Wouldn’t it be great to pick up the weakest hand at the table and be optimistic that you can work with your partner on defense to defeat Declarer’s contract.

Audrey Grant and David Lindop worked together to create five tips and a collection of 16 instructional deals to guide players with a wide range of experience and skill to better results on defense.

The deals start with the basic concepts. The last 2 deals in the bridge guide are famous deals that demonstrate how the experts take advantage of their weak hands.

Consider this famous deal:

West opened a heart, North doubled, and North and South reached a 4♠️ contract.

Helen Sobel was sitting East playing with her husband, Al Sobel. She had 1 high-card point, yet her contribution defeated the contract.

Al led a high heart and everyone followed suit. He then led another high heart, and instead of letting the trick win, she trumped it with a spade.

Helen returned a club (when the dummy’s on your right, lead the weakest suit in sight) and executed a defensive finesse.

The defenders took four tricks: a high heart, a low trump, and the ♣️A and ♣️Q.

Being open-minded to the value of weak hands makes the defense more powerful.