No Trump in Bridge

A notrump contract earns 40 trick points for the first trick bid above six and 30 for each one after it. Overtricks, the tricks made beyond the contract, are worth 30 each when the contract is not doubled. The table shows duplicate scores, which include the game or part-score bonus.

At duplicate, a game needs 100 trick points on one deal. Three notrump tricks give 40 + 30 + 30 = 100, so 3NT is a game, and it asks for only nine tricks. Hearts and spades need 4♥ or 4♠, ten tricks, for the same 100, and clubs and diamonds need 5♣ or 5♦, eleven tricks. That nine-trick game is why notrump comes up so often at every level of play.

A notrump game never needs 4NT. It scores exactly what 3NT with one overtrick scores, 430 not vulnerable, and it asks for a tenth trick that 3NT does not need. This is why most partnerships use 4NT as a conventional bid, such as Blackwood, or as an invitation to slam after a notrump opening. Overtricks still count, so 3NT with ten tricks scores 430 and with eleven 460 when not vulnerable.

Going down costs the same in notrump as in any other strain. The full rules, doubles and rubber scoring are in the bridge scoring guide.

A partnership plays in notrump when no trump suit would help much and the nine-trick game is in reach. Players look for a few things before they settle on it.

• Balanced hands. A hand of shape 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2 or 5-3-3-2 has no singleton or void to ruff with, so a trump suit gains little. Two balanced hands facing each other usually belong in notrump.
• No eight-card major fit. If the partnership holds eight or more cards in hearts or spades, 4♥ or 4♠ is usually the better game, because ruffs and trump control give an extra trick. Without such a fit, 3NT comes first.
• A stopper in each of the opponents' suits. A stopper is a card that wins a trick in the suit, such as the ace, or a holding such as KQx or QJ10 that will win one once the higher cards are gone. If the opponents have bid a suit and you have nothing in it, they may take five tricks in it before you start.
• Enough points. About 25 high card points between the two hands is the usual guide for 3NT, about 33 for 6NT and about 37 for 7NT. A good five-card suit counts for something extra, because it supplies tricks once it is set up.

A minor-suit fit is the case where notrump often wins even with eight trumps. 5♣ and 5♦ need eleven tricks for the same game bonus that 3NT gives for nine, and at duplicate 3NT with two overtricks scores 460 against 400 for five of a minor. Most players choose 3NT with a minor fit whenever every suit is stopped, and play in five of the minor only when one suit is wide open or the hands are too shapely to take nine tricks without ruffs.

Declarer in notrump makes a plan at trick one, before playing a card from dummy. Most teachers break the plan into these steps.

1. 1.Count your sure winners. Aces, and kings and queens that cannot be beaten, suit by suit across both hands. AKQ opposite xxx is three tricks, Ax opposite xx is one.
2. 2.Find the extra tricks. If the sure winners are short of the contract, look for a long suit to set up. KQJ10x opposite xxx gives four tricks once the ace has been knocked out. Small cards in a long suit win tricks too, once the higher ones are gone and the opponents have no more cards in it.
3. 3.Look for the danger suit. Ask which suit the defenders can run if they get the lead, and which defender is the danger hand, the one who holds the long cards in that suit.
4. 4.Hold up when it cuts the defenders off. With a single stopper in the suit led, let the defenders win one or two rounds first. The rule of 7 says how many: add your cards in the suit in both hands, take that from seven, and duck that many rounds. Every duck needs a small card from the stopper's hand.
5. 5.Plan your entries. The tricks you set up in dummy are useless if you cannot reach dummy to take them. Keep an outside winner in the hand with the long suit, and play the high cards from the short side of a suit first.

When the long suit is missing more than one high card, the finesse is often the way to set it up, and the guide on safety plays covers the cases where giving up a trick early protects you against a bad break.

The count. At trick one South has one spade, three hearts and two clubs on top, six sure winners. The diamonds give four more once the ♦A is gone, which makes ten, but the defenders win a trick when they take the ♦A. Spades are the danger suit and West, with the long spades, is the danger hand.

The hold-up, tricks one to three. North and South hold five spades between them, and the rule of 7 says duck twice. South plays low on the ♠K and low again when West continues with the ♠Q. West leads a third spade, the ♠J, and South wins the ace. East has followed three times and has no spades left.

The long suit, tricks four to six. South leads a diamond toward dummy's honors. East may take the ♦A at once or hold it up until the third round. Either way East has no spade to return, so West's two good spades stay in West's hand with no ace or king to win the lead and cash them.

The entry. Suppose East holds up the ♦A twice and wins the third diamond. South has no diamonds left, and dummy still holds the ♦10 and ♦4, two winners. The ♥K is the only way to reach them. South must not have played the ♥K earlier. Whatever East returns, South wins and crosses to the ♥K to cash the diamonds. Declarer makes ten tricks, losing two spades and a diamond.

Now take the ace at trick one. East wins the ♦A, returns a spade, and West takes the ♠Q, ♠J and two more small spades. One diamond and four spades are five tricks for the defense, and 3NT goes down one.

The defenders play the same race from the other side. Against notrump the usual plan is to lead your side's longest suit and keep leading it until the small cards become winners. From a suit headed by touching honors such as KQJ52 you lead the top card. From a suit without a sequence, such as KJ863, players usually lead the fourth card from the top, which also tells partner something about the suit.

Partner's bidding comes first. If partner bid a suit, lead it unless you have a good reason not to. The opening leads guide has the full list of which card to lead from each holding, and third hand can read a fourth-best lead with the rule of 11 to work out how many higher cards declarer holds.

Communication matters as much for the defense as for declarer. The defender with the long suit needs an entry outside it, and the partner should keep a card of the suit to lead back. When declarer holds up, the defenders may need to switch to a suit where partner can win the lead.

An opening bid of 1NT shows a balanced hand inside a narrow point range, so partner often knows at once where the hand belongs. Most American players, and the Standard American Yellow Card, use 15 to 17 high card points. In Acol, the system common in Britain, many pairs play a weak notrump of 12 to 14, and other ranges exist, so check what your partner plays.

A 2NT opening shows a stronger balanced hand, usually 20 to 21 in Standard American and 20 to 22 in Acol. Over a 1NT opening, partner uses Stayman to look for a four-four major fit and Jacoby transfers to show a five-card major. The beginner's lesson on opening 1NT goes through which hands qualify and how responder chooses the contract.

• Winning the first trick by reflex. A quick ace in the danger suit often hands the defenders their long suit later. Count your tricks before you play to trick one.
• Cashing winners before setting up tricks. Take the losing trick early, while you still have stoppers, and cash the sure tricks at the end.
• Forgetting entries. Play the honors from the short hand first, and keep an outside winner in the hand with the long suit.
• Choosing a minor-suit game by habit. Eleven tricks are much harder than nine. Look at 3NT first whenever every suit is stopped.
• Bidding notrump with a suit wide open. One unguarded suit can let the opponents take five or six tricks at once.