When you play rubber or party bridge, you are at the mercy of the cards. If you are dealt good cards, you are a favorite to win. If you are dealt poor cards, your chances of coming out ahead are slim to none.

In duplicate, you don't need good cards to win. As explained, what you need is larger plus scores or lower minus scores. You will probably never go through a game with no plus scores or no minuses, either, but in theory you could have all minuses and still win — as long as your minuses were low enough.

Duplicate is so fascinating because from the very beginning, you have a basis of comparison and, more important, a way to measure your progress.

Say you look at the score sheet at the end of the game and note on one particular board that you got plus 110 for bidding and making 2 ♠ on the nose. You see that it was a poor score because most of the other declarers scored plus 140 for making nine tricks in a spade contract. Perhaps you will go find the board and take out all the hands — they are still there, just as they were during the play — and look at the full deal to see how you should have played to earn that overtrick. Already, you are progressing as a player.

Get the Hand Records

At most tournaments, there are hand records available after each session with all of the cards from all of the deals played that day, right there waiting for you to go over them to see how you might have bid or played better.

The hand records are a great way for you and your partner to review each deal, finding weaknesses in your bidding system or your defensive play. You might take a deal you had difficulty with and ask a more experienced player what you should have done differently or how you might have played better. Perhaps the experienced player will tell you about a new way of bidding that would solve your problem.

At many duplicate tournaments, there are lectures by famous players, who usually stay and answer questions. Most professional players are approachable and more than willing to help someone who is just starting out.

Duplicate Strategies

There was a deal in Chapter 17 about safeguarding your contract with a strategy called the “safety play.” The two hands are repeated for convenience.

In the discussion of this contract (3NT by South), it was noted that if you play the diamonds from the top and the suit splits 4-1 instead of the expected 3-2, you will go down. You can guarantee your contract any time diamonds split no worse than 4-1 by simply playing a low diamond from both hands on the first round of the suit.

That's useful to know, but mostly irrelevant in a pair game. There are two reasons: (1) the likelihood that the five diamonds held by the opponents will split 3-2 and (2) the importance of overtricks in a game scored by matchpoints.

When “Safe” Isn't

When you hold eight cards in a suit, the opponents hold five. The suit will split 3-2 nearly 68 percent of the time. It will split 4-1 28 percent of the time. A 5-0 split is not factored in because in this example it will mean that the contract cannot be made.

If you take the safety play, you will score plus 400, which will be a great score 28 percent of the time because the other declarers will be playing diamonds from the top and going down when the suit splits 4-1. More than two-thirds of the time, however, your plus 400 will compare poorly with the other declarers because they will be scoring plus 430 with six diamond tricks, the top two spades, and the ♥ A and ♣ A. You will receive a near-bottom score for plus 400.

In Good Company

It is true that you will risk your contract by ignoring the safety play, but you must consider that the other declarers will be doing the same thing, and when the diamond suit breaks poorly they will be minus the same as you are. In fact, it's conceivable that on this deal minus 50 could be an average score. True, you will get a top on the occasions when the safety play comes in handy, but you will be close to a bottom more than twice as often.

Unlike total points scoring, overtricks are very important in a game scored by matchpoints. One tiny overtrick can be worth a mountain of matchpoints, as seen in previous examples.

When to Play Safe

In normal contracts such as the one in the example, you should not consider safety plays. There are occasions, however, when playing safe to make your contract is the only way to go.

A prime example would be when you are in a doubled contract. Let's change this example contract around a bit:

Your partner's 2 ♥ bid was checking to see if you had a stopper in hearts. East doubled that bid to confirm with his partner that he wanted a heart lead. You showed your stopper by bidding 2NT and your partner went to game. East was not convinced that you can make nine tricks, so he doubled.

West led the ♥ 9, and East played the jack. You played low, and East continued with the ♥ K. You played low again, and West showed out. East played a third round of hearts, knocking out your only stopper in the suit. Now what?

Clearly, you can make ten tricks if the diamond suit splits normally, but what if East has four to the jack? If you play the suit from the top, on the fourth round East will get in and cash a bunch of hearts to defeat you in a doubled contract.

It isn't any better if West has four diamonds to the jack. Say you play the suit from the top and give a diamond to West. She won't have any more hearts to play to East, but you won't have any way to your hand to enjoy those now-good diamonds. Your ♥ A is gone, remember.

The solution? Go to dummy with a spade and play a diamond to your 10. Assuming East follows, West can win the jack if she has it but she has no heart to play to her partner. You can win the return and play that low diamond in dummy to your hand, racking up your nine tricks and a doubled contract. For the record, making 3NT doubled is 550 — 750 if you are vulnerable.

Either score will be a clear top. If you made the overtrick, you would have scored plus 650 or plus 950, but you don't need the overtrick in this case because of the foolish double by East.