Rule of 7 in Bridge: How Many Times to Hold Up

The rule of 7 tells declarer in notrump how many times to hold up a single stopper: add the cards you and dummy hold in the suit led, subtract that total from 7, and duck that many times. With ♠A43 opposite ♠62 you hold five cards: 7 - 5 = 2, so you duck twice and win the third round.

The goal is to exhaust the defender who is not on lead, so that when that defender gains the lead later, there is no card left to return to partner's long suit. The rule works in any system: it is pure notrump card play.

Use it at trick one, when the opponents lead a suit in which you have only one stopper (the ace, or a king after the ace has gone):

1. Count the cards in the suit in your hand and in dummy.
2. Subtract the total from 7.
3. Hold up that many times, then win.

You cannot hold up more times than you have small cards, so with Ax opposite xx you can duck at most once. In practice, the rule matters most with five and six cards.

The rule assumes the opening leader has five cards in the suit, the normal length for a long-suit lead against notrump. If your side holds x cards, the defenders hold 13 - x. The leader has five, so the leader's partner has 13 - x - 5 = 8 - x.

To exhaust partner, you must win the trick on which partner plays the last card of the suit: round 8 - x. That means you duck all the rounds before it: (8 - x) - 1 = 7 - x hold-ups. That is the whole rule.

If the suit splits 4-4 instead, the defense can take only three tricks in it after your stopper is gone, so the hold-up matters less. If the leader has six cards, partner has fewer, and the rule ducks one round more than you need, which rarely costs anything.

Count your tricks first: one spade, three hearts, three clubs. That is seven. The diamonds give three more once the ace is knocked out, so you will have to lose the lead once.

The spade suit: five cards between your hands, so 7 - 5 = 2. Duck the ♠K and duck the ♠Q, then win the third round with the ace. Now knock out the ♦A.

On this deal East holds the ♦A, and East started with three spades. After three rounds East has none left, so East's return cannot hurt you: you win it and take ten tricks. Win the first spade instead, and East wins the ♦A and returns a spade; West runs four spade tricks and 3NT goes down. A double dummy solver agrees: ducking at trick one makes ten tricks, winning the ace makes only eight.

The rule is a guide for one common situation. Look out for these exceptions:

• The danger hand is the leader. If the trick you must lose can only be lost to the opening leader (for example, West holds the side-suit ace), holding up does not help: West has the long suit anyway. Win and play for your tricks.
• A switch is worse. While you hold up, the defense may switch to a suit where you have no stopper at all. If dummy shows a weak suit, take your stopper and run.
• You do not need to lose the lead. If you have nine tricks on top, win the ace and take them.
• You can lose the lead to the safe hand. If your side suit can be played so that only the non-dangerous defender can win (for example, a finesse into the leader's partner), you need fewer hold-ups, or none.
• You hold two stoppers. With ♠AK2 or ♠KQ10 the rule is not needed in the same way: count how many times you can afford to lose the lead.
• The lead was not from five. If the opening lead looks like a short suit or top of a sequence from four, the danger is smaller and holding up may waste time.

The rule of 7 is one member of a family of hold-up plays:

• The Bath coup. With ♠AJ3 and a ♠K lead, duck. If West continues the suit, your ♠J wins a trick; if West switches, you still have the ace.
• Holding up a king. Once the ace is gone, a king can be your only stopper. Count the same way: a lone stopper is held up whether it is an ace or a king.
• Hold-ups in a suit contract. Ducking can cut the defenders' communications for a ruff, or keep a defender from getting partner in for a lead through dummy.
• Defenders hold up too. As a defender with the ace of declarer's long suit and no side entry in dummy, holding up until declarer runs out of cards in that suit is the same idea from the other side. Partner's count signal tells you when, see bridge signals.

• Winning trick one by reflex. Most hold-up mistakes come from playing to trick one too fast. Pause and count first.
• Counting only your own cards. The rule uses the cards in both hands.
• Holding up when the leader is the danger. If only the leader can gain the lead, the hold-up achieves nothing and may let the defense switch.
• Forgetting the side suit. Plan which suit you will give up and which defender can win it, before you decide how many times to duck.
• Unblocking the wrong card. With A43 opposite 62, keep the ace; play your small cards on the hold-up tricks.

Hold-up decisions are easy to check with a double dummy tool. Enter any notrump deal in BridgeDummy's free double dummy analyzer, play the hold-up and the win at trick one, and compare the trick counts. From the other side of the table, the Lead Gym shows how your long-suit leads score against notrump. More reading: what to lead against 3NT, the rule of 11, safety plays and notrump in bridge.