blackshoe, on 2012-February-10, 19:08, said:
Alright, since I rarely need much encouragement to continue, here are the top 10 things to know about sitting dummy for a less-than-astute declarer:
1. The play at trick 1 must be hasty. Declarer can sit and huddle and trance all he wants when, later in the hand, a crucial decision needs to be made and it's obvious exactly what he is thinking about.
2. There is absolutely no reason to delay drawing trumps at trick 2... unless, of course, you don't need ruffs in dummy and your trump suit is solid. Then, it's perfectly acceptable to continue leading side suits until a low defensive crossruff is established.
3. Any time the opening lead has revealed key information about the way an important suit breaks, the declarer will either fail to observe that information, fail to utilize it, or play the suit exactly backwards from what the information has revealed (so that he can't be accused of "falling for the ruse.")
4. Once the bidding is over, any information provided therein is to be completely dismissed as "irrelevant" and/or "BS."
5. Finesses are fun; always take them even if there's a guaranteed line to make the contract without the finesse.
6. Entries are completely unimportant, and should be utilized solely to take unnecessary finesses as described in (5), above.
7. A great way to make a trump contract is to force the long trump hand to ruff repeatedly BEFORE the long side suit is established.
8. Counting the hand is completely unnecessary (not to mention impossible).
9. When several rounds of trumps have been drawn and there is one defender trump outstanding which happens to be the master trump, the only acceptable continuation is to play another round of trumps immediately, forcing the defender to win his master trump now in the hopes that he will "do something helpful."
10. Probably the most important one of all: When doubled in what will obviously be a borderline, tricky contract, and you will be sitting dummy for it, get up and leave before opening lead. It will add years to your life. Ask a friend or neutral observer to reveal dummy on your behalf. Never return to the table.