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Start of Antispades article
Antispades Twos is the name of a bidding convention in the card game bridge. It is a two-level pre-emptive opening based on either a 6-card suit or a two-suiter with at least nine cards distributed across any two suits.
 * The 2 opening promises 5-10 HCP and either a 6-card club suit, or clubs and diamonds, or clubs and spades.
 * The 2 opening promises 5-10 HCP and either a 6-card diamond suit, or diamonds and hearts, or diamonds and spades.
 * The 2 opening promises 5-10 HCP and either a 6-card heart suit, or hearts and spades, or hearts and clubs.
 * The 2 opening is artificial and very strong, promising either 23+ HCP balanced, or a hand of 16+ HCP and four losers or better.

Responses
The partner of the Antispades Weak Two opener has the following options available:
 * Pass (with eight or more losers and 2+ cards in the suit opened)
 * Raise opener's suit with 3+ card support and 7 losers or fewer.
 * A pass-or-correct bid which is one step up from the opening &mdash; that is 2:2, 2:2, or 2:2.
 * With a 15+ HCP hand, responder either bids the forcing 2NT Enquiry or, with 4+ spades after a 2 or 2 opening, the forcing 2 response.

Defending against an Antispades Weak Two
Bidding against an Antispades Weak Two opener is difficult because the defender will probably not know what opener's second suit is, if he has one, and the defender may have more cards in the suit opened than the opener has. However a sensible defence would be:
 * Double shows 11+ points. The criteria for tolerance for the unbid suits become less stringent, the more points the doubler has.
 * A 'Suit Overcall shows a good 6+ card suit and seven losers or better.
 * The 2NT Overcall shows a two-suited hand &mdash; in any of the three unbid suits &mdash; with six losers or better.

End of Antispades article
Antispades Twos convention

= Bridge =

The Basics of Trick-winning

 * a. Win the trick with as low a card as you can.
 * b. Ruff as soon as you can.
 * c. Draw trumps as early as possible.
 * d. Draw trumps by leading off the top, if you can.
 * e. Then collect your side-suit winners off the top.
 * f. When losing a trick, use your lowest card.
 * g. Ceteris paribus, first hand leads low, second hand plays low, third hand plays high, and fourth hand wins the trick, if possible.

Factors to consider when the Opening Lead is faced

 * 1) Count your certain tricks &mdash; i.e. those made by employing the 'Basics' above.
 * 2) If this count matches or exceeds your contract, proceed with that as your plan.
 * 3) If not, see whether your holdings match any of the listed patterns and then consider the appropriate techniques for establishing extra tricks and techniques for avoiding trick loss.

Ruffing in the Short Trump Hand

 * You may need to lose the lead in the side-suit in order to create a side-suit void.
 * But be aware that the defence may lead trumps when they win the lead. Plan for this if you deicde to draw some trumps before creating the side-suit void.
 * Do this before drawing all the trumps.
 * If you can afford to, ruff high if there is a risk of your being over-ruffed. See Ruffing High.
 * If you can repeat it, return to the Long Trump hand either via trumps or a side-suit winner.

Cross-ruff

 * Where possible, cash your side-suit winners first.
 * Calculate how many rounds of trumps, if any, you can afford to draw first.
 * Ruff low to start with, then higher.

Finessing

 * Lead x towards A-Q-... Play the Q unless second hand plays the K, in which case you cover with the A.
 * Lead x towards A-J-10-... Play the 10 unless second hand plays the K or Q, in which case you cover with the A and then lead the J to establish the 10.
 * If second hand did not play K or Q, return to hand and lead another x, playing the J if second hand now plays low.
 * With A-J-x-x-x opposite K-x-x, win the K first, then lead x towards the J for a finesse.
 * With A-x-x opposite Q-x-x, lead x towards the Q. If control is less important, win the A first before executing the finesse.

Ruffing Finesse

 * With x opposite A-Q-J-10 in a side-suit and the enemy trumps drawn, win the A. Then lead the Q, throwing a loser on it if the opponent does not play the K, and ruffing if he does.

Choice of Finesses

 * Choose the finesse you can perform twice &mdash; e.g. x-x opposite A-Q-J, rather than x opposite A-Q-J-10-9-8.

Playing for the Drop

 * With 9 cards in a suit missing only the Q, play off the A and then the K, hoping that the Q was either doubleton or singleton.

Establishing High-card Winners

 * Force out the missing honours by playing your own honours &mdash; e.g. K from K-Q-J to force out the A.
 * With A-Q-x-x in dummy opposite x-x-x in hand, lead a low card from dummy!

Establishing a Long Suit

 * It may be necessary to overtake a top honour &mdash; e.g. K opposite A-Q-10-9-x-x &mdash; when you have only one other entry. In this example, you will succeed if the enemy holding is no worse than 4-2.
 * With A-x-x-x-x opposite x-x-x, duck twice before winning the A.

Establishing a Side-suit by Ruffing

 * A long side-suit may be set up by ruffing the losers. You may establish the 5th card in the suit.

Bath Coup

 * With x-x opposite A-J-x, or A-x-x opposite J-x-x, refuse to win the K lead.

Preserving Entries

 * Established high cards won't win tricks if you cannot reach them. If the hand containing them is otherwise weak, consider discarding a top card in another suit in your hand in order to preserve the entry.

Elimination Play

 * Eliminate all safe exits for your opponents &mdash; e.g. by clearing a suit &mdash; then throw them on lead with your prepared exit card. They will then be forced to choose between leading into the suit you did not want to tackle yourself or giving you a ruff and discard.

Refusing to Ruff by playing a Loser-on-loser instead

 * Particularly when you have a 4-3 trump distribution, it is often better to discard a loser rather than ruff in the long-trump hand.

Playing for a Required Distribution

 * If no other distribution will allow you to make your contract, then play on the assumption that this distribution is the case.

Unblocking

 * With A-Q-x opposite K-x-x-x-x, win the A and Q first, then lead towards the K.

Cutting Their Communications

 * Withhold your control card by ducking the correct number of tricks. Duck (7 minus X) rounds before winning your A, where X is the number of cards you have in the suit.
 * With A-x-x opposite x-x, for instance, duck the first two rounds.
 * And even with A-K-x opposite x-x-x, duck one round.
 * With LHO leading x into your J-x opposite A-x-x, play the J from dummy, but only play the A on the third round of the suit.
 * With LHO leading x into your x-x opposite K-J-x, cover (if you can) whatever RHO plays.
 * If RHO plays the Q, RHO is now the danger hand. You can lose the lead to LHO, but not to RHO.
 * If RHO plays the A, withhold your K until the third round of the suit. LHO is now the danger hand.

Finessing into the Safe Hand

 * When:
 * one opponent has a suit to run in 3NT in which you have no stopper but his partner has no cards, and
 * you have all other suits stopped, and
 * you can afford to lose one trick, then
 * you should take a finesse into the safe hand.

Ruffing High

 * When you hold A-x-x opposite K-Q-J-10-9, ruff with the A if there is any risk of your being overruffed.

Keeping a Weak Suit Stopped

 * With LHO leading x into your Q-x opposite A-10-x, play low from dummy and cover whatever RHO plays.
 * With LHO leading x into your J-x opposite A-x-x, play the J from dummy, but only play the A on the third round of the suit.

Leaving one Enemy Trump out

 * Often it pays to leave the last (top) trump out, rather than use two trumps to force it out.

Not leaving the last enemy trump out when you want to cash a long, solid side-suit

 * When you have no outside entries, but a long side-suit to cash, you must prevent an enemy ruff.

Suit Combinations

 * With a 9-card holding and all the top cards, except the J, down to the 9, and with the top honours split: play a top honour from the hand containing two of the top honours.
 * Q-x-x opposite A-x-x on the lead of the 10. Try the Q, and cover the K if played.
 * J-9-x opposite A-Q-10-x. Lead the 9. If the K does not appear, let it run and lead the J.
 * x-x opposite A-Q-x-x-x-x and no other entries in the long hand. Play x to x on the first round, then finesse the Q.
 * You hold ten cards missing K-10-x. Lead Q from Q-x-x-x, or J from J-x-x-x.

Encouraging them to continue the suit to avoid a more damaging switch

 * Play a higher spot card when losing the first trick to opening leader's A or K &mdash; e.g. 4 from 4-2 &mdash; to encourage leader to believe his partner has the 2. His failure to play the card suggests he is asking leader to continue the suit.
 * Even with x-x opposite A-K-9-5-3 and a Q lead, try losing the trick with the 5. LHO may continue the suit, giving you a likely 4 tricks.

Patterns

 * One hand contains fewer trumps than the other and has a side-suit shorter than in the other. Go to Ruffing in the Short Trump Hand.
 * You hold all the honours in trumps, e.g. A-x-x opposite K-Q-J-10-9. Go to Ruffing High.
 * One of your hands contains A-Q-.. in a suit, your other hand has an x to lead towards it, and the defence has the K. Go to Finessing.
 * One of your hands contains A-J-10-.. in a suit, your other hand has x-x to lead towards it, and the defence has the K and Q. Go to Finessing.
 * One of your hands contains A-J-x-x-x in a suit, and your other hand has K-x-x. Go to Finessing.
 * J-9-x opposite A-Q-10-x. Go to Finessing.
 * One of your hands contains A-x-x in a suit, and your other hand has Q-x-x. Go to Finessing.
 * You have two finesses to choose between. Go to Choice of Finesses.
 * You hold 9 cards in a suit, with the only missing honour being the Q. Go to Playing for the Drop.
 * You hold 9 cards in a suit, missing only the J. Go to Suit Combinations.
 * Q-x-x opposite A-x-x on the lead of the 10. Go to Suit Combinations.
 * You hold ten cards missing K-10-x. Go to Suit Combinations.
 * x-x opposite A-Q-x-x-x-x and no other entries in the long hand. Go to Suit Combinations.
 * A-x-x-x-x opposite x-x-x. Go to Establishing a Long Suit.
 * x-x opposite A-J-x, or A-x-x opposite J-x-x, and a K lead. Go to Bath Coup.
 * A-Q-x-x in dummy opposite x-x-x. Go to Establishing High-card Winners.
 * One of your hands contains A-Q-x in a suit, and your other hand has K-x-x-x-x. Go to Unblocking.
 * x opposite A-Q-J-10 in a side-suit and the enemy trumps drawn, win the A. Go to Ruffing Finesse.
 * Between your holdings, you are missing a top honour &mdash; e.g. K-Q-J-x-x opposite 10-x-x. Go to Establishing High-card Winners.
 * You have a weak holding in a suit they are attacking in 3NT, e.g. A-x-x opposite x-x, or x-x-x opposite K-J-x, or even A-K-x opposite x-x-x. Go to Cutting Their Communications.
 * With LHO has led x into your Q-x opposite A-10-x. Go to  Keeping a Weak Suit Stopped.
 * With LHO has led x into your J-x opposite A-x-x. Go to  Keeping a Weak Suit Stopped and Cutting Their Communications.
 * You have a choice of finesses available: one from hand, one from dummy. Go to Cutting Their Communications.
 * You have a shortage in each hand, in different side-suits, and you have a trump fit. Go to Cross-ruff.
 * K-J-x-x opposite A-Q in one suit; K-Q opposite A-x in another. Or Q-J-x opposite A-10-x in one suit; Q-J-10-9-8 opposite A-x in another. No other high cards or trumps in the original hand. Go to Preserving Entries and play off both Aces on the first round of each suit.
 * Trump holding of A-x-x-x-x opposite K-x-x and a need to score a ruff in the short trump hand. Go to Leaving one Enemy Trump out.
 * You have a long, solid side-suit to cash and no outside entries. Go to Not leaving the last enemy trump out when you want to cash a long, solid side-suit.


 * You would rather the opponents continue their initial suit rather than find a more powerful switch. Go to Encouraging them to continue the suit to avoid a more damaging switch.
 * All their trumps drawn, plus a safe exit card for you, plus all safe exits for them removed. They have either to give you a ruff and discard or lead the frozen suit you were unwilling to lead yourself or to clarify a finesse in your favour. Go to Elimination Play.
 * One opponent has a suit to run in 3NT in which you have no stopper but his partner has no cards, and you have all other suits stopped, and you can afford to lose one trick, and you have an either-way finesse available &mdash; e.g. K-10-9-x-x opposite A-J-8-x. Go to Finessing into the Safe Hand.
 * Your trumps are distributed 4-3 and the opponents are inviting you to ruff from the long-trump hand. You also have an inevitable loser in a side-suit. Go to Refusing to Ruff by playing a Loser-on-loser instead.
 * You are at least 4-4 in trumps and you have a lon side-suit &mdash; e.g. A-x-x-x-x opposite x-x. Go to Establishing a Side-suit by Ruffing.
 * K opposite A-Q-10-9-x-x and only one side-suit entry in 3NT. Go to Establishing a Long Suit.
 * Only one distribution &mdash; e.g. the opponent holding breaking 3-3 &mdash; will enable uou to make your contract. Go to Playing for a Required Distribution.