Endplays

Some suits are bad to lead yourself but good if the opponents lead them. A J x opposite K 10 x is a guess if you play it, but costs nothing if a defender has to open it. An endplay forces a defender to make that lead.

By the end of this module you’ll be able to:

Plan an elimination and throw-in in a suit contract.
Recognise the ruff and discard.
Use loser on loser.
Set up a throw-in in no trumps.

1. Suits you want the defenders to lead

Your holding (North / South)	If you lead it	If a defender leads it
A J x / K 10 x	A two-way guess for the queen	No loser: you play second-hand low and can’t lose to the queen
A Q / x x (A Q in the hand that plays last)	A 50% finesse	A free finesse if the defender on the left of the A Q leads it
K x / x x	You need the ace to be onside	A defender leading it may give you a trick with the king
Q x x / x x x	Usually one trick at best	A defender leading it can give you a trick

Check the A J x / K 10 x claim. If West leads the suit, play low from North. If East plays the queen, cover with the king; if East plays low, your 10 wins. If East leads the suit, play the 10 from South. If West covers with the queen, win with the ace. Either way, you lose nothing.

2. Elimination and throw-in

An endplay usually has three steps:

Draw trumps, keeping at least one trump in each hand.
Eliminate the side suits that the defenders could safely lead. Cash or ruff them out of both your hand and dummy.
Throw in a defender: give them the lead with a loser you were going to lose anyway.

Now the defender has only bad choices:

Lead the key suit, giving you a free trick.
Lead an eliminated suit, giving you a ruff and discard: you ruff in one hand and discard a loser from the other.

A worked example: 6♠

            North (dummy)
            ♠ Q J 10 6 4
            ♥ 7 6 2
            ♦ 8
            ♣ A J 5 2

            South (you)
            ♠ A K 9 8 7
            ♥ A K 3
            ♦ A 4
            ♣ K 10 4

West leads the ♦K against 6♠. You have eleven sure tricks:

Five spades in your hand.
A diamond ruff in dummy.
The ♥A K, the ♦A and the ♣A K.

The twelfth trick could come from guessing the ♣Q, a two-way guess. But you don’t need to guess:

Win the ♦A. (Dummy’s ♦8 falls, so dummy is now out of diamonds.)
Draw trumps in two or three rounds. You still have trumps in both hands.
Ruff your ♦4 in dummy. Diamonds are now eliminated from both hands.
Cash the ♥A and ♥K, then exit with your ♥3. Hearts are now eliminated from both hands, and a defender has won the trick with a heart you were always going to lose.

The defender on lead now has three choices:

A heart or a diamond: a ruff and discard. You ruff in dummy and discard the ♣4 from your hand. Now you have the ♣A K for two more tricks and an extra trump trick: twelve tricks.
A club: the two-way suit is led for you. You can’t lose a club trick, so you make three club tricks: twelve tricks.

Either way, you make your slam without guessing the queen.

Why keep trumps in both hands? A ruff and discard only works if you can ruff in one hand while discarding from the other.

3. Loser on loser

Instead of ruffing, you sometimes discard a loser on a loser:

To avoid an overruff. If a defender would overruff dummy, discard a loser from dummy instead. You lose the same number of tricks, but you keep dummy’s trumps.
To throw in the right defender. Discarding a loser can give the lead to the defender you want on lead, for example the one who must then lead into your tenace.
To set up a long suit without letting the danger hand in (Module 5).

4. Throw-ins in no trumps

Endplays work in no trumps too. Without trumps there’s no ruff and discard, so you need the defender to have no safe exit.

Cash your winners in the suits where the defender could otherwise exit.
Give the defender the lead in a suit where they must win the trick: often a suit they’ve shown in the bidding or by their discards.
They must then lead from an honour into your tenace, or give you a trick in a long suit.

Counting is essential. You must know how many cards the defender has left in each suit (Module 6). If they keep one safe exit card, the throw-in fails.

5. Morton’s fork

Sometimes you lead towards a king, and the defender with the ace has two bad choices:

Take the ace, setting up your king so you can discard a loser on it.
Duck, so your king wins and you discard the loser elsewhere, or simply avoid losing the trick.

This is called Morton’s fork: either choice gives you what you need. Look for it when you need one discard and have a king in a suit where a defender holds the ace.

Rules worth remembering

Some suits are better led by the opponents: A J x / K 10 x, A Q in the right position, K x when the ace is wrong.
Endplay plan: draw trumps, eliminate, throw in.
Keep trumps in both hands for the ruff and discard.
Throw in with a loser you were going to lose anyway.
Loser on loser avoids overruffs and puts the right defender on lead.
In no trumps, cash the defender’s exit cards first. Count carefully.

Try these

1. You hold ♣ A J 4 in dummy and ♣ K 10 3 in your hand. What happens if a defender leads clubs?

2. You’re in 4♥. You need to avoid a fourth loser. Dummy has ♦ A Q 5 and you have ♦ 7 6 2. You can eliminate clubs and spades, and you have a sure spade loser. What’s your plan?

3. Why should you keep at least one trump in each hand before throwing a defender in?

4. You’re in 3NT and want West to lead into your ♣ A Q. West has shown long spades. What must you do before putting West on lead with a spade?

Answers

1. You can’t lose a club trick. If West leads, play low from dummy; if East leads, play the 10. You take all three club tricks without guessing where the queen is.

2. Draw trumps, eliminate clubs and spades from both hands, then exit with your spade loser. The defender who wins must lead a diamond or give you a ruff and discard. If East (on the left of dummy’s A Q) leads a diamond, dummy plays last: a free finesse. If West leads a diamond, dummy plays second, so it’s no better than taking the finesse yourself: play the queen and hope West has the king. The endplay gains whenever East is on lead, or when the defender has to give you a ruff and discard. If you can choose which defender to throw in, choose East.

3. So that you can ruff in one hand and discard a loser from the other if the defender leads an eliminated suit. Without trumps in both hands, a defender can exit safely.

4. Cash your winners in the other suits (hearts and diamonds) so West has no safe exit card, and count West’s hand. When West has only spades and clubs left, give West a spade trick: after cashing the spades, West must lead a club into your A Q.

Words to know

Term	Meaning
Endplay	Forcing a defender to lead in a way that gives you a trick
Elimination	Removing a side suit from both your hand and dummy, so a defender can’t lead it safely
Throw-in	Deliberately giving a defender the lead at the right moment
Ruff and discard (ruff-sluff)	A lead of a suit where both your hands are void, letting you ruff in one and discard a loser from the other
Loser on loser	Discarding a loser instead of ruffing, to avoid an overruff or to put the right defender on lead
Exit card	A safe card a defender can lead to get off lead
Morton’s fork	A lead towards a king where the defender with the ace loses whether they take it or not

What next?

Look for A J x / K 10 x and A Q holdings in your next session. Ask: “Could I make the defenders lead this?”
Practise the worked example with cards: deal out the North and South hands above and play the elimination through.
Move on to Module 8: Squeezes, the other way of making a trick from nothing.