Sample lesson 3: Cashing winners
Winner = the highest card in the game.
Cashing winners = playing the cards in the correct order to win them all.
Watch the video lesson first
Key facts to remember
- A winner is the card in the game.
- Cooperate with your partner – if he plays a high card, you play a low card and vice versa.
- Plan ahead – use your entries as winners.
- Play winners from the "short hand" first to avoid playing two winners in one trick or ending in the wrong hand.
Test your skills
Task: Make all 13 tricks.
Lesson overview
Bridge is a game of tricks. The first card-play technique you must learn is cashing the high cards so you can make all the tricks that belong to you.
Bridge is a partnership game. You have to cooperate with your partner and play your high cards smartly. Players often forget that all players have to play a card in a trick, and they keep their high cards for later. Then they play their winners in the same trick with their partner and lose tricks.
Card combinations that should win 3 tricks
With all 4 combinations, you can win 3 tricks if one player plays a high card and the other one a small card. Both players must cooperate. It is much easier to cash your winners if you are a declarer because you can call the card from the dummy and plan ahead.
As a defender, you see only the dummy's cards. It is much harder to know that you have all the winners and cashing them.
If we have the same number of cards in both hands, we can easily pair a high card with a low one. The situation changes when we have a different number of cards than our partner.
There is not one, but even two traps we may fall into:
Trap 1 – playing two winners in one trick
In trick 2, you played 2 winners in one trick, which resulted in losing the third trick.
Trap 2 – leading from the wrong hand
In trick 2, you won the trick in the North hand and you must lead a low diamond to lose the winner in the South.
To remember: Play winners in the "short hand" first
Correct orded of play