BridgeHands

Google BridgeHands

 HOME  Encyclopedia  Newsletter  Laws  Products  Services  Reviews  Tournaments  Blog  Training  Practice   HELP
 You are at:

 

Tenace - A player holding a broken honor sequence as:  A Q [x...]     K J [x...]

 

  K J 9 3
 


? ? ?
 

  ? ? ?
 

8 7 4
 

Let's assume North is dummy in a Notrump contract.  North's holdings includes a King-Jack broken suit sequence.  Tenace holdings such as this offers the opportunity to attempt a finesse or endplay.

Here's a bidding tip to consider when holding tenaces.  Imagine partner opens 1C and you are holding either of these hands:

#1.   K 10 2       #2.    10 8 2
         K 9 3                   Q 9 3
         Q 10 4 2             A Q 8 3
         9 7 6                   9 7 6

Both hands have 8 High Card Points and a 3=3=4=3 distribution, however hand #1 has a balanced honor distribution while hand #2 contains Diamond tenances. 

On hand #1, the responder should consider bidding 1 Notrump, forcing an opening lead to a balanced hand if the side ends up in a Notrump contract. 

On hand #2, the responder should consider bidding 1 Diamond - as we can see, most of the honors are in the Diamond suit and if the side bids Notrump, the opener should probably bid Notrump with appropriate stoppers.

Also see Finesse, Suit Combinations and books on Finesse

HOME  Encyclopedia  Newsletter  Laws  Products  Services  Reviews  Tournaments  Blog  Training Practice Links HELP
Contacts: Sales  Support  Reviews  Q&A    Disclaimer    Privacy    © 2005 BridgeHands   Updated 01/22/11