No trumps: when to bid it and how to play it

What is different in No trumps

Every suit ranks like a plain suit: A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7. No suit beats another, so if you are void in the suit led you simply discard – you never have to ruff or to beat the card on the table. Your only obligation is to follow suit when you can.

In No trumps card values are doubled, and so are the 10 points for the last trick – it is worth 20. Only the capot bonus (90) stays the same. A deal is therefore worth 260 points, or 26 game points – as much as All trumps and far more than a suit contract. There are no tierces, carrés or belots, so only the tricks count.

The declaring team needs strictly more points than the defenders. Without a capot that means at least 131 of 260. At 130–130 the deal is hanging.

Which hands are worth No trumps

During the bidding you see only five cards, and in No trumps the aces and the tens next to them are what matters. Think in sure tricks: an ace is one trick, ace and ten of the same suit are two, and ace, ten and king are three – as long as the suit does not run out first.

The second check is for an empty suit. If you hold nothing in one suit and an opponent has A, 10 and K there, they will run the whole suit and collect 50 doubled points while you discard. So look for stoppers in at least three suits – or at least a partner who has shown strength where you are weak.

No trumps ranks above every suit and below All trumps. If your partner has bid a suit and you hold aces in the other three, No trumps is often better than their suit. If your strength is in jacks and nines, though, it is worth nothing here – look at All trumps instead.

The long suit: cash it or set it up

A long suit headed by ace and ten is the engine of the contract. Each suit has eight cards – if you hold five, the other three players hold three between them. Once you have played A, 10 and K and everyone has followed, the rest of your cards in that suit are winners, even a seven and an eight.

Example: A♠ 10♠ K♠ 8♠ 7♠ A♥ Q♦ 7♣. You lead A♠ and three spades fall. If all three players followed, there are no spades left outside. You continue with 10♠ and K♠, and then 8♠ and 7♠ win too, because nobody has a spade. With a suit like that No trumps is five tricks from spades alone.

Keep lone aces in the other suits as entries and as stoppers against the opponents’ suit. Cash them early and the opponents will set up their own long suit with nothing left to stop it.

1. Play first the suit where you hold the most top cards (A-10-K).
2. Count how many of its cards have fallen – eight, minus yours, minus those played.
3. Keep lone aces until you see where the opponents’ strength is.

The ten without the ace

In No trumps the ten is worth 20 points and is the second-highest card. Without the ace beside it, it is the biggest target on the table. If you hold 10♥ K♥ and lead hearts, the opponent with the ace takes your ten – 42 points in one trick.

The right play is to wait for the opponents to lead hearts – once the ace has fallen, your ten is the top heart. If you play last to a trick and the ace is still out, play the king or a small heart and keep the ten.

Wrong: “getting rid of the ten before it is caught” by leading it. Right: a ten without the ace is played last, once the ace has gone.

Defending against No trumps

When the opponents play No trumps you need 130 points for a hanging deal and at least 131 to beat the contract. Two tricks with an ace and a ten are already 84 points – the defence is made with a few precise blows, not with many tricks.

• Lead your own long, strong suit. If you hold A-10-K in a suit, run it before the declarer sets up theirs.
• Attack the declarer’s weak suit. If your partner showed strength in clubs during the bidding, lead clubs to them.
• Count aces and tens. There are four of each – after four or five tricks you should know which have gone and whose ten is unguarded.
• Fight for the last trick. In No trumps it is worth 20 points and often decides between 129 and 131.

Counting to 131

In No trumps it pays to count your tricks in points. A trick with the ace and ten of one suit is worth at least 42, a trick with an ace and small cards 22. If after five tricks your team has 150 card points, the contract is already made whatever happens next – and you can start thinking about capot.

The other way round: after five tricks you have 80 and the opponents 110. There are 50 points left in the cards plus 20 for the last trick. You need 51 of those 70 to reach 131. That tells you whether to risk a ten or to play at least for a hanging deal. To check the arithmetic after a game, use the score calculator.