Jean-Pierre DESMOULINSDiscarding
32 deals to master discarding
At No Trump as well as in a trump contract, declarer is regularly faced with a delicate situation: having no card left in the suit led and being forced to discard. Contrary to a common belief, a discard is never a neutral action. Every card thrown away alters the balance of the suits between the two hands, the communications between the hands, and the trick-taking potential that remains.
Discarding well is not about “getting rid” of a useless card, but about making a conscious choice of the card whose loss will not prevent the successful execution of the plan of play. A bad discard can turn a making contract into an inevitable failure, sometimes without declarer realizing it immediately.
This theme aims to provide players with simple and reliable reference points for discarding safely, by understanding the most frequent traps and the underlying mechanisms.
Principles
Preserve your stoppers in the opponents’ suits. At No Trump, if declarer still has to lose the lead, they must be careful not to discard a card that provides a stopper in a defensive suit.
Do not block a useful suit. Discarding from a suit you intend to establish can destroy communications between hand and dummy. A suit may produce fewer tricks than expected, often because the small cards that accompany the honors have been discarded.
Protect your length tricks. Length tricks are the small cards in long suits. They may take tricks once the opponents are out of that suit. Discarding them can seem harmless, but may ultimately cost a trick that would have been easy to take.
Count the tricks for both sides. Declarer must keep a continuous count of the immediate and potential tricks for their own side, but also for the opponents. This allows them to diagnose urgent discards that will prevent an immediate defeat in a trump contract.
Level 1 | Discarding without endangering your tricks
These deals illustrate the most common discarding situations for declarer, mainly at No Trump. They show how an apparently harmless discard can eliminate a vital trick, block a winning suit, or destroy a crucial stopper. The primary goal at this level is to become aware of the real cost of a discarded card and to integrate discarding into the overall reasoning from the very first tricks.
Level 2 | Urgent discards and timing management
These deals address situations where discarding is not merely forced by the flow of the play, but becomes an active decision driven by the plan of play. They highlight the importance of timing and the order of plays, and introduce the concept of the urgent discard.
Level 3 | Preparing your discard through a preliminary maneuver
These deals present situations involving urgent discards against an active defense: repeated returns in a suit, threats from long opposing suits, or the presence of a dangerous opponent impose delicate choices. Declarer must now prepare the discard through prior maneuvers, in a precise sequence.
Level 4 | Discarding at the heart of complex maneuvers
These deals illustrate advanced situations where discarding is no longer an isolated action, but a central element of a complex plan of play. It occurs in the midst of combined maneuvers: cross-ruff developments, fragile communications, choices between multiple threats, or apparent sacrifices of tricks. This level shows how certain discards prepare the endgame long before it becomes visible at the table.
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