The weak-NT partner: when a hand is unsuitable for 1NT, Acol opens a suit and finds a fit. Here you count losers, not winners — then dispose of the extra ones by ruffing, discarding or finessing, get the trump timing right, and choose Intermediate or Advanced defence.
A practical checklist for planning and playing a suit contract. Count losers in the long-trump hand, decide how to dispose of the extras, and get the trump timing right.
Choose the level of defence you want to practise against. Both levels obey the rules of play; the difference is how actively the defenders try to interfere with declarer’s plan.
Use Intermediate while learning loser counting, ruffing and trump timing. Move to Advanced when you want the defence to challenge those plans more actively.
In a suit contract, start by counting losers rather than sure winners. Count the top three cards in each suit from the long-trump hand.
The number of losers you can afford depends on the contract.
Extra losers = losers counted − losers you can afford.
A ruff gains a trick only when you trump a loser in the hand with fewer trumps.
Dummy’s long side suit may provide winners on which declarer can throw losers from another suit.
This is the key timing decision in many suit contracts.
A singleton opening lead is a warning that West may be trying to ruff the next round of that suit.
Lead → count losers → find disposals → time trumps → execute.
Loser counts, dummy cover, ruffs and finesses are computed by the standard method. Whether the plan actually brings the contract home depends on the breaks and your timing — that judgement is the lesson. Intermediate defence is straightforward; Advanced defence preserves communication, returns partner’s suit, removes dummy’s ruffing power when appropriate, and ruffs or overruffs economically.