There is frequent necessity in the dealer’s play for ridding one
hand of high cards in order not to interrupt the lead of smaller
cards from the other hand. It is well to look ahead and prepare for
this contingency, for often in the middle of a hand you will quite
unexpectedly find that unblocking will enable you to make small cards
that the adversaries have made good by reckless discarding.
When you hold more cards of a suit in one hand than in the other, you
can invariably prevent blocking, if you lead or play the high cards
from the shorter hand. At times a suit may be unblocked by discarding
the winning card or cards from one hand, but the first rule covers
the majority of cases where there is necessity for unblocking.
J♠ 9♠ 8♠ 2♠
x-------x
| Y |
| A B |
| Z |
x-------x
A♠ K♠ 7♠ 4♠ 3♠
10♠ 8♠ 2♠
x-------x
| Y |
| A B |
| Z |
x-------x
A♠ K♠ 7♠ 6♠ 4♠ 3♠
In both of the above examples the dealer, holding nine cards of a
suit in the combined hands, hopes to catch the queen by leading the
ace and king. Blocking in these cases can be avoided by retaining the
lowest card in the dummy hand.
When you hold but one re-entry card, be careful not to take a
finesse, which will block your suit.
K♠ 10♠ 7♠ 5♠ 3♠
x-------x
| Y |
| A B |
| Z |
x-------x
A♠ J♠
Q♠ J♠ 10♠ 7♠ 4♠
x-------x
| Y |
| A B |
| Z |
x-------x
A♠ 8♠
In the above examples dummy is supposed to hold one re-entry card in
another suit. Should the dealer make an unsuccessful finesse, the
adversary will at once take out the re-entry card, and the suit,
being blocked, cannot be made.