contract as shown in the previous block.
            Example: You are defending against a trump contract.
            In 3 suits you hold Kxx. In the 4th suit you hold Axxx. You do not want to touch those suits
            with the kings. And you do not want to underlead your ace for fear of an opponent singleton
            king. Therefore, you lead A.
            This is called a "FARMER'S LEAD" .

            On the other hand, if all you have is AK, then lead the A to show having a doubleton. No matter which way you do it, you are in
            compliance with the standard system which recognizes either way as valid.

            There may be an exception to leading your Ace or King holding AK, and that is when defending against no-trump where you have no
            other entrys. The asumption is that declarer has at least 3 of the suit headed by the Q.
            Example: Against no-trump, you hold five hearts headed by the AK with no outside entrys. Declarer has at
            least 3 in the suit headed by the Q. Your partner in probably short, possibly holding 2 in the
            suit. To assure your partner can get you back in the lead to run your suit, youe do a SAFETY
            gets in, he presumably has one left in your suit, at which point you win it and run your suit.

            e] LEADS HOLDING AN HONOR SEQUENCE not headed by the Ace. (departure).
            With respect to leading out the top of an honor sequence that is not headed by the Ace, a word of caution is in order. The old
            standard says that holding KQX, the K is to be led. If holding the QJT, the Q is to be led. But consider the following example.
            Example: Holding KQx in a suit, you make an opening lead of the K. The dummy goes down, and low
            and behold, there sits the Jxx in the same suit. And declarer winds up eating your K with his
            Ace. As a result, you will get only 1 trick in that suit, and declarer will get 2 tricks, where it
            should have been the other way around with you getting the 2 tricks.
            In view of this, I recommend that you only lead your K if you also have the J, ie, a HONOR SOLID SEQUENCE.

            f] LEADING 4th BEST AGAINST NO-TRUMP. (departure)
            With respect to leaading 4th from longest and strongest against no-trump, consider the following example.
            Example: Holding KJ6543 in a suit, you make an opening lead of the 5. The dummy goes down with xx in
            the suit, nothing to be concerned about. But what you don't know, until it's too late, is that
            declarer holds AQx. Declarer winds up making his Q good which you should have captured
            with your K.
            So now let's be reallistic and ask ourselves, ... are these really good standards?
            It seems we have some deep seated inconsistencies between what we tell the opening leader to the 1st trick and the way that is
            recommended in playing the other tricks, ie, "lead from weakness up to 3rd hand's strength". Underleading you honors is not
            exactly the same as leading from weakness. WE NEED TO OBSERVE TEDS RULE & THE PRINCIPLE OF LEAD RISK AVOIDANCE.
            NEVER UNDERLEAD A POTENTIAL POSITIONALLY PROMOTED HONOR or BROKEN WINNER SEQUENCE unless you are certain your
            LHO has your missing honors.

            To be more exact in an opening lead against no-trump, we further clarify:
            Before underleading an honor through the left hand opponent's (ie, dummy's) 2nd bid suit to avoid leading into declarer's bid suits,
            do everything you can to avoid underleading any honors at all by :
                1] Leading the highest card that is less than an 8 in a SHORT NOTHING SUIT (ie, 3 or less cards having no honors).
                This is providing declarer did not bid that suit.
                2] Leading the VERY BOTTOM card in a LONG NOTHING SUIT (ie, 4+ cards having no honors).
                Make no difference if declarer bid it on his 2nd bid.
                EXCEPTION:
                With AKxxx+, lead the VERY BOTTOM as a SAFETY PLAY AND IF YOU HAVE NO OUTSIDE ENTRYS.
                Otherwise, go ahead and lead the K
                3] The 5-4-3 Card Count Sequence Lead.
                The idea is to give a suit count when leading from a sequence. It goes like this:
                With a 5+card suit containing a sequence that includes the TEN, then lead the TEN.
                Such sequences would be JT98x, AJT98, QJTxx, AQJTx, KQJTx
                With a 4+card suit containing a sequence that includes the TEN, then lead the JACK.
                Such sequences would be JT98, QJTx, AQJT, KQJT
                With a 3+card suit containing a sequence that includes the JACK, then lead the QUEEN.
                Such sequences would be QJT, KQJ
                With a 4+ card suit containing the 3 card sequence KQJ (as in KQJx or KQJxx)
                Then lead the K.
                But stay off from KQ without the Jack no matter the suit length.
                A 2 card sequence not headed by the Ace, ie, KQ can be costly even though it might be a 5-card suit.

            The following should summarize ALL POSSIBILITIES when holding a fully sheltered sequence and leading against no-trump.
            When cross-referencing the number of cards in a sequence against the total number of cards in the suit, the preferred lead is
            indicated.

            Not included in this matrix are: KJT98 AQJ9x KQTxx, because they do not contain a fully sheltered sequence & ar At-Risk.

            g] The lead of the TOP-OF-NOTHING (preferably no higher than the 7) is in accordance with the PRINCIPLE OF LEAD RISK AVOIDANCE.
            DO LEAD the TOP OF NOTHING SUIT as long as 4th hand did not bid it.

            Lead your WEAKEST suit. (Note: This system follows along the same lines as a standard system called MUD, MIDDLE-UP-DOWN.)

            If it's a singleton, then you cannot show any suit preference for this suit or any other suit .
            Against a trump contract, you can lead a singleton into 4th hand's strength in an attempt to get a subsequent ruff in that suit.

            If it's a doubleton, then you can only show your dislike for this suit, but not any others.
            Do not lead a doubleton expecting to get a ruff in that suit, but it may be a good exit lead.
            Unless you have stoppers in trump, it rarely pays to try to void yourself by leading a doubleton for the purpose of getting a trump
            trick. But the lead of the top of a doubleton can still be a good lead as a top-of-nothing lead.

            If it's a tripleton, then you can show both your dislike for this suit and a preference for another suit.
            By playing the middle card first, followed by the the highest second, you show a preference for a lower ranking suit.
            By playing the highest card first, followed by the middle card second, you show a preference for a higher ranking suit.
            Example: You lead a low diamond (not the lowest), followed by a higher diamond, indicates you like
            hearts or clubs, not spades.

            When considering a lead from nothing, avoid leading into declarer's strength as indicated by his bidding. If it appears that you could
            be leading into his strength, consider leading an unbid suit or through dummy's second bid suit. If it does come down to leading
            into declarer, then go ahead and make the lead, because partner would be finessed at some point anyway. BUT DO NOT
            UNDERLEAD your honors unless you are certain the LHO has your missing honors.

            h] On opening lead, if you suspect that dummy is going to have a broken suit, that can be a good lead.

            i] There is an old saying.. "When in doubt, then lead trump".
            Against a suit contract, it is sometimes advisable to lead trump and force decalrer to play as if in no-trump.
            The lead of your nothing trump suit can be very useful to avoid leading your suits having honors .
            Quite frequently, if you suspect the declarer/dummy has some radical distribution whereby it would be more to their advantage to
            not pull trump, but instead cross-ruff, then a trump lead is a good lead as long as you don't have an honor. You are effectively
            leading your nothing suit just as in TOP-OF-NOTHING. If you can lead trump which pulls a trump from both the dummy & declarer,
            then it is a good play. But once the trump are depleted from either dummy or declarer, then you no longer want to pull trump, and
            especially if it is costing two of your trump for one of theirs.

            j] The lead of the BOTTOM-OF-WEAK-LENGTH is in accordance with the PRINCIPLE OF LEAD RISK AVOIDANCE. (departure)
            Example: Holding T86432 in a suit, lead the 2. You have nothing to lose & the suit is not runnable by
            declarer.

            k] If partner bid, lead his suit.
            Another good lead against a suit contract is in your partner's bid suit. But against a no-trump contract where your partner's left
            hand opponent has shown stoppers in your partner's suit, you want to be careful.
            If you hold only 2 in his suit, lead the top.
            If you hold 3 or more headed by an honor,llead your lowest.
            Example: Holding K64, lead you 4. The presumption is that declarer could have the Q, and you don't want
            to give it up.

            l] Against a no-trump contract, if you are playing against opponents who use stayman & jacoby ­then the reason they are
            not in a major is usually because it is your suit, not theirs. Therefore, consider leading a major suit.

            PRINCIPLE #45: The READ THE DUMMY, DUMMY principle.
            a] The declarer's ROAD MAP & STRATEGY FOR PLAYING THE HAND IS WRITTEN IN THE DUMMY.
            If defending, try to anticipate how you would play the hand if you were declarer, & then adjust your defense accordingly.
            A short suit in dummy with plenty of trump is a signal that declarer will probably try to cross-ruff before pulling trump. In this case
            a lead of trump might be in order.
            A long nearly established suit in dummy is a danger signal indicating that it might be time for you to cash.
            A balanced hand in dummy usually means a wait & see defense is best.
            Pay VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to the strengths and weaknesses in the dummy.
            Observe the SEQUENCES, broken and unbroken, in each suit of dummy's hand. Does dummy have missing honors?
            What are dummy's LONGEST suit(s)? Are they potentially runnable? Is there adequate transportation to them?
            What TRANSPORTATION might there be between the opponents' hands? Is there an absence of transportation in a suit due to:
                1] One partner not having any cards (ie, a void) in the other partner's suit.
                2] One partner having only high cards in the other partner's suit, thereby creating a BLOCKED siituation.
            Identify your entrees into each hand & make sure you have enough to get into your runnable suits.
            Is there a way to foul it up so the opponent cant get to his runable suits after trump are gone?
            Can you create a blocked situations for the opponent?
            In a trump contract, what is dummy's trump holding & what are dummy's shortest weakest suits where declarer might ruff losers?
            Identify any suit shortness in one hand where you have losers in the other that you want to ruff before your trump are depleted.
            Should trump be pulled by declarer or by the defenders?

            b] Use the SPLIT PERCENTAGES as a guide to estimate what the distribution splits in each suit might be.

            PRINCIPLE #46: The SHEDDING DISCARDING principle.
            As the end game nears, the defenders may find themselves being squeezed for discards.
            One clue is to stay in balance card count wise with the dummy.
            But even more important is that each defender should guard different suits, and not the same suit.

            PRINCIPLE #47: The TAPPING principle.
            This is also known as "FORCING DECLARER TO TRUMP", with the intention of depleting his trump in his predominant length
            trumping hand (not his ruffing hand) and subsequently getting back in the lead to cash in on your own runnable suit.
            This technique is used by the defenders when the declarer is out of a suit in his hand but still has some in that suit on the board.
            The idea is to deplete declarers length in trump so he cannot retain control of the hand. It may be that he will not be able to pull
            all of the outstanding trump if he is having to keep using his trump on another suit.
            TheTAPPING principle does not give declarer any more tricks than he would otherwise get while providing a
            safe "exit". HOWEVER, ONE MUST NOT USE THIS PRINCIPLE IF BOTH THE DECLARER & DUMMY ARE OUT OF THE SAME SUIT
            WITH DUMMY STILL HAVING TRUMP, WHICH WOULD CAUSE A "RUFF & A SLUFF" thereby costing the defenders an extra trick.

            PRINCIPLE #48: General CONTINUATION OF PLAY principles.
            a] It is not always necessary to return partner's opening lead.
            Returning partner's opening lead is not always a good idea, because many times partner will lead from nothing to avoid lead risk.
            If partner lead an honor (indicating a sequence) then consider returning it. If partner led very low, consider returning it.
            If a trump contract, if partner led into 4th hand's strngth, consider returning it for him to ruff.
            In the absence of partner making one of these leads, partner would normally be leading top-of-nothing.
            Dont be afraid to switch suits when you get in.
            b] Lead through 2nd hand's broken winners up to 4th hands weakness.
            With dummy sitting on your left, lead through dummy's broken winners, even though you may have broken winners in the same suit.
            Declarer will try to finess you anyway, and you may just throw declarer off.
            With dummy on right, lead the weakest thing in site. A void is weakness. Weakness may even be a trump suit.
            c] The DUMMY takes priority over partner's signals.
            Pay very close attention to what your partner plays and watch for his signals.
            But if you encounter a conflict between DUMMY and partner's signals, give greater weight to the dummy.
            d] In breaking a new suit. observe the same rules that apply to the opening lead. When making a lead, if you have a nothing suit
            (ie, 3 or 4 cards headed by the 9), then lead the top of it. If you have a suit head by the jack or queen, then lead the bottom of that
            suit unless you have a touching honor. You can underlead with the lowest card in a suit from the queen or jack not touching another
            honor into a tenace. You may lead into 4th hand's short broken strength if you have a tenace (ie, JTx) & in the hopes of setting up a
            winning trick.
            e] Against a trump contract.
            Don't waste trump on a suit in which partner has control, unless you want your partner to killl you.
            Use the hand with the shortest number of trump (ie, the subordinant length) to get ruffs.
            Use the hand with the longest number of trump (ie, the predominant length) to force declarer to pull two-for-one.
            If you have low trump & partner does not have any & if declarer still has trump in both dummy & his hand, lead a trump
            to get two-for-one & deplete declarer's trump so he cant cross ruff.
            When declarer is near being void in a non-trump suit in the dummy, consider pulling the declarer's by leading them
            so he cant ruff so many cards in that void suit.
            f] Against no-trump.
            If you have a runnable suit, make every effort to convey that to partner & begin to establish it without giving up extra tricks.
            And always be ready at any time to UNBLOCK your partner's suit
            g] The only time you lead into 4th hand's strength is when you have a singleton against a suit contract where you will be able to
            ultimately ruff.
            h] If they have no potential high card winners in the trump suit & if they have no possibility of getting a trumped trick, then the defenders
            will want to pull trump, particularly if they can pull two of the declares trump for one of theirs. This is called the TWO-FOR-ONE
            defense.
            i] WHEN TO CASH OUT.
            When you see that declarer has nothing but winners on the board, that is the time you need to lead out your aces & other winners.
            Otherwise you may not get them at all.
            j] When you are looking at a potentially long runnable suit on the board, do not lead that suit until you are sure that declarer cannot
            access it.