Suit Combinations - Examples

Examples

♥ Q J 9 7 6 5
♥ A 4 3 2
West East
♥ K 10 8 ♥ —
♥ — ♥ K 10 8
♥ K 10 ♥ 8
♥ K 8 ♥ 10
♥ 10 8 ♥ K
♥ 8 ♥ K 10
♥ 10 ♥ K 8
♥ K ♥ 10 8

A bridge deal diagram usually shows dummy at the top, North, and declarer at the bottom, South. The diagram shows a heart suit combination with six in dummy and four in declarer, or a "6–4 fit". Declarer can deduce that the two opposing hands hold only three hearts - the king, the ten and the eight but their exact location are unknown. The adjacent table shows the eight possible lies of those three cards; the suit combination and its diagram implicitly include all eight possibilities.

As the number of cards in a particular suit held by declarer and dummy decreases, the number held by the opposing side must increase since there are always 13 cards in each suit. The number of possible combinations of the cards held by the opposing side increases by a multiple of two for every decrease of one in the number of cards held by declarer and dummy.

♥ Q J 9 6 5
♥ A 4 3 2
♥ Q J 9 5
♥ A 4 3 2

In the left deal diagram, North and South hold nine hearts and the four held by the opposing side can be held in 16 different ways; in the right deal diagram, eight are held leaving five for the opponents in 32 possible combinations.

Read more about this topic:  Suit Combinations

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