Note:
Only summaries are included below -
see book for details
Charting Your
Trump Course
121
Drawing
Trumps: Count on Your Opponents
122
Dummy's Ruff
Can Be
Smooth
124
Drawing Trumps
First is Often the
Worst 126
Maneuvering
Trump Entries Like a
Virtuoso 129
It is Not
Illegal to Count Winners in a Suit
Contract 132
Charting Your Trump Course
“When I take a fifty-fifty chance, I expect it to come off
eight or nine times out of ten.”
The Hideous Hog
The
issue here is how to tackle these trump suits in a way that
will maximize your winners.
|
Missing Honors
|
# Cards Between
Declarer/Dummy
|
Example
|
Strategy
|
|
Q
|
8
|
A2
KJ6543
|
Take the ace, then finesse
the jack.
|
|
QJ
|
8 |
5432
AK109
|
Finesse the 10, hoping that
queen-jack are on right. |
|
Q
|
9
|
A32
KJ7654
|
Do not finesse. Take the ace and king. |
|
K
|
10 or fewer
|
65432
AQJ109
|
Finesse. Do not play for the drop.
|
|
K
|
11 |
65432
AQJ1098
|
Play for the drop by leading the ace. |
|
K and Q
|
8 or 9
|
5432
AJ109(8)
|
Lead low toward the jack.
If it loses, finesse the 10. |
|
K and J
|
9
|
5432
AQ1098
|
Finesse the queen.
|
|
A and J
|
8 |
5432
KQ109
|
Lead low toward queen. If it loses, finesse
the 10 |
|
A and J
|
9
|
65432
KQ109
|
Lead low toward queen. If it loses, play
the king |
Drawing Trumps: Count on Your Opponents
“Counting to a bridge player is similar to an actor learning
his lines — it does not guarantee success, but he cannot
succeed without it.”
George S. Kaufman, playwright, director and bridge player
Counting trumps should be a straightforward process. However,
most players do it the hard way. Here is the simple, yet
effective technique used by experienced players.
West
North East South
— P P 1
P 1NT P 4
All Pass
With
only two sure losers, prospects are good. The
J
is led, and it is time to think about the opponents' trumps.
You have six spades and dummy has two, a total of eight.
Therefore, the opponents have five.
After
winning the
J,
West leads a second heart which you ruff. You do not need
to keep track of that trump. The opponents began the hand
with five, and they still have all of those. Don’t draw trumps
just yet. First things first.
You
must ruff your
5
while dummy retains some trumps. You cash the
AK
and ruff a diamond with the
5.
You need not worry about that trump either. The
opponents' five spades are still intact.
Now
you are ready to draw trumps. Lead a spade to your ace as both
opponents follow suit. Two down, with three to go. When you
continue with the king, East discards a diamond. You know that
West has two trumps remaining, since only three of the
opponents' five spades have been accounted for.
Take
the
Q,
pulling one more trump from West. You now leave him with his
trump winner, and establish clubs. Your only losers are one
heart, one spade, and the
A.
Voids
Are the Name of the Game
For a
little fun, consider the following: What is the fewest number
of HCP needed by one side to make a grand slam? (Hint:
You have only two opposing trumps to count, and each royal
member is single.)
North
—
97643
432
65432
South
8765432
AJ10852
—
—
The
answer is five. 7
is cold as long as trumps are divided 1–1 and neither
opponent has five spades. You will ruff spades until you have
established them.
Dummy's Ruff Can Be Smooth
“Shortness is in the eye of the beholder.”
Wee Willie Keeler, 19th century baseball player
Many
players do not appreciate the importance of winning extra
tricks with dummy's trumps. Of course, this is possible
only when dummy has a short suit along with adequate trumps.
On this deal, declarer was not impressed with any of dummy's
suits.
West
North East South
— P P 1
P
2 P 4
All Pass
Declarer won the diamond lead and drew trumps in three rounds.
He now turned his attention to hearts, hoping for a 3–3
split. Not likely. After the normal 4–2
heart split, declarer ended with the same nine winners he
started with. However, he could have made 4.
While
dummy is not short in hearts, he does have fewer than
declarer. With that in mind, declarer should trump one of his
heart losers in dummy for the tenth trick.
Page 124
© Marty Bergen
Use
good crossruff technique by taking your side-suit winners
first.
Trick
1: Win your
A.
Trick
2: Lead your
K.
Trick
3: Lead a club to the ace.
Trick
4: Lead a heart to your ace.
Trick
5: Concede a heart trick.
Trick
6: Win the likely trump return in your hand. No other
defense would affect the outcome.
Trick
7: Concede a second heart, creating a void in dummy (finally).
Trick
8: Win the trump return in your hand.
Trick
9: Ruff your losing heart with dummy's Q.
Más vale tarde que nunca. That translates to better
late than never, which is all I remember from three years
of high school Spanish.
At
this point, you have won seven tricks. You still have three
winning trumps in your hand. In addition to your four obvious
side-suit winners, your ruff in dummy increased your five
trump winners to six. All you lose is one club and two hearts.
Very smooth!
Page 125
© Marty Bergen
Drawing Trumps First is Often the Worst
Just
as a golf or tennis pro must concentrate on correcting the
imperfections in a student's swing, a bridge teacher must
often correct a student's misconceptions. Whatever the source,
many players carry around a great deal of incomplete and/or
incorrect information. You have heard it all before:
“An
opening 1
bid is usually made with a three-card suit.”
“The
Rule of 11 only works in notrump.”
“You
need an opening hand to answer partner’s preempt.”
I
have always been struck by the irony of the following
scenario. Someone calls, seeking bridge lessons. We agree on
all the administrative details. He then announces, “There’s
just one problem. I’ve never played bridge before. I am a
total beginner.”
My
reaction: “Problem? What problem? You’re fortunate to be
starting fresh — no bad habits to undo. What could be better?”
Perhaps the most popular bridge misconception is that declarer
should draw trumps first. Wrong! I do not know why so many
players believe this when the truth is: With most hands, it
is wrong to begin, let alone finish drawing the opponents'
trumps as soon as possible.
It
would be absurd to say that drawing trumps first is never
correct. However, there are many reasons to postpone pulling
trump, such as:
1.
You need to ruff losers in dummy.
2.
You must preserve trump entries in order to develop a long
suit or set up an endplay.
3.
You are eager to set up a side suit on which you will discard
losers.
In
fact I would estimate that declarer should draw trumps first
roughly a third of the time.
As
South, can you take 10 tricks on the following deal?
West
North East South
P P P 1
P
2 P 4
All Pass
Declarer is confronted with four possible losers: two spade
tricks, one heart and one diamond. Clearly, there is nothing
he can do about the ace and king of trumps. The diamond loser
is also inevitable, unless of course, the opponents neglect to
take their ace. Therefore, declarer should focus his attention
on avoiding the heart loser.
Some
players are overly impressed with the quality of the club
suit. They immediately attack trumps, planning to discard the
heart loser on dummy's fourth club. This cannot possibly
succeed.
Give
it a try. You (South) win the heart and play a trump. West
takes the K
and leads a second heart. You win and play a second trump,
giving West the lead. He cashes the
10
and shifts to a diamond. Down one. No, after the heart lead,
dummy's fourth club is not the answer.
(Deal repeated for convenience)
The correct line of play is as follows:
Trick 1: Win the
Q
lead with the ace.
Trick 2: Lead a diamond to the king and ace. You need
to develop a diamond winner; until you force out the ace,
dummy's diamonds are worthless.
Trick 3: Win East's heart return with your king.
Trick 4: Play the
6
to dummy's king.
Trick 5: Cash dummy's
Q,
discarding the
9
from your hand.
Trick 6: Draw trumps, conceding the ace and king.
It
never ceases to amaze me what is possible when you don’t
draw trumps first. I know that it is difficult to undo the
habits of a lifetime, but why not start today?
Page 128
© Marty Bergen
Maneuvering Trump Entries Like a Virtuoso
Drawing trumps with a long, solid suit is not difficult, but
neither should it be considered routine. By exercising a bit
of care and effort, you can maintain great flexibility while
pulling trumps:
North
QJ53
South
AK10862
Assume that, as expected, trumps divide 2–1.
If you play the AK while following low from dummy, you will
find yourself with:
North
QJ
South
10862
Very
inflexible; there are no entries to the South hand. If,
instead, you cash the QJ while following low from your hand,
the result will be:
North
53
South
AK108
Equally inflexible; now you cannot enter the North hand.
Start
again. Take the ace and lead the six to the queen (among other
equivalent solutions). You have preserved:
North
J5
South
K1082
You
now have two entries to each hand.
You
lose nothing with this approach, and you will be a hero if you
need the entries later.
On the following deal, declarer did not appreciate dummy’s two
entries, and paid the price.
West
North East South
—
—
1
Dbl
3D*
P P 4
All Pass
*
Weak jump raise.
West
led the
K
and continued with the queen. Declarer ruffed with the
2,
but he could no longer make the hand. When he continued with
the
K,
East knew enough to duck; what was his hurry? It was now
impossible for declarer to enter dummy more than once, and one
successful spade finesse was not enough. Declarer eventually
lost a spade trick for down one.
Declarer was unlucky to be playing against a capable defender,
but good players make their own luck. If South had ruffed with
an honor instead of the deuce at trick two, he could have
forced two entries to dummy, as follows. Lead the
2
to dummy's six. If East wins his ace, the trump position would
be:
| |
North
108 |
|
West
— |
|
East
54 |
| |
South
KQ97 |
|
Once declarer is careful to trump East's diamond return with
a second honor, he is in control. Trumping with honors is
not showing off; sometimes it is the only way to preserve
entries. After South ruffs high, he leads the
7
to the 8 and takes the spade finesse. When that wins, repeat
the maneuver;
9
to the 10 for a second spade finesse.
It
would not have helped East to duck dummy's
6
on the first round of trumps. Now the lead would be in dummy,
allowing an immediate spade finesse. The position would then
be:
| |
North
108 |
|
West
— |
|
East
A4 |
| |
South
KQ97 |
|
This position is virtually the same as above, except for
East's ace. Again, no problem:
7
to the 8 and East's ace; trump the diamond high; and lead
the
9
to dummy's 10 for the second spade finesse.
It is Not Illegal to Count Winners in a Suit Contract
You’ve heard it a thousand times: “In notrump, count winners;
in suit contracts, count losers.” Or, as I like to remind my
students, use the consonants in “win” and “lose”
as a memory aid — Winners in Notrump, Losers
in Suit contracts.
However, sometimes it is easier and more helpful to count
winners in a suit contract. This is especially true when
a) the contract is a part-score or slam;
b) the trump suit is shaky; or
c) the hand involves a crossruff.
South
could count to ten on this hand.
West
North East South
P
P
P
1
P
2 P
4
All Pass
Declarer counted eight winners:
AK,
AK,
A
and
AKQ.
If spades divided 3–2, declarer’s last two trumps would be
good. However, good players prefer good technique to good
splits and good luck.
After
winning the heart lead, South took his
A.
Next, he cashed the
AK.
Bad split. No problem! He ruffed a club, and led a third
trump. A second club ruff provided declarer’s seventh trick.
AK,
K
and on to the next hand.
CHAPTER 15 -
DECLARER'S TRICKS AND TRAPS
133
