Add just one card to your hand and you have an entry to the ace and king in the dummy.

That is, you can lead the 2 to gain entry to the dummy's ace and king. Now, no matter what, you will win two tricks. If you are leading from your hand, you lead the two and win that trick and the next with your two winners. You have used the 2 to “get to” the dummy. When you play the king from dummy, you must discard from your hand.

Guess how many tricks this combination of cards will win? No matter what, you will win two tricks. If you are leading from your hand you have transportation. You have two entries to dummy if you so choose (win the first trick in dummy with the queen and the next one with the ace). You may also use the king in your hand to overtake the queen if you want to be in your hand. When you plan well, you can have an entry to either hand, and you can win the second trick in whichever hand you choose.

The idea of transportation in bridge is fascinating. Getting from hand to dummy and back is what transportation is all about. It is about deciding where to win a trick when you have a choice.

Using Entries — Transportation

These are the cards of the same suit (the type of suit doesn't matter) between you and your partner:

In this example you have a choice. You have two entries to your hand or you can win three tricks ending in dummy. The only way you can win three tricks is to play the ace first and play the 3 from the dummy. Next you would lead the jack and win with the king or queen. The other high card would win the third trick. You will win three tricks, and you will have one discard.

Now, try this situation. No matter how you play this situation, you will win only three tricks at the very most (assuming no cards in this suit have been discarded by the opponents before you start playing it). If you do not play carefully, you will win only two tricks. Because you have so many face cards in the suit, it could be easy to mess this up. If you play the jack from your hand first, it will win because there are no higher cards in the suit held by the opponents. Unfortunately for you, none of the cards in dummy would then be higher than the only card left in that suit in your hand — the ace. In bridge parlance, you have “blocked” the suit.

In the given example, if you led the ace on the first trick, you would then lead the jack from your hand and overtake for the second trick. The third high card, or honor, would then win the third trick. You would then have only a low card in the dummy remaining. That low card probably wouldn't take a trick. You will win three tricks, and you will have one discard in your hand.