Planning the Defense

Most bridge players spend hours studying declarer play and bidding systems, but defense? That often gets treated like an afterthought. Yet defense comes up on roughly half your hands, and the difference between a thoughtful defender and one who plays by instinct alone can be worth several IMPs per session.

The key to strong defense isn’t memorizing complex signals or conventions—it’s having a plan. Just like declarer counts their winners and losers before touching dummy, defenders need to visualize the whole hand and create a roadmap for defeating the contract. This is bridge defensive planning in action.

Why Defenders Need a Plan

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: defending without a plan is like driving cross-country without a map. You might get lucky and stumble to your destination, but you’re just as likely to end up somewhere entirely different.

When dummy hits the table, most players immediately focus on which card to play to trick one. Wrong. That’s putting the cart before the horse. Before you play a single card, you need to answer three fundamental questions:

How many tricks do we need? If they’re in 3NT, you need five tricks. In 4♠, you need four tricks. Seems obvious, but players forget this constantly and either defend too aggressively (going for extra undertricks when one is enough) or too passively (letting through a contract they could have beaten).

Where are those tricks coming from? Look at dummy and your hand. Can you see enough tricks in high cards alone? Do you need to develop length winners? Will you need ruffs? A realistic assessment here shapes your entire defensive strategy.

What’s the urgency level? This is where timing matters. If declarer has nine top tricks in notrump but you can see five defensive tricks, there’s no rush—you can afford to wait. But if declarer has time to establish a long suit and throw away your winners, suddenly you’re in a race.

Without answering these questions, you’re just playing cards randomly and hoping partner figures it out. With a plan, every card you play has a purpose.

Listening to the Auction

The auction is your crystal ball. Declarer and dummy spent several bids describing their hands to each other—they gave you free information about point count, distribution, and often which suits are strong or weak. Use it.

When the opponents bid 1NT-3NT, what do you know? Declarer has a balanced hand with 15-17 HCP (or whatever their notrump range is), and responder had enough to invite or bid game but didn’t look for a major fit. That tells you they likely have scattered values, no eight-card major fit, and probably 25-27 combined points.

Compare that to an auction like 1♠-2♥-2NT-4♠. Now you know opener has five spades and some extras, responder has four spades and enough values to commit to game. The 2NT rebid suggests a balanced minimum. Suddenly you know much more about their shape.

Pay special attention to what they didn’t bid. If they avoided hearts after you opened 1♥, they probably have a weak holding there—exactly where you might find tricks. If they bypassed 3NT to play in 5♦, they likely have a singleton somewhere.

Strong auctions give you different information than weak ones. An auction that goes 1♣-1♥-3♥-4♥ shows extras and a fit, meaning they have distribution or high cards to spare. You’ll need to be more aggressive to find four tricks. But 1♥-2♥-Pass? They might be struggling to make eight tricks—passive defense could be enough.

Also watch for conventional bids. If they use Stayman or transfers, you learn about their major suit holdings. If they splinter bid, you know exactly where the shortage is. Every bid is data—collect it all.

Counting Declarer’s Points

This is arguably the most valuable skill in bridge defensive planning, and surprisingly few players do it consistently.

Start with the auction. If opener showed 12-14 HCP and responder showed 10-12, you know they have roughly 22-26 combined. Add up the HCP in dummy and your hand. Whatever’s left? That’s partner’s points.

Let’s say dummy has 11 HCP and you have 9. That’s 20 HCP. If declarer opened a strong notrump (15-17), simple arithmetic tells you partner has either 2, 3, or 4 HCP. Not “a few points”—an actual narrow range. Now look at partner’s opening lead and first signal. Can you place those specific honors?

This gets even more precise when declarer shows a narrow range. Against 1NT-3NT (15-17 opposite 8-10, let’s say), you can often place every missing honor card by trick three.

Watch for declarer’s play in the early tricks too. If they win your partner’s ♠Q lead with the ♠K (not the ace), you know they have ♠AK. If they duck a club in dummy when they could have won, they might be preserving entries or hiding strength.

The real power comes when you combine point count with distribution. If you know declarer has exactly 16 HCP and you can see 13 of those points, the remaining 3 HCP must be in specific cards. If they bid game aggressively, those points are probably working honors (aces and kings) rather than scattered queens and jacks.

Count declarer’s tricks while you’re at it. Can they run nine tricks in notrump right now? Do they need to establish a suit? Knowing their trick count and your trick count tells you who’s winning the race.

Active vs Passive Defense

This is the strategic heart of defensive planning. Every defensive decision exists on a spectrum between active (aggressive, forcing declarer to make immediate decisions) and passive (safe, waiting for declarer to go wrong).

Choose active defense when:

Declarer has plenty of time to establish tricks
You can see they’ll eventually discard losers on a long suit
You need to establish tricks before declarer gains control
Partner’s opening lead or signals suggest honors in a specific suit
The contract is aggressive and declarer might be scrambling

For example, against 3NT when dummy hits with ♦KQJ1098 and a side entry, you can’t afford to wait around. Declarer will set up diamonds and run nine tricks. You need to attack immediately, probably in your longest/strongest suit, and hope to establish five tricks before they get their nine.

Choose passive defense when:

Declarer has a tight contract with limited resources
Dummy is weak with no long suit to establish
You have the contract beaten if you just avoid giving tricks away
Any active defense might help declarer with a guess
Partner’s signals suggest scattered values, not a strong suit

Against 4♠ when dummy comes down with ♠K73 ♥862 ♦J94 ♣KQ105, declarer likely has 11 tricks maximum. If you have ♠QJ ♥KJ4 ♦AQ87 ♣9643, you can afford to wait. Exit safely, force declarer to break hearts themselves, and you’ll probably get three or four tricks.

The mistake many defenders make is playing too actively when passive defense would suffice. They lead away from kings, they try to cash everything immediately, they help declarer with timing and entries. Remember: when in doubt, exit safely and make declarer do the work.

That said, passive defense taken to an extreme becomes timid defense. You still need to judge when waiting is costing tricks. If dummy has a long suit and entries, being passive is just slow suicide.

Communication with Partner

You and partner are a team defending together, but you can’t see each other’s cards. Communication through signals and leads is what makes defense work.

The opening lead is partner’s first message. A fourth-best lead in a suit promises some length. An honor lead (K from KQ, Q from QJ) shows a sequence. A low card from three small might be passive, just getting off lead safely. Read partner’s message before planning your defense.

Count signals tell you how many cards partner has in a suit. High-low (playing the 8 then the 2) shows an even number; low-high shows odd. This seems simple, but it’s incredibly powerful when combined with what you can see in dummy and your hand.

Say declarer plays ♠A from dummy, partner plays ♠8, and you play ♠2. You hold ♠J9642. If partner’s ♠8 shows even number, they have two or four spades. You can see five in dummy, three in your hand (partner played ♠8, so that’s not in your count of dummy and your hand combined with partner’s). If declarer has two, partner has two. If declarer has four, partner has zero—but partner just played a card, so that’s impossible. Partner has exactly two spades. Declarer has exactly four. You now know the complete spade distribution.

Attitude signals show whether you like a suit. High card = encouraging, low card = discouraging. When partner leads ♥K and you have ♥QJ3, throw the ♥J—an enthusiastic “Yes! Keep going!” When you have ♥863, play the ♥3—“I have nothing here, try something else.”

Suit preference signals (when returning partner’s suit or giving a ruff) tell partner which suit to play next: high card suggests the higher-ranking suit, low card suggests the lower-ranking suit.

The key to all signaling: give the information partner needs to form their own plan. Don’t just signal robotically—think about what partner needs to know. If they led a king and you have the ace, you don’t need to encourage; you’re overtaking anyway. Save your high card to signal something useful, like count.

When to Shift vs Continue

This might be the single most common defensive error: reflexively continuing partner’s suit without thinking about whether that’s actually the winning defense.

Continue partner’s suit when:

You need to establish length tricks in that suit
You’re removing declarer’s stoppers while you still have controls
Partner’s lead was from strength (honor sequence) and you have help
Shifting might give up a critical tempo
You don’t have a clearly better alternative

Shift when:

Partner’s suit is going nowhere (you can see declarer has stoppers)
You can see a better source of tricks in a different suit
Declarer is about to establish dummy’s long suit and you need to cash out
Partner’s opening lead was passive or fourth-best from length without honors
The auction suggested strength in partner’s suit but weakness elsewhere

Here’s a common scenario: partner leads ♥4 against 3NT, dummy has ♥K73, and you have ♥AJ2. You win the ♥J. Do you return hearts?

Maybe. If partner has ♥Q10854, you’ll establish three heart tricks. But what if partner has ♥Q854 and declarer has ♥1096? Now continuing hearts just gives declarer a second stopper with the ♥10. You needed to shift to another suit where you can establish tricks.

Look for clues. If partner leads ♠4 and dummy tables ♠KQJ, continuing spades is probably wrong—dummy has that suit locked up. Look for the weak spot. Maybe dummy has ♦432 and you have ♦KJ105. That’s where your tricks are.

The hardest situations are when both options look reasonable. In those cases, go back to your initial plan: how many tricks do you need, where are they coming from, and what’s the urgency? If you need to establish five tricks quickly, continue partner’s suit unless you have a clear alternative. If you just need to wait for tricks, shift to something safe.

Example Defensive Plans

Let’s walk through some complete defensive plans from opening lead to the end.

Example 1: Racing in Notrump

Auction: 1NT (15-17) - 3NT
Your hand: ♠Q9642 ♥K5 ♦1083 ♣J72
Partner leads: ♠5
Dummy: ♠K3 ♥Q84 ♦AKQ95 ♣1064

Your plan: Declarer has 15-17, dummy has 11 = 26-28 combined. You have 6 HCP, so partner has 6-8 HCP. Declarer has five diamond tricks, likely two spades (after ducking once), so needs two tricks from hearts and clubs.

You need five tricks. Partner’s ♠5 lead (fourth-best?) suggests four spades. If partner has ♠AJ75, you can establish three spade tricks. Add ♥A (partner probably has it based on points) and you need one more—probably a club.

Trick one plan: Play ♠K from dummy, you play ♠2 (low, showing odd number—five cards). If declarer ducks, partner continues spades. If declarer wins ♠A, you hold ♠Q964 over dummy’s ♠3.

Overall strategy: Active defense. Return spades whenever you get in, trying to establish length tricks before declarer runs diamonds.

Example 2: Passive Defense Against a Suit Contract

Auction: 1♠ - 3♠ - 4♠
Your hand: ♠82 ♥KJ94 ♦A852 ♣Q103
Partner leads: ♥3
Dummy: ♠KJ4 ♥Q85 ♦K73 ♣A964

Your plan: This is a minimal game—they just scraped into 4♠. Dummy is balanced with no ruffing values. Declarer probably has six spades and 14-15 HCP.

You need four tricks. You have ♦A for sure. Partner’s ♥3 lead suggests ♥A (leading from ♥A1062?). That’s two tricks. Where are two more?

Trick one plan: Dummy plays ♥Q, you play ♥J (forcing out partner’s ace if they have it, or winning if they don’t). If partner has ♥A, they’ll continue hearts and you’ll get ♥K later.

Overall strategy: Passive defense. Don’t lead diamonds (dummy has ♦K), don’t lead clubs (dummy has ♣A). Just exit safely and wait for your tricks. Declarer might misguess clubs or hearts themselves.

Common Defensive Planning Mistakes

Even experienced players fall into these traps:

Mistake #1: Planning too late. You can’t form a good plan on trick seven. You needed to think on trick one, when you could still see all the possibilities. By the time you realize your original approach was wrong, declarer has gained critical tempo.

Mistake #2: Defending in isolation. Your partner is defending too. Make decisions that help partner form their plan. Don’t randomly shift suits without giving partner the information they need to cooperate.

Mistake #3: Forgetting to count. You can’t make a plan without counting tricks (yours and theirs) and points. “I think declarer has this” isn’t good enough. “Declarer has exactly 16 HCP and needs two more tricks” is a plan.

Mistake #4: Being too rigid. You formed a plan at trick one based on limited information. By trick three, you’ve seen declarer’s play, partner’s signals, and more cards. If your plan isn’t working, change it. Defense requires constant reassessment.

Mistake #5: Ignoring the auction. They told you what they have! If they showed a balanced 15-17 HCP, don’t place them with a singleton. If they avoided a suit, don’t expect strength there. The auction is the roadmap—use it.

Mistake #6: Defending for down two when down one is enough. Sometimes the best defense is accepting down one and not risking the contract making. If you can see four tricks but going for five might let the contract through, take your four and move to the next board.

Mistake #7: Playing too fast. Good defensive planning takes time. Use it. Think before playing to trick one. When dummy hits, you have time to pause, count, plan. Don’t rush—declarer can wait.

The Defensive Planning Checklist

Before you play to trick one, run through this mental checklist:

✓ How many tricks do we need to beat this?
✓ Where are those tricks coming from?
✓ What did the auction tell me about declarer’s hand?
✓ How many HCP does partner have?
✓ What was partner’s opening lead telling me?
✓ Should I defend actively or passively?
✓ What’s my plan if I get in again?

With practice, this becomes automatic. You’ll find yourself counting points and tricks without conscious effort, spotting the weak spots in declarer’s plan, coordinating smoothly with partner.

Bridge defensive planning isn’t about memorizing rigid rules—it’s about developing the judgment to read each situation and create the right plan for that specific hand. Start with the basics: count everything, listen to the auction, and always ask “what am I trying to achieve?”

The beauty of defense is that unlike declarer, who has to execute a plan with visible resources, you and partner are working in the dark but together. When both defenders have a clear plan and communicate effectively, that teamwork becomes incredibly powerful. Master defensive planning, and you’ll find yourself beating contracts that most players would let through—and that’s worth every minute you invest in improving this critical skill.