Thursday, February 10, 2005 9:42 AM
Hand Evaluation – Suits (
Rule of 11 )
PITBULLS:
The rule
of 11 should be an automatic reflex as either declarer or defender. Playing with a tormentee ,
I lead the heart 7 against Susan in 3NT . The board had Q1082 of hearts and
partner held K53 . Susan played low on the heart so
what is your play ? Subtract from 11 so when my card
is an “honest” 4th best it should win the trick ! 4th
best would be AJ97 . When it is not 4th
best, you are just helping declarer by playing the King. Declarer has AJx or maybe AJ frozen if I was leading from a 4 card heart
suit to the nothing 7642 for example. Playing a small heart is a discovery play & makes declarer use
entries to pick up your King. The board was ♠AQxx ♥Q1082 ♦xx ♣Jxx on a 1NT – 3NT auction.
What if Susan had Kx of spades ?
She would have to play them to get to the board and finesse twice to pick up
the heart King. Then she cannot get back to the board for the 4th
heart !! Do not make it easy for declarers !! The rule of 11 meshes with patterns
to plan your defense .
Playing
with Leslie I led the diamond 7 against 3NT , the
board came down with Q109 &
Leslie had K832 of diamonds .
Leslie subtracted from 11 , knew it could not be 4th
best so she ducked & the jack won in declarers hand . I got in again , continued the diamond 6 so Leslie ducked again &
this time the diamond Ace won ! I got in again and led a diamond and Leslie won
her King and we cashed 2 diamonds to defeat 3NT for a top board. I lead the
diamond 7 from 7654 as I did not want to show an honour.
When Leslie had played “3rd tormentee high” , it would have been a disaster.
The
arithmetic is easy enough to figure out. As you are leading your 4th
best , there are automatically 3 cards higher in your own hand. There are 13 cards in the suit so throw out the 3 cards you
know are higher ( in your own hand ) which leaves 10 cards. So the subtraction can
work properly use 10 +1 = 11 as
your reference point.
The
following is an article on the rule of 11 from
the Internet.
“Ever since Bridge became a
popular game, players have been trying to come up with new ideas to improve the
game. Some have succeeded and some have not succeeded very well. The bridge community
is quite selective and sometimes a new idea takes a long time before becoming
accepted.
This is especially true if the
new idea is based on mathematics.
Anyone who can count up to 13 can play Bridge. There are 13 cards in every suit
and once they are gone, there are no more to be played.
Here is another mathematical
calculation, equation, formula. Its application becomes active, only when you
are absolutely sure that the lead is the fourth
down from the suit lead. Once you have ascertained this possibility, you start applying patterns.
This formula was devised by
someone who was actually playing Whist at the time, Mr. Robert Frederick Foster in 1890, and also by Mr. E.M.F. Benecke
of Oxford around the same time. Mr. Robert Foster established his reputation
with his publication of the book Foster's
Complete Hoyle, 1897, and a copy of which was embedded into the time
capsule at the 1939 New York World's Fair. However, his Rule of Eleven was
published in his writing of the Whist Manual.
Their
Rule of Eleven states that you subtract the number of the card lead from the
number 11, and then the result is the number of cards HIGHER contained in the
hands of the Partner of the Leader and the Declarer and the Dummy. This
information is useful not only to the declarer, but also to the Partner of the
Leader, who can apply the same mathematical calculation. This information can
be useful in deciding to play which card, either from the hand of the Partner
of the Leader, or the hand of the declarer or from dummy.
Declarer: South
Contract: 3 No Trump
Vulnerability: None
Lead: 6 of Diamonds
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According to the Rule of Eleven, the
Partner of the Leader subtracts 6 from 11 and the result is 5. There are 5
cards HIGHER than the 6 of
Diamonds in the hands of the Dummy, Declarer and the Partner of the Leader.
Likewise, the Declarer subtracts the number 6 from 11 and the result is 5 cards
HIGHER than the 6 of Diamonds in
the hands of the Dummy, of the Declarer, and of the Partner of the Leader.
The Partner of the Leader looks
at Dummy and his hand, and counts 3 cards HIGHER
than the 6 of Diamonds. The Partner of the Leader has 1 card HIGHER than the 6 of Diamonds. The Partner
of the Leader is not happy about the lead.
Declarer looks at Dummy and his
hand, and counts 4 cards HIGHER
than the 6 of Diamonds. Declarer has 4 cards HIGHER
than the 6 of Diamonds. Declarer is happy about the lead.
Declarer: South
Contract: 3 No Trump
Vulnerability: None
Lead: 7 of Spades
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Declarer sees the 7 of Spades,
and assumes it is the fourth down from the longest and strongest suit. Declarer
subtracts 7 from 11 and counts 4 HIGHER
cards than the 7 of Spades. Declarer counts only 1 card in his hand and Dummy HIGHER than the 7 of Spades. This spells
trouble for the Declarer.
The Partner of the Leader also
assumes that the 7 of Spades is fourth down from the longest and strongest suit
of his Partner. East also arrives at 4 cards HIGHER
than the 7 of Spades. East can see all of these 4 cards: King of Spades in the
Dummy, Ace-10-9 in his own hand. If Declarer calls for the King of Spades, East
plays the Ace of Spades and returns a Spade. With this lead, East-West win 4
Spade tricks and the setting trick is the Ace of Clubs.
If Declarer decides to play low
on the first trick, East lets the 7 of Spades ride, because he knows that there
is no HIGHER Spade than the 7 of
Spades in the hand of the Declarer. West continues to play the 8 of Spades, and
Declarer plays low, as does East. There is no way that
Declarer will take one Spade trick. East-West set the Contract by applying the
Rule of Eleven.
The Rule of Eleven has a lot of
merit and can be used effectively. Each partner must be attuned to recognize
when it is appropriate to use it, or even to consider it. The Rule of Eleven
has its most application against a No Trump contract since it is generally accepted
that the Leader plays the fourth card down from his longest and strongest suit.
If you wish to make this a part of your Partnership Agreement, then practice
this Rule of Eleven beforehand with your partner and see how it works and
recognize when it is best used.