Trumps ------ Introduction Bridge is not the only trick taking card game that uses trumps. "That's my trump card" refers to a possession of great power or importance. The bidding of a bridge deal determines which (if any) of the 4 suits will be the trump suit for the deal. Having lots of cards in the trump suit is a very good thing. The more trump cards the partnership holds, the more tricks they are likely to win. A player can win a trick by "discarding" from the "trump suit (ruffing)". The highest trump card played to a trick will win the trick. Even when there is a trump suit, you must always follow suit if you can. If you cannot follow suit you are not required to "discard" a "trump". You are free to "discard" whatever you want. You do not have to "ruff". There are no special rules about leads in the trump suit itself. Any player can lead trump at any time. You must follow suit if you can when trump is led. Example deal 1: The power of a trump suit NORTH Trumps is Spades. S:765432 N-S have all 13 S in there hand. But it H:5432 looks like W has an excellent hand too. D:--- In NT, he would get all 13 tricks himself. C:432 Suppose he plays H10. It is traditional -------------- to lay the trump on the left. S ruffs with WEST |||||||||||||| EAST the 8 (looks like a discard). Then lead a S:--- |||||||||||||| S:--- D and ruff in dummy. Then cross ruff. H:AKQJ10|||||||||||||| H:9876 D:AKQJ |||||||||||||| D:1098 C:AKQJ |||||||||||||| C:1098765 -------------- SOUTH (D) S:AKQJ1098 H:--- D:765432 C:--- Example deal 2: Drawing trumps -------------- NORTH H is the trump. S:5432 You take the DK. Then lead SK to H:K60 promote the S tricks. W takes the A, D:65432 Then he plays 9. E ruffs. This is bad C:A3 news. It is about to get worse. -------------- E leads DQ. You have the A, a certain WEST |||||||||||||| EAST winner. But W ruffs. Another S is led S:A987 |||||||||||||| S:6 E ruffs again. It appears that trump H:J10 |||||||||||||| H:987 concept is overrated. Then E leads D:J |||||||||||||| D:Q10987 another D. If S ruffs with H2, W can ruff C:JT9876|||||||||||||| C:KQ54 with HJ. So we get no Spade trick. We -------------- should have ruffed with HQ. Lets go back SOUTH (D) now to taking DK. So play low to HK S:KQJ10 (high card from short hand). Then he H:AQ5432 takes the A. That is 4 cards gone. So D:AK take Q as well. Now play SK to drive C:2 out the SA. Some lessons about trumps Start with W's choice of opening lead - his singleton DJ. A side suit singleton is an attractive opening lead when there is a trump suit. He can then ruff second time. Leading your longest suit is frequently the best start at NT, but consider a short suit lead when there is a trump suit. If W leads SA, he can give immediate ruff to E so E-W will get 2 tricks. It may be the best for this particular deal, but avoid leading Aces. Especially when it is unsupported. Players are permitted to (but do not ha) overruff or underruff if they can't follow it. Overruffing tends to be a good idea while underruffing tends to be a waste of a trump The best way for the declarer to neutralize the defender's trumps is to draw them. Drawing the defender' trumps is a gratest way to prevent them from taking ruffs. N-S were able to win the tricks because they had AKQ and E-W did not have more than 3H. So all trumps can be drawn. K6 ------------- | N | In this case, AKQ will get three tricks, J| W E|10987 but E's 10 will be promoted. This is | S | called a "natural trump trick" ------------- AQ5432 Example deal 3: Ruffing losers in dummy -------------- NORTH D is the trump S:7654 SA is led then K and Q. Q is ruffed with D8. H:43 You could have discarded. S leads DK to D:72 drive out the A. W leads SJ. Does W have C:65432 S left? S has higher D so overruff is not -------------- possible. Then we take out trumps. Then WEST |||||||||||||| EAST we get CAK and HAK and 2 is a loser. S:AKQ |||||||||||||| S:J1098 With SAKQ, it is good to lead A. Despite H:QJT987|||||||||||||| H:65 4-1 split, only one trick is given. S has D:3 |||||||||||||| D:A654 4 losers SAK, DA and H2. Can he avoid one C:QJ10 |||||||||||||| C987 loser? So delay taking out trumps. Then -------------- take AK and 2. Over ruff is looming? So SOUTH (D) ruff high. If an overruff is possible, S:32 make sure you ruff with the highest trump H:AK2 you can afford. Thus D7 is taken by DA D:KQJ1098 which is a winner in case. C:AK Suppose Defense is good. They see a ruff is looming in H. So after taking SAK, W plays a D. E takes A and another D. Then H2 is a loser. So on some bridge deals, it is the defenders, not the declarer who should be drawing trump. One good reason for declarer to not draw trump is when there are losers to ruff in dummy. The defenders should then lead trumps themselves in an effort to reduce the number of ruffs. When declarer and dummy are dealt 6 or fewer combined cards in a suit, it is very unlikely that a defender was dealt a singleton or void in that suit. Example deal 4: Another reason to delay drawing trump -------------- NORTH Trump is S: Lead HK S:2 Take the HA. No losers in D or C. H:76543 There is one potential loser in S. 8 D:K5432 ever says finesse is the way. Normally C:Q2 we would take SA first, but dummy has -------------- only one trump. On some deals it is WEST |||||||||||||| EAST impossible and first round finesse S:43 |||||||||||||| S:Q765 should be taken. CQ is an immediate H:KQJ10 |||||||||||||| H:98 entry. DK is not since S has only one D:QJ109 |||||||||||||| D:876 DA. Take CQ and play S2 and finesse C:543 |||||||||||||| C:9876 with SJ. Now play SAK. Q becomes a -------------- natural trump trick. H2 is a loser also SOUTH (D) and N-S get 11 tricks. It is usually S:AKJ1098 fine to leave the defenders with just H:A2 the master trump card and play side D:A suit winners. C:AKJ10 A side suit holding headed by KQ is a good lead when there is a trump suit. The stronger the lower cards in the side suit, the more attractive such a lead becomes. Also we have neglected to do something about the DK. It seemed like a certain trick. So take DA first, then C to CQ and then DK. When E follows, what should you do? You discard the H2 which was a loser. Once again we delayed taking out trumps. The D is called a "blocked suit". Proper management of blocked suits forms an important family of card play techniques that bridge players call "unblocking plays" Cashing DA is one way to unblock. Bridge players use the word "entry" to describe a card that can transfer the lead from the declarer's hand to the dummy. Because of CQ entry, DK could be cashed. KQ5432 ------------- Here the suit is not "blocked". He can cash A and | N | then play the 6 to the KQ. If he plays K first | W E| and then low to A, then he is blocked. He needs | S | another entry to go back to N. ------------- A6 "Entry" management and "unblocking" are among the most important techniques for "declarer". Naming these techniques will allow you recognize deals in which these plays are critical. On some deals you should delay drawing "trump" until AFTER a side suit "loser" has been "discarded". This is specially true when drawing trump might involve giving up the lead. Example deal 5: A variation NORTH S is trump: Lead HK S:2 Here dummy has DAK and W has the SQ. H:76543 Take HA. Suppose we use CQ as an entry. D:AK543 Take the finesse. W wins SQ and HQ. C:Q2 So the right way is to take DA and DK -------------- discarding H2. Now play S and finesse. WEST |||||||||||||| EAST W takes Q and plays HQ which you ruff. S:Q43 |||||||||||||| S:765 There were no blocked suits. It was imp. H:KQJ |||||||||||||| H:1098 to discard H2 loser quickly, just in case D:QJ109 |||||||||||||| D:876 S finesse lost. C:543 |||||||||||||| C:9876 -------------- SOUTH (D) S:AKJ1098 H:A2 D:2 C:AKJ10 So far we have identified 2 situations in which declarer might delay drawing trump: 1. When drawing trump might involve losing the lead and "declarer's side suit loser(s)" can be "discarded" first, do not draw trumps immediately - discard those losers first 2. When drawing trump will remove dummy's trumps, which could be used to ruff a side suit loser (s) instead, do not draw trumps immediately - ruff those losers first Before moving on, lets review some of the other lessons: 1. When there is a trump suit, the lead of a high card from a side suit headed by KQ is a good one. If J is held, lead is even better. 2. Before finessing against a Q, it is desirable to cash either A or K first On some deals this is impossible and the first round finesse should be taken. 3. An entry is a winning card that allows declarer to transfer the lead between the dummy and his own hand. Proper management of entries is vital for maximizing your tricks. 4. A blocked suit is a card combination in which all the tricks cannot be "cashed" unless an entry exists in another suit and declarer unblocks the suit first. 5. Cash the "high card" from the "short hand" to help your suits unblocked 6. Remember the names of bridge techniques to help you recognize them when they arise. Example deal 6: Dealing with side suit losers before trumps -------------- NORTH 5D: D is trump S:543 Q is taken with SK. Examine losers first. H:QJ3 DA and HA and S2 are losers. DK is taken D:10987 by W. How many more D does W have? SJ is C:432 led taken by S. We draw rest of the trump -------------- with DQJ. HK (short suit high card) is WEST |||||||||||||| EAST played first. E takes HA and plays Sp. S:QJ109 |||||||||||||| S:876 S wins the rest. 10 tricks are won. H:654 |||||||||||||| H:A10987 Dummy has 2 good H. S has no more losers D:A32 |||||||||||||| D:--- so there is not any good. Back to basics. C:J109 |||||||||||||| C:Q8765 If after first lead, we play HK and get -------------- the A out of the way. Then S lead is taken SOUTH (D) by S and H played and Q and J cashed S:AK2 discarding S2 (loser). Then DA is given H:K2 and S return is ruffed. So we get 11 tricks D:KQJ654 If H2 is led first, then H becomes blocked. C:AK 10 tricks will result. Now it is defender's turn to do something smart. Suppose on HK, E does not take HA but plays low. S wins with HK. Then on H2 he takes the HA. He plays S to SA and then South again becomes blocked. Lead has to be given up with DA and E-W get a Spade. Well done. Bridge players use the word "duck" to describe E's play of a low H. So an extra winner can be one. It is also called a "holdup play". The hold up play is a duck designed to exhaust a player of cards in a suit. The hold up play is an attack on the entries of the opponents. After a successful hold up play, an entry in another suit will be required in order to access any extra winners that were established. Always remember that the defenders cannot see your card and even if they could see your cards, they would sometimes make mistake. It is impossible to play perfect bridge. Even the best bridge players sometimes make mistakes. There is no shame in trying a play that works if the other partnership errs. Also lead from KQJ was good, so is lead from QJ10(9). Declarer should sometimes delay drawing trump and concentrate on eliminating side suit losers first. Extra winners in dummy are a great way to get rid of such losers. Example deal 7: Using trumps as entries -------------- NORTH H is trump: CQ is led S:432 Count the H. CK is taken by CA. C back H:A2 is won by W. CJ is ruffed. Focus on avoid D:A543 of S loser. There are so S losers if E C:K654 has K, but 1 if W has the K. Repeatable -------------- finesse is needed which means 2 entries. WEST |||||||||||||| EAST Proper entry management and trump suit S:65 |||||||||||||| S:K10987 is important. Play H to A and count. Get H:654 |||||||||||||| H:73 a S finesse. Take out trumps. Go to DA D:J10987|||||||||||||| D:Q6 and take another finesse. C:QJ10 |||||||||||||| C:A987 -------------- SOUTH (D) S:AQJ H:KQJ1098 D:K2 C:32 Finesses, hold up plays, ruffs, promotion and almost all other bridge techniques can be performed by either the declarer or the defenders. What goes around, comes around. Notice how lead from QJ10 resulted in finesse for E-W. It can be the start of a finesse. Suppose W had CAQJ, He would lose the trick immediately. Experience suggests that when there is a trump suit, leading from a side suit headed by A, but without the K, tends to lose a trick more often than it gains a trick. In this case it did not matter, but if S had CK then it would matter. When there is a trump suit, leading from an A-K combination is usually effective, while leading from other holdings headed by A is usually not effective. Sometimes dummy's trump winners are needed an entries (to take a finesse). By drawing all of the trumps immediately, such entries can be wasted. As declarer, try to get into the habit of making a "plan" before playing any cards. Ideally your plan should be made at trick 1, but it takes some practice to get the hang of this. Many factors contribute to the plan: Counting "winners" (especially on NT deals) Counting "losers" (especially when there is a trump suit) Counting trumps (only when there is a trump suit) The proper management of entries (all deals) 3 good reasons declarer might have for not drawing trumps: 1. Dummy's trumps might be required to ruff declarer's side suit losers 2. Declarer might need to discard a side suit loser on an extra winner first 3. Dummy's trumps winners might be needed as entries for side suit finesses. Example deal 8: The crossruff revisited -------------- NORTH 4S by S: Lead HA. S:98765 HK is also taken. Then W plays S. There H:54 are large number of C losers. Singleton D:A6543 K is worthless. So play a C to K. E C:K takes CA. He plays a D. Taken with dummy. -------------- Now cross ruff. Last play will be S3 to WEST |||||||||||||| EAST S9. Arn't you glad you are not playing NT. S:32 |||||||||||||| S:4 He is out of entries as well for lead of H:AKQJ |||||||||||||| H:109876 a S. D:QJ1098|||||||||||||| D:K7 C:J10 |||||||||||||| C:AQ987 -------------- SOUTH (D) S:AKQJ10 H:32 D:2 C:65432 At NT N-S could never win more than 5S tricks, with this combination. When S are trumps, several additional S tricks can be won by cross ruffing. You can get 9 tricks in trumps. "Crossruff" deals always have these 2 features: 1. Several "trumps" in both the declarer's and dummy's hand 2. Short suits in both hands opposite long suits with several losers. The best counter to the crossruff is for the defenders to lead trumps early and often. W plays HA first. Then he should recognize the cross ruff pattern. Dummy has a lot of trumps. Declarer also has a lot of trumps Dummy has short suit in C. Also S and E cannot have much D. So lead trump early and often. That means now. So S takes S 10 and plays C, taken by CA with E. E does not have any trumps. He wants lead to go to W in case he has a S. So he should play H. Then W plays another S. S will then lose a C in the end since he has 4 of them and dummy has only 3 trumps. If W had 3 carder C, then what will happen? Give HQ to E instead. Lessons learnt: -------------- Bridge players use the name "suit establishment" to describe the technique with or without a trump suit, of setting up small cards in long suits. Do not draw trumps as declarer if your plan is to play on a crossruff. The defenders should be drawing trump in this case, not the declarer. Above rule is a special case of something we have already seen: Do not draw trumps as declarer if you need to use dummy's trumps to ruff losers. Again it is the defenders, not the declarer, that should be drawing trump in this case. Crossruffs are all about scoring as many trump tricks as possible by ruffing side suit losers in both the hands. When to draw trumps ==================== 1. Dummy's trumps might be required to ruff declarer's side suit losers 2. Declarer might need to discard a side suit loser on a extra winner first 3. Dummy's trump winners might be needed as entries for side suit finesses 4. In crossruff deals, declarer tries to maximize his ruffs in both hands. Drawing trump often makes this task difficult or impossible. Bridge Master deal 1 -------------------- NORTH 4H by S: Lead SA S:5432 Ruff the S and take out HAKQ, counting H:2 properly. Now use promotion for D and C. D:98765 Play C or D. Say you play C. W takes CA. C:KQJ S is led back, forcing S to ruff. Then -------------- play DQ taken by E with DK. E leads WEST |||||||||||||| EAST another S and declarer has to ruff again. S:AKQJ10|||||||||||||| S:9876 By drawing the correct number of trump, H:43 |||||||||||||| H:765 declarer loses CA, DA and DK. D:A32 |||||||||||||| D:K4 C:A65 |||||||||||||| C:10987 Always count the number of trumps the -------------- defenders were dealt originally. Update SOUTH (D) your count of the outstanding trumps as S:--- you draw trumps and when the defender's H:AKQJ1098 ruff. D:QJ10 C:432 Bridge Master deal 2 -------------------- NORTH 6H by S: Lead DQ S:432 Take the DK. Then cash SAK. Now give H:A32 up a S trick to defenders. Suppose D D:432 is played. Take DA. Ruff S6 with the HA. C:5432 -------------- WEST |||||||||||||| EAST S:J1098 |||||||||||||| S:Q7 H:4 |||||||||||||| H:8765 When it looks obvious to draw trump D:J109 |||||||||||||| D:8765 immediately, think twice before proceeding. C:QJ109 |||||||||||||| C:876 Losers can sometimes be ruffed in dummy -------------- even if dummy has no obvious short suit. SOUTH (D) S:AK65 H:KQJ109 D:AK C:AK Bridge Master deal 3 -------------------- NORTH 5D by S: Lead HK S:543 Only obvious losers are SK and DA. There H:65432 is a serious danger of second S loser. You D:QJ have to hope that E has SA and finesse C:Q43 twice. Also plan to draw trumps, so -------------- defenders cannot get trumps. Win the WEST |||||||||||||| EAST opening lead with HA. Lead a low D to S:876 |||||||||||||| S:AJ109 dummy. Trumps can be drawn that way plus H:QJ |||||||||||||| H:10987 entry is also created. Lead a S for a D:A5 |||||||||||||| D:432 finesse against the A. Draw another trump. C:J10987|||||||||||||| C:62 W takes DA. HQ is ruffed in hand. Draw -------------- the last trump. Then low C to CQ for second SOUTH (D) entry. S:KQ2 H:A Be alert when dummy has few entries and you D:K109876 need the lead in dummy for a finesse. Put C:AK5 drawing trump on hold if dummy's high cards in the trump suit are needed as entries. Bridge Master deal 4 -------------------- NORTH 6S by S: Lead S2 S:KQJ109 Crossruff is in the making. W has found H:7 the best lead against it. You win the D:65432 trick. Play a H to make N void. E takes C:32 HQ and leads another trump. N-S will -------------- then win 6S and 3C for 11 tricks. Not bad. WEST |||||||||||||| EAST So you need to make dummy void in H without S:2 |||||||||||||| S:43 giving defender a chance to lead another H:KJ1098|||||||||||||| H:AQ trump. So take CAKQ and discard H7. Now D:KJ10 |||||||||||||| D:AQ987 you can cross ruff. C:J1098 |||||||||||||| C:7654 -------------- SOUTH (D) S:A8765 The best defense against crossruff is to H:65432 lead a trump. When preparing to crossruff, D:--- look for ways to prevent the defenders from C:AKQ leading trump Bridge Master deal 5 -------------------- NORTH 5C by S: Lead HK S:AKQJ109 Take HA. S are enough to discard. So take H:43 out trumps immediately. W now has CJ, the D:76 master card. Since you don't have entries C:654 to dummy, you cannot afford a ruff. So -------------- play another C and let W win. Defense WEST |||||||||||||| EAST can win one H trick. You can ruff the next S:43 |||||||||||||| S:8765 H trick. So you can get 11 tricks. H:QJ109 |||||||||||||| H:8765 D:J10 |||||||||||||| D:KQ98 C:J1098 |||||||||||||| C:7 When dummy has a solid suit to take care -------------- of losers, it is usually best to remove SOUTH (D) all of the defender's trump so that the S:2 solid suit can be run without being H:A2 interrupted by ruffs. D:A5432 C:AKQ32