Avoidance Play

Some contracts fail not because you couldn’t take enough tricks, but because the wrong opponent got on lead at the wrong time. They cashed their suit, or gave partner a ruff, or found the killing shift you’d been dreading.

Avoidance play is the art of keeping one specific opponent off lead. You identify which defender is dangerous (usually because of cards they hold or a suit they can attack), then you plan your play to ensure they never get the lead. Sometimes this means taking a finesse the “wrong” way, ducking to the “safe” opponent, or playing an unusual card combination.

It’s not always possible. But when you can keep the danger hand from gaining the lead, you convert shaky contracts into cold ones.

The Dangerous Opponent

First step: figure out who’s dangerous and why.

Common reasons:

They have a long, established suit ready to cash - If West has five hearts ready to run and East doesn’t, West is dangerous.
They can lead through your weak holding - You have ♦K-x in your hand. If West gets in, they’ll lead a diamond through your king. East can’t hurt you as much.
They can give partner a ruff - One defender is void in a suit and their partner has the entry. The one with the entry is dangerous.
They can find a killing shift - Sometimes one opponent can see the layout better than the other. Keep the better player off lead if you can.

Often both opponents are dangerous for different reasons. In those cases, you might not be able to avoid giving up the lead entirely, but you can control which opponent gets it and when.

Basic Technique: The Duck

Here’s the classic avoidance position:

           ♠ A 7 6 5
           ♥ 8 4
           ♦ K Q J 10
           ♣ 7 6 2

♠ 9 3              ♠ 10 8 4
♥ K Q J 10 7 2     ♥ 9 6 3
♦ 9 5              ♦ 8 7 6
♣ Q 10 5           ♣ J 9 8 4

           ♠ K Q J 2
           ♥ A 5
           ♦ A 4 3 2
           ♣ A K 3

You’re in 3NT. West leads the ♥K.

You have eight tricks: four spades, four diamonds. You need one more, probably from clubs. But the problem is obvious - West has five hearts ready to cash. If West ever gets the lead, you’re going down.

Win the ♥A (you can’t duck; they’ll continue hearts and you’ll lose five heart tricks before you can establish your ninth). Cash your spade and diamond winners. Now lead a club.

Normal play would be to cash the ♣A-K, hoping for a 3-3 break or the queen dropping. But that’s only about 36%. Better: lead a club toward your ♣A-K and duck it completely when West plays low!

West wins the ♣Q. Wait, didn’t we just give the dangerous hand the lead?

No. Look again. East wins the ♣J. You ducked to the safe opponent. East can’t hurt you - they have no hearts to continue. Whatever they return, you win, cash your club tricks, and make your contract.

If you’d played the ♣A-K hoping for the queen to drop, West would have won their ♣Q on the second round and cashed five hearts. Down three.

That’s the power of ducking to the safe opponent.

Bath Coup Variation

Sometimes you use your card combinations specifically to keep the danger hand off lead.

           ♠ 7 6 5
           ♥ K 8 3
           ♦ K Q J 10 8
           ♣ 7 2

♠ A Q J 10 3       ♠ 9 8 4
♥ J 7 5            ♥ Q 10 9 2
♦ 7 3              ♦ 9 6 4
♣ K 6 4            ♣ Q J 10

           ♠ K 2
           ♥ A 6 4
           ♦ A 5 2
           ♣ A 9 8 5 3

You’re in 3NT. West leads the ♠Q.

If you win this trick, you’re fine for the moment. But you need to establish diamonds or clubs. The problem: West has four more spades ready to cash. You absolutely cannot let West on lead.

The key play is at trick one: duck! Let the ♠Q win.

West continues spades. Now you win the ♠K. You’ve lost one spade, but West can’t lead spades effectively anymore - you have no more spades to lose to them.

Now you play diamonds. Even if West has the ♦A (they don’t in this layout), they can cash at most one more spade. You’ll make at least nine tricks.

If you’d won the first spade, you’d eventually have to give up a club or try to run diamonds. If West gets in, they cash four spades and you’re down.

This ducking technique keeps the dangerous hand from establishing and cashing their suit.

The Hold-Up Play

This is related to avoidance. You refuse to win a trick until one opponent (usually the safe one) is out of the suit.

           ♠ 8 6 5
           ♥ A 7 4
           ♦ Q J 10 9
           ♣ K 6 2

♠ K Q J 10 3       ♠ 9 7 2
♥ 10 8 5           ♥ Q 9 6 2
♦ 7 5              ♦ 8 6 4
♣ Q 9 4            ♣ J 10 8

           ♠ A 4
           ♥ K J 3
           ♦ A K 3 2
           ♣ A 7 5 3

You’re in 3NT. West leads the ♠K.

You have eight tricks. You need one more from diamonds (the finesse) or clubs (3-3 break or successful guess). The danger: West has five spades. If West ever gets in, you’re cooked.

Hold up your ♠A until the third round. Win the third spade (East follows to all three).

Now lead diamonds. You’re hoping the ♦K is with East. If it is, you’ll finesse, East will win, but East has no spades left. They’ll be forced to return something safe.

If the ♦K is with West, you’re going down anyway - they’ll cash spades. But by holding up, you’ve given yourself the maximum chance. You’ve cut communication between the defenders.

The hold-up play and the duck both use the same principle: lose your inevitable losers to the safe opponent, not the dangerous one.

Finessing Into the Safe Hand

Sometimes you have a choice of finesses. Take the one that loses to the safe opponent.

           ♠ A 8 7 3
           ♥ K 4
           ♦ A 9 6 5
           ♣ 8 6 2

♠ 10 9 6           ♠ K 5
♥ Q J 10 8 7 2     ♥ 9 6 3
♦ 8                ♦ K 7 4 2
♣ K 10 5           ♣ Q J 9 4

           ♠ Q J 4 2
           ♥ A 5
           ♦ Q J 10 3
           ♣ A 7 3

You’re in 4♠. West leads the ♥Q.

You have one heart loser (already lost or about to lose), two potential diamond losers, and two potential club losers. You need to avoid three more losers.

Win the ♥A. West is the dangerous opponent - if they get in, they’ll cash hearts.

Play a spade to the ace. Both follow low. Now lead a small spade from dummy. East plays the king. You win the queen.

Now you have a choice:

Finesse diamonds by leading the ♦Q (finessing West for the king)
Duck a club, hoping East has one honor

Actually, you should lead the ♦Q, but when East covers with the king, duck! Let East win their ♦K.

East is the safe hand - no hearts to cash. Whatever they return, you’re fine. Win their return, draw the last trump, and claim. You’ll lose one heart, one diamond, and one club.

If you’d tried the club finesse and it lost to West’s king, West would cash hearts and you’d go down.

By ducking the diamond to the safe opponent (East), you ensure that even if diamonds break badly, you’re still okay.

Entry Management

Advanced avoidance often combines with entry play. You need to reach dummy to take finesses, but you also need to preserve specific entries to avoid the danger hand.

           ♠ 7 6 5
           ♥ A 7 4
           ♦ K Q J 10 8
           ♣ 7 2

♠ K Q J 10 3       ♠ 9 8 4
♥ J 9 5            ♥ Q 10 8 2
♦ 7 3              ♦ 9 6 4
♣ K 6 4            ♣ Q J 10

           ♠ A 2
           ♥ K 6 3
           ♦ A 5 2
           ♣ A 9 8 5 3

You’re in 3NT. West leads the ♠K.

You have seven tricks (one spade, two hearts, two diamonds, two clubs). You need two more from diamonds or clubs. West is dangerous (obviously - four more spades).

Duck the first spade. Win the second.

Now the key: you need to establish diamonds, but you can’t let West win a trick. Look at the entries. If you play ♦A and then ♦K-Q-J from dummy, you use up all your entries before establishing diamonds.

Better: Lead a small diamond to the king. Come back to the ♦A. Now lead another small diamond to dummy’s queen. If diamonds are 3-3 (or East has the guarded diamond remaining), you’re home.

The critical point: by preserving both dummy’s ♥A and the high diamonds as entries, you can establish and run diamonds without ever letting West in.

If you’d carelessly played ♦A and then led to dummy’s diamond, you’d have no way back to your hand to get to dummy’s established diamonds except through clubs - and West would win the club and cash spades.

When Avoidance Fails

Sometimes you can’t avoid both opponents. One has spades, the other has hearts, and you need to knock out aces in both suits.

In those cases, lose to the less dangerous one first. Maybe West has five spades and East has four hearts. Give up a heart trick to East early (while you still have heart stoppers), then when you eventually lose to West’s spade ace, you can survive one heart return.

Timing matters. Lose tricks in the right order.

Counting Defensive Entries

As you plan your avoidance play, count how many times each opponent might get in. If you have two key suits to establish and both opponents have stoppers, you might not be able to avoid everyone. But you can often control who gets in first and when.

Ask yourself:

If East gets in now, what can they do to hurt me?
If West gets in now, what can they do?
Which sequence minimizes the damage?

Reading the Opening Lead

The opening lead often tells you who’s dangerous. If West leads the ♠K, they probably have ♠K-Q-J-10-(x). Keep them off lead. If they led fourth-best and partner plays the jack, you know who has what in spades.

Use that information immediately to plan your avoidance strategy.

Practice at the Table

Start identifying the dangerous opponent on every deal. Even if you can’t always avoid them, the habit of thinking “who can hurt me?” will improve your card play dramatically.

Sometimes the answer is “neither opponent is particularly dangerous” - in those cases, play normally. But when one opponent is clearly dangerous, bend your play around keeping them off lead. Take unusual finesses, duck in strange places, use your entries carefully.

Avoidance play separates decent declarers from good ones. It’s not exotic technique - it’s practical, everyday card play that wins contracts other people go down in.