Passive Defense


grizz: Hi everybody, thanks for attending another of a series of lessons on Defense.  
grizz: Chat logs and hand records are stored in your computer for later review.  For information on how to retrieve them, go the BIL homepage or email me.
grizz: I teach private individual, pair, and small group lessons.  I am available for tournaments as well.  If you would like to know more please email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com.
grizz: Archives of old sessions are available at GrizzBridge.com, on the Lessons and Archives page.
grizz: There will be lots of questions.  I want to address them all, but in a manner helpful to all, so please ask them in open chat.  
grizz: As always I encourage participation by all kibs
grizz: So jump right in with a comment, question, or bid at any time, but please do it in open chat...
grizz: ...since I can't always respond to private chat.
grizz: Two weeks ago we began to focus on the 5 types of defensive strategy.
grizz: All of you have been taught that when declaring a hand you should stop and plan the play before touching any cards at Trick 1. 
grizz: That is excellent advice, and I urge all of you to follow it.
grizz: But have you considered that it also applies to the defenders?
grizz: It does indeed!   And even more so than for declarer!  
grizz: Because declarer can see his hand and dummy, all of his combined partnership assets.  
grizz: But defenders do not enjoy that advantage.
grizz: Opening leader in particular is at a tremendous disadvantage, having to play before seeing dummy.
grizz: There are only 5 basic types of defensive strategy at the beginning of a hand.
grizz: By the way, these concepts are out of the book "How The Experts Win At Bridge" by Burt Hall and Lynn Rose-Hall.
grizz: The 5 lines of defense are:
grizz: 1.  Force declarer to ruff, and lose control of his own trump suit.
grizz: 2.  Active defense.
grizz: 3.  Passive defense.
grizz: 4.  Reduce declarer's ruffing power.
grizz: 5.  Create trump tricks.
grizz: In addition, there are 5 tools that help you figure out what partner and declarer have in terms of strength and shape.  They are:
grizz: a. Inferences from bidding and play.
grizz: b.  Counting points.
grizz: c.  Counting distribution.
grizz: d.  Counting tricks.
grizz: e.  Defensive signals.
grizz: Last week we covered Active Defense, taking risks to cash side suit tricks before they go away.  
grizz: Today we will dive into Passive Defense, which is just the opposite.  
grizz: There are times when you should sit back and wait to take your tricks, rather than get busy, break new suits, and do declarer's work for him.
grizz: These are times when you are better advised not to take declarer off the guess, and to be patient.
grizz: Are there any questions before we tackle it in greater depth?
grizz: Let us now look at an example, before we talk about general conditions for Passive Defense to work.
grizz: BTW - for those of you who play 2NT as invitational, what do you think about S accepting the inv?
Flaskemand: ok with 10īs
grizz: with 15 and no 5-card suit, pass is a no-brainer
pzee: !s 9 & 10 are nice and worth and extra point
grizz: with 17 and a 5-card suit, 3NT is a no-brainer
easygame: Most points in short suits
grizz: but there are lot of hands in-between
grizz: and this is one of them
grizz: honors are working together
grizz: Ts are good middle cards
grizz: but there is no 5-bagger, and only 16 hcp
grizz: still, as we shall see, it makes most of the time
grizz: N has a very nice invitational hand, i would blast to 3 with in most of the time
Canuckstan: do you find the 2nt invitational bid valuable enough to avoid use it for !D transfer?
grizz: a judgment call, but i prefer the 2NT for transfer
grizz: and 1NT-2!c-2 grapes-2Nt as inv.
pzee: grapes?
grizz: let's see what happens with various leads
grizz: lol    grape = any suit
pzee: thx :)
grizz: the worst possible lead is an unsupported A
grizz: which immediately sets up 2!s tricks
card_judge: thank you for mentioning that !! :)
grizz: even though pard has the K
TapTap: who would lead the A sp?
grizz: who would lead the A sp?   Nobody who goes to THIS class i  hope!
grizz: many books talk about leading the unbid major
grizz: that lead also gives away a trick
grizz: as frequently happens when leading from 3 rags to an honor
grizz: even HHxx can be dangerous
grizz: and Jxxx is an even worse lead
grizz: here is the only lead that works on this hand
grizz: E finesses the J, because he paid attention here last year   :)
paruljain6: i didn
Canuckstan: is the tipoff to play passive the invitational sequence?
grizz: for those who don't know about finessing honors in dummy, go to GrizzBridge.com and check on the Lessons and Archives page for last year's lessons
grizz: Good questions
grizz: Here are the clues that you should go Passive:
grizz: 1.  Ops have not bid a strong side suit.
grizz: There is no evidence of a strong side suit for declarer to pitch his losers, OR
grizz: There is a side suit, but it is breaking badly, OR
grizz: There is no entry for declarer to use his side suit.
grizz: 2.  Declarer is strong, and dummy is weak.
grizz: If so, and especially if dummy is also balanced, then expert defenders will not help out declarer by breaking new suits or creating dummy entries.
grizz: Make declarer play out of his own hand, and throw him back in by leading back his own suits.  
grizz: 3.  There is a misfit in key suits.
grizz: Don't help out declarer by clarifying the position for him.  
grizz: Make him do his own work, break his own suits, and worry about his own entries.  
grizz: 4.  Opening leader has no suit to lead against NT.
grizz: A lead from a nondescript 4-card suit to an honor will usually not work out vs. NT, except perhaps if it is an unbid major.  
grizz: Such as the lead from that woebegone !h suit in the first hand.
grizz: That suit otherwise is not likely to be a source of tricks.  
grizz: When in doubt, a good default position is Passive.  
grizz: A better line may be evident later in the play, but in the beginning if you are not sure, tend toward Passive.
grizz: 5.  You are defending 6NT or any grand slam.
grizz: Any attacking lead vs. 6NT is likely to give away a trick.  
grizz: Sequence leads are best, and Passive leads are next.  
grizz: In such cases declarer frequently must locate a missing honor, so do not help him out at Trick 1.
grizz: Against grand slams the most important defense concept is "Do NOT give away an extra trick with the opening lead."
grizz: Trump leads are almost mandatory against grands, as they are least likely to give away a trick.
grizz: But don't lead away from a trump King!
grizz: 6.  Ops have stumbled into a game.
grizz: In this case one trick could easily be the difference between making and setting, and your prime directive should be not to give declarer a trick he does not deserve.
grizz: Any more questions before we move on?
pzee->Club: very instructive
grizz: OK, let's see another example.
patsy_24->Club: how can p tell difference in passive and active
amcs: lead trump away from ace?
grizz: against a grand?
grizz: lol
grizz: sure, that trick won't go away   :)
grizz: that is a foreshadowing of what we will look at next week, "Cutting Down Ruffing Power"
grizz: how can p tell difference in passive and active?      lead of a big spot card denies interest in that suit
grizz: both at Trick 1 and later in the play
grizz: it will be top of a sequence, top of a doubleton, or 2nd highest from rags
grizz: possibly a singleton vs. a trump suit
grizz: a side benefit of a passive lead is shown in Hand 1 too.
grizz: you might hit partner's suit, as W did with the !c lead
grizz: btw, for those of you who may not know about finessing honors in dummy, let me go back a step
grizz: now declarer collects 2!c tricks, instead of the one he got the first time around
grizz: both the K and Q score now
grizz: but if E covers to force out the Q, keeping the A9 over the K in dummy, that combination will now take 3 tricks
grizz: assuming that pard or declarer will be kind enough to lead them again
grizz: that is called "Finessing Dummy"
grizz: notice too, it does not help declarer to duck
grizz: now when E gets in with the !SK, he cashes the long !c for the set
grizz: so for those who reflexively play hight at Trick 1, slow down and consider whether a better play is available
grizz: any other questions?
grizz: this one looks like it should be easy
grizz: 16 hcp is a robust 1NT opener, with good middle cards and 3 aces
grizz: dummy has a nice 7 hcp and 2 kings
grizz: so pretend you are W, and choose a lead
grizz: the floor is open for suggestions
pzee: !d 8
patsy_24: d
minnie01: 5 c
easybridge: d8
Canuckstan: definitely not a major
ydannac: !D8 lead
trudean 24: 5 clubs
grizz: !D is the big winner here
cdt: 5c
grizz: any !c lead costs
grizz: now declarer takes 3!c tricks
grizz: and the low !c does not work either
grizz: declarer only takes 2!c tricks, but still makes 1NT
grizz: !s doesn't work either
grizz: N now takes 3 or 4 !ss
grizz: same situation with !hs
grizz: any !h lead gives away a trick
grizz: On suits like this, the side that breaks the suit loses.  
grizz: A ragged 3-to-an-honor is even worse than a ragged 4-to-an-honor, so sit back and let those leads come to you.
rq4mulae: leave it to junk?  :)
grizz: :)
grizz: don't do declarer's heavy lifting for him    :)
grizz: there is no way to set this contract
grizz: but all other leads give away a trick or 2
grizz: If you have a source of tricks and an entry in your hand, then by all means make an attacking lead.
grizz: But with trash like this, sit back and wait.
grizz: Let's recap the indicators for Passive Defense now.
grizz: 1.  Ops have not bid a strong side suit.
grizz: 2.  Declarer is strong, and dummy is weak.
grizz: 3.  There is a misfit in key suits.
grizz: 4.  Opening leader has no suit to lead against NT.
grizz: 5.  You are defending 6NT or any grand slam.
grizz: 6.  Ops have stumbled into a game.
grizz: Do we have any questions?
PedroG: no ty Pete
grizz: That concludes today's lesson, and next week we will look at Reducing Ruffing Power.
grizz: If anybody needs help retrieving the hand records or chat log, please email me at Grizz@GrizzBridge.com.   
PedroG: great lesson TY :) :)
grizz: Thanks for your interest and participation, and I hope to see you next week.
Dianne0516: Thnks, Pete
grizz: Thanks also to Maureen, Rosemary, Fred and the wonderful people at BBO who make this all possible.
joyable: ty
Canuckstan: ty Pete
terrierx2: thank you
grizz: Thanks all for coming, i'll see you in a week
pzee: thx pete
ydannac: Thanks!H!H all
cdt: Thanks For lesson great :)
gimit: tks
hope: Thank you very much
easygame->Club: Many thanks Pete
grizz: Bye now
dmfav: thank you!
bbo_iac (Lobby): => Club: Get wisdom from grizzdom in an hour.  :)