BTS 02 TricksWithTrump

Master Point Press on the Internet
www.masterpointpress.com
Our main site, with information about our books and

software, reviews and more.
www.masteringbridge.com
Our site for bridge teachers and students – free

downloadable support material for our books, helpful
articles, forums and more.
www.ebooksbridge.com
Purchase downloadable electronic versions of MPP books.
www.bridgeblogging.com
Read and comment on regular articles from MPP authors

and other bridge notables.
Copyright © 2000 David Bird & Marc Smith
All rights reserved. It is illegal to reproduce any portion of this material

except by special arrangement with the publisher. Reproduction of this
material without authorization, by any duplication process whatsoever,
is a violation of copyright.
Master Point Press

331 Douglas Ave
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5M 1H2 (416) 781-0351
Internet: www.masterpointpress.com
www.masteringbridge.com
www.bridgeblogging.com
www.ebooksbridge.com
Email: info@masterpointpress.com
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Bird, David 1946-

Tricks with trumps
(Bridge technique; 2)
ISBN 978-1-55494-002-8
1. Contract bridge - Dummy play. I. Smith, Marc, 1960-. II Title. III

Series: Bird, David, 1946 - Bridge technique; 2
GV1282.435.B574 2000 794.41’.53 C99-932381-4
Cover design and Interior: Olena S. Sullivan

Editor: Ray Lee
Printed and bound in Canada
1234567 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Reversing the Dummy 5
Using the entries in the right order 8
Scoring small trumps in hand 9
Key points 10
Quiz 11
Chapter 2 The Trump Coup 13

Foreseeing the bad trump break 18
Using your entries in the right order 19
The coup en passant 20
The trump endplay 21
Key points 24
Quiz 25
Chapter 3 Other Coups in the Trump Suit 27

The smother play 27
The Devil’s Coup 29
Chapter 4 Defending against Trump Coups 31
Key points 36
Chapter 5 Promoting Trump Tricks in Defense 37

When is it right to overruff? 39
Cashing winners before attempting a promotion 42
The uppercut 44
Promoting trump tricks by ruffing with a master 47
Countering trump promotions 48
Key points 50
Quiz 51
Chapter 6 Taking Control of the Trump Suit 54

Disrupting declarer’s ruffs 59
Key points 60
Quiz 61
Bridge Technique Series
Entry Management
Tricks with Trumps
Safety Plays
Eliminations and Throw-Ins
Deceptive Card Play
Planning in Suit Contracts
Planning the Play in Notrump
Defensive Signaling
Squeezes Made Simple
Reading the Cards
Planning in Defense
Tricks with Finesses
C H A P T E R • 1
Reversing the
Dummy
Suppose you are playing in a heart contract with this trump suit:
♥QJ9
N
W E
S
♥ A K 10 8 3
You start with five trump tricks. If you take one ruff in dummy, with the
shorter trump holding, you will bump that total to six. What if you take
a ruff in the long trump holding instead? This will produce no direct
benefit. You will still score only five trump tricks.
Suppose, however, you could somehow take three ruffs in the South
Chapter 1 - Reversing the Dummy • 5

hand. You would then score three trump tricks in the North hand in
addition to the three ruffs. Once again, you would have raised the total
from five to six. Such a maneuver is known as ‘reversing the dummy’,
because by taking ruffs in your own hand you are treating it rather like
a dummy.
Let’s see this play in the context of a whole hand:
. ♠AQ6
♥QJ9
♦AKQ
♣A963
♠J874 N ♠ 10 3
♥64 W E ♥872
♦ 10 8 4 S ♦9753
♣ Q 10 8 5 ♣KJ74
♠K952
♥ A K 10 5 3
♦J62
♣2
You arrive in a heart grand slam and West leads a trump. If you
view prospects from the South hand, the only loser is the fourth spade.
All will be well if spades are 3-3. An extra chance can be gained by
drawing only two rounds of trumps before playing on spades. You will
then be able to ruff the fourth spade safely if the defender with a
doubleton spade holds only two trumps. East has two spades and three
trumps here, so that line would fail.
Now consider prospects from the North viewpoint. If all three club
losers can be ruffed, and the trumps drawn with North’s ♥QJ9, the total
will come to thirteen!
How does the play go? You win the trump lead with the nine and
check that the trumps are 3-2 by playing another round. You cash the
ace of clubs, ruff a club, cross to a diamond, and ruff a second club. A
spade to the ace permits a third club ruff and you return to dummy with
a diamond to draw East’s remaining trump. Count the tricks you have
made: three trump tricks in the North hand, seven side-suit winners, and
three ruffs in the South hand.
What if the second round of trumps had revealed that the trumps
were 4-1? A dummy reversal could not then succeed, because after
taking the ruffs you could not draw trumps with dummy’s ♥QJ9. You
6 • Tricks with Trumps

would have had to rely on the spade suit, hoping for a 3-3 break or that
you could ruff the fourth round safely.
Before embarking on a dummy reversal, you may have to look
carefully at the entries you will need to the short-trump hand. That’s the
situation on this next deal:
Both Vul. ♠A98

Dealer North ♥AJ63
♦A76
♣963
♠ 10 7 2 N
♠65
♥9 W E ♥ K Q 10 8 7 5 4
♦ J 10 8 4 3 S ♦95
♣ A Q 10 8 ♣K5
♠KQJ43
♥2
♦KQ2
♣J742
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

1♣ 3♥ 3♠
pass 4♠ all pass
West leads his singleton heart, won in the dummy. Prospects are
not good if you simply play on clubs. The suit is unlikely to break 3-3,
and the defenders will doubtless remove dummy’s trumps before you
can ruff the fourth club.
How about a dummy reversal? After ruffing one heart you will
need three more entries to the North hand — two to take further heart
ruffs and one to draw trumps. This can be achieved by taking two
finesses in the trump suit. At Trick 2 you ruff a heart with the king. You
then cross to the ace of diamonds and ruff a heart with the queen.
Hoping for the best, you play a trump to dummy’s eight. It wins! A
third heart ruff with the jack is followed by a trump to dummy’s nine.
When East follows, you can draw the last trump and claim the contract.

Using the entries in the right order
As a general rule, you should employ the side-suit entries before those
in the trump suit. This hand illustrates why:
East-West Vul. ♠KQ5

Dealer West ♥AK6
♦ 10 7 6 2
♣863
♠93 N
♠874
♥ 10 8 7 2 W E ♥43
♦AKQJ3 S ♦984
♣AQ ♣K9752
♠ A J 10 6 2
♥QJ95
♦5
♣ J 10 4

1♦ pass pass 1♠
pass 2♦ pass 2♥
pass 4♠ all pass
North bid a little too aggressively and a bad game was reached.
West launched the defense with two top diamonds and South ruffed the
second round. Once the defenders had failed to take three club tricks,
the contract had a chance.
To achieve a dummy reversal, South needed to ruff three diamonds
in his hand. He played the ace and king of trumps, then ruffed another
diamond with the ten. He returned to dummy with a heart and ruffed
dummy’s last diamond with the jack. On this trick something
unfortunate happened. East discarded his last heart! When declarer
tried to reach dummy with a heart, to draw the last trump, East ruffed.
One down was the sad outcome.
Declarer should have used the heart entries early, before East had a
chance to throw a heart. The sequence should be: ruff West’s diamond
continuation, ace of trumps, cross to a heart, second diamond ruff, cross
to a heart, third diamond ruff. Now a trump to dummy’s king allows
trumps to be drawn and the game is made.

Scoring small trumps in hand
A play related to the dummy reversal is that of scoring the small trumps
in the hand with the longer holding. This technique can bring in the
contract in its own right, with no need to draw trumps subsequently in
the dummy. Look at this deal:
Neither Vul. ♠742

Dealer South ♥964
♦AKJ
♣A863
♠ Q J 10 8 N
♠9
♥K8 W E ♥QJ3
♦ 10 4 3 S ♦98652
♣KJ72 ♣ Q 10 9 5
♠AK653
♥ A 10 7 5 2
♦Q7
♣4

1♠
pass 2♣ pass 2♥
pass 3♠ pass 4♠
all pass
West leads the queen of trumps and you win with the ace. If the
major suits break favorably, you will escape for one trump loser and two
heart losers. When you play the king of trumps, bad news arrives. East
shows out. What now?
It may seem that you have four unavoidable losers: two trumps and
two hearts. Look at it another way, though — if you can score five side-
suit winners and all five trumps in your hand, that will bring the total to
ten tricks.
To achieve this, you will need to ruff three clubs in your hand. You
cross to the ace of clubs and ruff a club. Returning to dummy with the
jack of diamonds, you ruff another club. You then cash the ace and king
of diamonds and ruff dummy’s last club. You have scored nine tricks
already and the ace of hearts will make it ten. This technique — scoring
your low trumps while the defenders have to follow suit — is known as
‘elopement’.

Look back to the diagram and suppose now that West’s opening
lead had been the ♣2, won with dummy’s ace. What should you do at
Trick 2?
If you cross to a trump you will no longer have the entries to take
three ruffs in hand. After winning the club lead, you should ruff a club
immediately. West’s fourth-best lead of the two makes it a near
certainty that you will then be able to score all your trumps.
Key points
1. Ruffing in the long-trump hand does not usually produce an extra
trick. For a dummy reversal to succeed, you must take sufficient
ruffs to leave the opposite hand longer in trumps. (For example, in
a 5-3 fit you must take three ruffs in the long-trump hand.)
2. Most dummy reversals succeed only if you can eventually draw the
outstanding trumps with your shorter trump holding. This may
require a favorable trump break. Wherever possible, you should
check for this before embarking on the play.
3. One variant of the dummy reversal is where you simply score the
low trumps in the long hand by ruffing. Consider this option when
there are plenty of entries to dummy and you cannot score enough
tricks by simply drawing trumps.

QUIZ
To Answers
A. ♠Q74
♥ J 10 8
♦A73
♣ A 10 7 2
N
♠J led W E
S
♠853
♥AKQ93
♦KQ52
♣4
Sitting South, you arrive in 4♥. West leads the ♠J and the
defenders cash three tricks in the suit. East then exits with the
♦10. How would you play from this point?
B. ♠76
♥A932
♦AK5
♣ A 10 7 2
N
W E
♥Q led S
♠AK8532
♥6
♦92
♣8643
This time you are in 4♠, West leading the queen of hearts. How
would you tackle the hand?

Answers To Questions
A. You will not be surprised to hear that the best line of play is a dummy
reversal! Some care is needed with the entries. You should win
East’s diamond switch with the king, cross to the ace of clubs, and
ruff a club with the queen. Return to dummy with the ♦A (using this
entry before the defenders have the chance to discard a diamond),
then ruff a club with the king. Cross to the ♥8 and ruff the last club
with your ace. Finally, you overtake ♥9 with the jack and draw the
last trump with the ten.
B. Suppose you win the heart lead and play two top trumps, discovering
a 4-1 break. You would dearly like to score your four low trumps by
ruffing now but, with only three entries remaining to dummy, the
opportunity would be gone. To avoid this fate, you should take one
heart ruff before playing the top trumps. You can then return to
dummy three more times, aiming to ruff two more hearts and a
diamond.

C H A P T E R • 2
The Trump Coup
A bad trump break can sometimes prevent you from drawing trumps in
a straightforward manner. Suppose this is the trump suit:
♥J5
N
♥7 W E ♥K843
S
♥ A Q 10 9 6 2
You lead the jack from dummy and East correctly refuses to cover.
When you continue with a heart to the queen, West shows out.
Although it is no longer possible to pick up East’s king of trumps by a
direct finesse, you may nevertheless be able to prevent it from taking a
trick. Can you imagine how?
♣6 led
N
W E ♥K8
S
♥ A 10
You must aim for this two-card end position where the lead is in
dummy and you hold ♥A10 over East’s ♥K8. You lead a side suit from
dummy and overruff whichever trump East plays.
Chapter 2 — The Trump Coup • 13

Here is a whole deal featuring that trump holding:
Neither Vul. ♠AKQ

Dealer North ♥J5
♦AK52
♣AQ63
♠J852 ♠ 10 9 6
N
♥7 E
♥K843
W
♦ 10 7 4 3 S ♦Q96
♣ 10 9 8 4 ♣KJ7
♠743
♥ A Q 10 9 6 2
♦J8
♣52

2♣ pass 2♥
pass 2NT pass 3♥
pass 4NT pass 5♦
pass 6♥ all pass
West leads the ♣10 and dummy’s queen loses to the king. (In a
social game, some Easts would attempt a belated double of the
contract!) East returns a spade to the dummy and the jack of trumps is
run, followed by a trump to the queen.
With the cards lying as shown it is possible to make the contract
despite the bad trump break. For the ending to work, you need to hold
exactly two trumps, ♥A10, sitting over East’s ♥K8. In other words,
you must take sufficient ruffs in your own hand to reduce your trump
length to the same as East’s. Here you started with six trumps to East’s
four. Very well, you will have to ruff twice in your own hand.
Let’s see how the play should go. The club finesse fails and you
win the spade return in dummy. The jack of trumps is run and a trump
played to the queen. You cross to the ace of clubs and ruff a club,
leaving yourself with only one more trump than East. You cash
dummy’s top diamonds and ruff a diamond. You then have only two
trumps left, the ace and the ten. Two more spade winners are cashed,
leaving dummy on play in this end position:

♠—
♥—
♦5
♣6
♠— ♠—
♥— N
♥K8
W E
♦ 10 S
♦—
♣9 ♣—
♠—
♥ A 10
♦—
♣—
You play either of dummy’s cards and must make the last two
tricks. This play is known as a Trump Coup.
A player unfamiliar with the necessary style of play might,
however, arrive at an end position like this:
♠—
♥—
♦52
♠— ♣6 ♠—
♥— N ♥K8
♦ 10 7 W E ♦Q
♣9 S ♣—
♠—
♥ A 10 2
♦—
♣—
No good, is it? Whichever card is led from dummy, East will play
the diamond queen. South will have to ruff and the lead will then be in
the wrong hand to pick up East’s king of trumps. It’s precisely to avoid
ending up in the wrong hand that you need to reduce your trump length
to match that of the defender.
It is not always necessary for dummy to be on play at the key
moment. You can achieve the same effect by throwing the lead to the
defenders.

North-South Vul. ♠A6
Dealer South ♥K74
♦ A 10 5 4 3
♣Q83
♠4 ♠Q983
N
♥ 10 9 5 3 W E ♥862
♦KJ82 S ♦Q96
♣ K 10 7 4 ♣AJ6
♠ K J 10 7 5 2
♥AQJ
♦7
♣952

1♠
pass 2♦ pass 2♠
pass 4♠ all pass
You win the heart lead with the queen, cross to the trump ace, and
finesse the jack of trumps, West showing out. You have to stop East
from scoring the trump queen. Once again, you will need to take two
ruffs to reduce your trump length to the same as East’s. You cross to the
ace of diamonds and ruff a diamond. The ace and king of hearts come
next, followed by another diamond ruff. This lead is now with South :
♠—
♥—
♦ 10 5
♣Q83
♠— N
♠Q9
♥— W E ♥—
♦K S ♦—
♣ K 10 7 4 ♣AJ6
♠ K 10
♥—
♦—
♣952
When you now exit in clubs, you are certain to score your last two
trumps at the end. (If West had been inspired enough to lead a club, the
defenders could have cashed three rounds of the suit. The contract
would then have been unmakable.)

Some amazing results can be obtained with this technique:
Neither Vul. ♠4
Dealer North ♥AK83
♦ A 10 7 6 3
♣AK4
♠— N ♠ K 10 8 7 3
♥QJ765 W E ♥ 10 2
♦Q985 S ♦KJ2
♣7632 ♣ 10 9 5
♠AQJ9652
♥94
♦4
♣QJ8
1♦ pass 1♠
pass 2♥ pass 4♠
pass 6♠ all pass
West leads the ♣6 and you win in dummy. All will be well if the
trumps are 3-2 but West shows out when you take a spade finesse. You
must now aim to score as many trumps as possible. You cross to the ace
of diamonds and ruff a diamond. East follows to two more club winners
and you ruff another diamond. Dummy’s two top hearts stand up and
the lead is in dummy in this end position:
♠—
♥83
♦ 10 7
♣—
♠— ♠ K 10 8 7
N
♥QJ W E ♥—
♦Q S ♦—
♣7 ♣—
♠AJ96
♥—
♦—
♣—
When you lead a red card from dummy, East can do no better than
to ruff with the seven. You overruff with the nine and exit with the six
of trumps, forcing East to lead into your trump tenace. You have made
twelve tricks. Try to look casual about it.

Foreseeing the bad trump break
On many hands you can turn your mind towards a trump coup after you
have discovered the bad trump break. When entries are less plentiful,
and the opening lead has put you in the dummy, you may have to start
shortening your trumps straight away — before you know whether the
trumps are breaking badly or not. That’s the situation on this deal:
East-West Vul. ♠A974

Dealer South ♥K2
♦9742
♣ 10 9 5
♠ K Q J 10 3 N
♠652
♥7 W E ♥J964
♦ J 10 8 3 S ♦Q5
♣J62 ♣KQ73
♠8
♥ A Q 10 8 5 3
♦AK6
♣A84

1♥
pass 1♠ pass 3♥
pass 4♥ all pass
You arrive in 4♥ and West leads the king of spades. If the trumps
break 3-2, there will be ten easy tricks. Suppose you start by playing
the king of trumps and a trump to the ace, West showing out. It will then
be too late to think of a trump coup — far too late!
To achieve a trump coup you will need to ruff two spades, to reduce
your trumps to the same length as East’s. Suppose that you are smart
enough to foresee this — how should you play the hand?
At Trick 2 you make the cost-nothing play of ruffing a spade,
reducing your trump length to five. You then play the ace of trumps,
followed by a trump to the king. If trumps break 3-2, you simply return
to hand and draw the last trump. When East turns up with four trumps,
as here, you are conveniently in the dummy to take a second spade ruff.
All is now well. You cash your three top cards in the minors and pass
the lead to the defenders. You are sure to score the game-going tricks
with your ♥Q10.

Using your entries in the right order
You have a trump coup in mind and anxiously count the number of
entries to dummy. Yes! There are just enough. However, your
problems may not be over. In some situations, as we saw with the
dummy reversal, the entries must be used in the right order. Take the
South cards here:
♠53
♥AKQ97
♦J983
♣KQ
♠— ♠ Q 10 8 4
N
♥J852 E
♥ 10 4
W
♦AKQ52 S ♦ 10 7 4
♣9863 ♣J742
♠AKJ9762
♥63
♦6
♣ A 10 5
You arrive in 6♠ and West leads the king of diamonds. Insulting

you somewhat, he continues with the diamond ace, which you ruff.
When you cash the ace of trumps, West shows out. The only chance
now is a trump coup.
Suppose that you cross to the queen of clubs and finesse the nine of
trumps. You return to dummy with a club to the king and ruff a third
round of diamonds, reducing your trump length to one more than East’s.
A heart to the ace allows you to play a fourth round of diamonds. At
this moment disaster strikes. East discards his last heart! You can ruff
the diamond, reducing your trumps to the required length, but you will
have no way to re-enter the dummy. After East’s heart discard, the
second entry in that suit has been lost.
The rule on these hands is to use first those entries that may be at
risk. Here you hold seven hearts between the hands and only five clubs.
East is more likely to be short in hearts than in clubs; you should
therefore use the heart entries first.
If you are feeling industrious, you can play the hand through again,
following our recommendation. You will soon reach this ending, with
the lead in dummy:

♠—
♥Q97
♦—
♣—
♠— ♠ Q 10
N
♥J8 E
♥—
W
♦Q S ♦—
♣— ♣J
♠KJ
♥—
♦—
♣A
East has no answer to the queen of hearts.
The coup en passant

In our examples so far, declarer has held a tenace over the defender’s top
trump (A-Q over the K, for example). Sometimes though, it is the
defender who holds the master trump and you are trying to promote a
lesser trump sitting behind it. That’s what happens here:
North-South Vul. ♠K853

Dealer South ♥9764
♦9
♣A973
♠J7 N
♠ Q 10 6 4
♥ 10 W E ♥QJ3
♦QJ85 S ♦ 10 7 4 2
♣ K Q J 10 6 5 ♣82
♠A92
♥AK852
♦AK63
♣4

1♥
3♣ 4♥ pass 6♥
all pass

You win the king of clubs lead with dummy’s ace and play two
rounds of trumps, West showing out on the second round. It may seem
that you have two unavoidable losers, a spade and a trump. One chance
remains, however. You have five winners in the side suits. If you can
ruff two diamonds in dummy, and score all five trumps in the South
hand, the total will come to twelve. On a similar hand in ‘Reversing the
Dummy’, this was achieved simply by ruffing in the South hand while
the defenders followed suit. Here a trump promotion will be necessary.
You cash the two top diamonds, throwing a spade from dummy, and
ruff a diamond. You then ruff a club in hand and ruff your last diamond,
East following. What can East do when you lead another club from
dummy? If he ruffs with his master trump you will discard your spade
loser and claim the remainder. Let’s say he discards a spade instead.
You ruff with your penultimate trump, play the ace and king of spades,
and survey this end position:
♠8
♥—
♦—
♣9
♠— ♠Q
♥— N
♥Q
W E
♦— S
♦—
♣QJ ♣—
♠9
♥8
♦—
♣—
The last club from dummy promotes your ♥8. You score your last
trump en passant, as they say.
The trump endplay

Lack of entries may sometimes mean that a trump promotion has to be
combined with an endplay of the defender with the long trumps. East
is the victim on this deal:

North-South Vul. ♠ A 10 5
Dealer South ♥63
♦A962
♣AK73
♠KJ7 N
♠Q863
♥— W E ♥ Q J 10 8
♦ Q J 10 4 3 S ♦K85
♣ Q 10 9 6 2 ♣J4
♠942
♥AK97542
♦7
♣85

3♥
pass 4♥ all pass
You win the diamond lead and see that the main risk is a 4-0 trump
break. You lead a trump from dummy, intending to make the safety play
of finessing the nine, but East inserts the queen, forcing the ace. When
West shows out, your aim must be to score six of the seven trumps in
your hand. You cross to the ace of clubs and ruff a diamond. You return
to dummy with the king of clubs and ruff another diamond. A spade to
the ace is followed by a third club from dummy. If East ruffs, you will
discard a spade (eventually losing two trumps and one spade). We’ll
assume that East discards on the trick and you take your third ruff in
hand.
You have now performed the essential task of reducing your trumps
to the same length as East’s. No entries to dummy remain, so you exit
in spades. West scores the jack and king of spades, arriving at:
♠—
♥3
♦9
♣3
♠— N ♠—
♥— W E ♥ J 10 8
♦J S ♦—
♣ Q 10 ♣—
♠—
♥K97
♦—
♣—

West leads a diamond and East does his best, ruffing with the ten.
Do you see how to counter this? You underruff with the seven and East
has to lead into the K-9 tenace! Game made.
Even when the enemy trump holding lies over the long trumps, it
may be possible to gain a trick with a trump endplay.
Both Vul. ♠AK84

Dealer South ♥K64
♦953
♣AQ9
♠ Q J 10 3 ♠9765
N
♥98 W E
♥ Q J 10 5 2
♦QJ87 S ♦—
♣754 ♣ 10 8 6 2
♠2
♥A73
♦ A K 10 6 4 2
♣KJ3

1♦
pass 1♠ pass 3♦
pass 4NT pass 5♣
pass 6♦ all pass
Partner’s 4NT is Roman Key Card Blackwood, your 5♣ response

showing two aces and the king of trumps. West leads the ♠Q and you
win in the dummy. You then play a trump, groaning when East shows
out. You win the trick with the ace and must now, by some miracle,
avoid the loss of two trump tricks. Any idea how this can be done?
You must aim for a three card ending where you hold ♦K106 and
West has ♦QJ8. You will then be able to lead a low trump towards
dummy’s nine, catching West in a trump endplay. As on the previous
deals, you will have to reduce your trump length to match West’s.
Clearly you will need West to follow to three rounds of clubs (if he is
allowed to ruff anything with the eight, his Q-J will certainly score a
second trick). If West’s shape is 4-2-4-3, you will have to ruff two
spades in your hand. If it is 3-3-4-3, you must ruff a spade and a heart
instead. Which is the better bet, do you think? An opening lead from

♠QJx would have been dangerous, particularly after North had bid the
suit. It is slightly more likely that the lead was from ♠QJ10x and you
should therefore attempt two spade ruffs.
How should the play go? You cross to a club at trick three and cash
the king of spades, throwing a heart loser. You ruff a spade, cash the ace
and king of hearts, and ruff another spade. You then cash two more
rounds of clubs, ending in the South hand. This is the position:
♠—
♥6
♦95
♣—
♠— N
♠—
♥— W E ♥QJ
♦QJ8 S ♦—
♣— ♣ 10
♠—
♥—
♦ K 10 6
♣—
It’s time for West to go home. You lead the ♦6 from your hand,
restricting him to just one trump trick.
Key points
1. For a trump coup to succeed, you need to reduce your trump length
to match that of the key defender.
2. Once the end position has been set up, you can either lead a plain
card towards your trump tenace or exit to the defenders.
3. When entries to dummy are scarce, it may be necessary to make a
trump-reduction play before you know whether the trumps are
breaking badly.

QUIZ
To Answers
A. ♠97642
♥K3
♦ 10 8 6
♣K74
N
♣J led W E
S
♠AK3
♥ A Q 10 7 6 2
♦AK
♣83
Sitting South, you arrive in 4♥. The defenders attack in clubs
and you ruff the third round. How will you continue?
B. ♠ 10 4
♥AKQ8
♦A743
♣KJ4
N
♥J led W E
S
♠AJ9852
♥7
♦K82
♣AQ5
West leads the ♥J against 6♠. How will you plan the play?

A. Since you have a certain spade loser, you must pick up the trump
suit. If East turns up with jack fourth, a trump coup will be
necessary. Cash the ace of trumps at Trick 4 and continue with the
two top diamonds. Now cross to the king of trumps. If West shows
out on this trick, ruff a diamond to reduce your trumps to the same
length as East’s. Finally you play ace, king and another spade.
Provided East follows to two rounds of spades, you are home. Your
♥Q10 will score the last two tricks.
B. Your general plan is to take two trump finesses. If the first finesse
loses to a singleton honor, however, you will need a trump coup to
pick up East’s remaining honor. Win the heart lead in dummy and
lead the ♠4 to the jack. Let’s say that West wins with the singleton
queen and returns a diamond. Win with dummy’s ace and lead the
♠10. East refuses to cover (from his remaining ♠K73) and you are
left conveniently in the dummy. You cash the ♥K, throwing a
diamond, then ruff the ♥8. You cross to the ♣J and ruff the ♥Q.
Since you are shortening your trumps by ruffing a master, this play
is awarded the name ‘Grand Coup’. Finally, you play the ace and
king of clubs. If all this passes by without accident, you will be in
dummy with your ♠A9 poised happily over East’s ♠K7. That will
be twelve tricks.

C H A P T E R • 3
Other Coups in the

Trump Suit
The trump coups we saw in the last chapter occur with some regularity.
In this chapter we will admire briefly two rarer and more fragile flow-
ers in this field. You may not have many chances to bring off one of
these plays, but when you do... you can tell people about it for years!
The smother play

Suppose you are playing in some high spade contract with this trump
holding:
♠AJ7
N
♠K852 W E ♠4
S
♠ Q 10 9 6 3
Since dummy holds one trump fewer than West, it may seem
impossible to prevent West’s king from scoring a trick. Not quite!
Suppose you start by taking two finesses, East showing out on the sec-
ond round. If you can throw East in at Trick 11, he may have to return
a side suit in which the other three hands are void. You ruff with a high
trump in the South hand and West’s king is dead, whether he chooses to
overruff or not. Let’s see the play in the context of a full hand:
Chapter 3 — Other Coups in the Trump Suit • 27

Neither Vul. ♠AJ7
Dealer South ♥ A 10 7
♦AQJ
♣K975
♠K852 N ♠4
♥J94 W E ♥Q8632
♦9843 S ♦ 10 7 6 5
♣ 10 4 ♣QJ8
♠ Q 10 9 6 3
♥K5
♦K2
♣A632

1♠
pass 2♣ pass 3♣
pass 6♠ all pass
Yes, 6♣ would have been easy. The deal comes from a pairs event,
however, and North opted for the higher-scoring 6♠.
When East showed out, prospects were poor. Declarer soldiered
on, playing the top hearts and ruffing a heart. He then cashed the two
remaining top diamonds, throwing a club. The ace and king of clubs
were played, leaving the lead in dummy with these cards out:
♠A
♥—
♦—
♣97
♠K8 N
♠—
♥— W E ♥Q
♦9 S ♦ 10
♣— ♣Q
♠ 10 9
♥—
♦—
♣6
Declarer now played a club to East’s queen. With no advantage to
be gained from ruffing, West threw his last diamond. Whichever red
card East played next, declarer would ruff with the ♠10 and West’s king
would be dead. Contract made!

To achieve such a conclusion, it was once again necessary for
declarer to reduce his trump length. He also needed West to have either
4-3-4-2 or 4-4-3-2 shape. If West held three clubs, for example, he
would win the club exit at Trick 11 and play a low trump to the bare ace.
The Devil’s Coup

Perhaps the most famous example of a ‘vanishing trump trick’
involves trump holdings like this:
♦ A 10 5 3
N
♦Q7 W E
♦J82
S
♦K964
It may seem impossible to avoid losing a trump trick, but if the side
suits lie favorably it can be done. Look at this layout:
♠6
♥ A 10 7 2
♦ A 10 5 3
♣KQ52
♠Q832 N
♠J974
♥J963 W E ♥Q84
♦Q7 S ♦J82
♣ 10 9 8 ♣643
♠ A K 10 5
♥K5
♦K964
♣AJ7
Imagine that after some optimistic bidding you reach the seeming-
ly hopeless contract of 7♦. West leads the ♣10 and you win with the
ace. Playing on trumps directly will succeed only when one of the
defenders holds Q-J doubleton. Suppose you cash two more club win-
ners instead, both defenders following. You can then play the two top
spades, throwing dummy’s last club. After ruffing a spade, you play the
king and ace of hearts, then ruff a heart in hand. When you ruff anoth-
er spade, it proves to be your lucky day. Both defenders follow.
Chapter 3 — Other Coups in the Trump Suit • 29

You have arrived at this magical end position:
♠—
♥ 10
♦ A 10
♣—
♠— ♠—
♥J N
♥—
E
♦Q7 W
S
♦J82
♣— ♣—
♠—
♥—
♦K96
♣—
What can East do when you play dummy’s last heart? If he ruffs
with the eight or the two, you will overruff and claim the last two tricks
with the trump ace and king. His only alternative is to ruff with the jack.
You can then overruff and finesse dummy’s ten of trumps. Thirteen
tricks either way.
The play is picturesquely known as the Devil’s Coup. It is rarely
accomplished, even by players aware of the technique. That’s because
the side suits have to be distributed very favorably, to prevent a defend-
er from ruffing at an awkward moment. It may seem that twelve tricks
would also be possible when West holds:
♠ Q 8 3 ♥ J 9 6 4 3 ♦ Q 7 ♣ 10 9 8
But not if West is alive to the situation. This would be the ending:
♠—
♥ 10
♦ A 10 5
♣—
♠— N
♠J
♥J9 W E ♥—
♦Q7 S ♦J82
♣— ♣—
♠5
♥—
♦K96
♣—
West can beat the contract by ruffing the ♠5 with the queen!

C H A P T E R • 4
Defending Against
Trump Coups
Understand the trump coup from declarer’s point of view and you are
most of the way towards knowing how to defend against it. Declarer
needs to reduce his trump length — very well, you must refuse to assist
him in doing this.
East defended carelessly on the next deal. Would you have made
the same mistake?
East-West Vul. ♠A9754

Dealer South ♥7
♦KJ4
♣ K Q J 10
♠ K Q 10 ♠J862
♥82 N
♥AK94
W E
♦Q72 S
♦ 10 6
♣97532 ♣A84
♠3
♥ Q J 10 6 5 3
♦A9853
♣6

4♥
all pass
Chapter 4 - Defending Against Trump Coups • 31

South chose the offbeat opening bid of 4♥ and there was no further
bidding. West led the king of spades, won in the dummy, and declarer
played a trump to the queen, winning the trick. Placing the missing
trump honors on his right, declarer, continued with the jack of trumps
rather than a low one. The jack pinned West’s eight and was won by
East’s king. Take the East cards now. What would you return?
Giving the matter insufficient thought, East played another spade.
By forcing declarer he was hoping to improve the chances of eventual-
ly scoring his ♥9. In fact, he was doing the opposite. Declarer ruffed
in the South hand and played a club to the king and ace.
Beginning to realize that his third trump trick was under threat, East
switched belatedly to a diamond. Declarer won with dummy’s jack and
took another spade ruff, reducing his trumps satisfactorily.
This position had been reached:
♠9
♥—
♦K4
♣ Q J 10
♠— ♠J
♥— N
♥A9
W E
♦Q7 S
♦ 10
♣9753 ♣84
♠-
♥ 10 6
♦A985
♣—
Declarer did not need East to follow to both the ace and king of dia-
monds. He crossed to the king of diamonds and played high clubs. East
had no winning option. If he ruffed dummy’s last club with the nine,
declarer would overruff and play the ace of diamonds, forcing East’s ace
of trumps and establishing his last trump as a tenth trick. If instead East
discarded on the last club, declarer would throw the ace of diamonds
and lead a plain card towards his ♥106, promoting the ten.
How could East have prevented this? His spade return at Trick 4
assisted in the trump reduction. He should have played a diamond
instead, attacking the entries to dummy. If declarer then ruffed a spade
and played a club to the king and ace, a second diamond from East
would remove the last entry to dummy. Declarer would still hold one

more trump than East and no trump coup would be possible.
On the next deal a continual force of declarer’s hand left West with
one more trump than declarer. An enviable position, you might think.
Not on this occasion, as West was about to find out!
East-West Vul. ♠K743

Dealer North ♥3
♦K942
♣AK83
♠ Q J 10 6 ♠A982
N
♥KJ87 W E ♥ 10
♦J3 S ♦ Q 10 7 6
♣Q92 ♣ J 10 7 6
♠5
♥AQ96542
♦A85
♣54

1♣ pass 1♥
pass 1♠ pass 4♥
all pass
West led the queen of spades and declarer played low from dummy,
East signaling an even number of cards with the nine. West continued
with another spade and declarer ruffed. A club to dummy’s ace was fol-
lowed by a losing finesse of the trump queen. What did West do now?
Very unwisely, he continued with yet another spade. Do you see the
effect of this? By continuing to shorten South’s trumps, he was greatly
increasing the risk of being caught in a trump endplay.
Declarer ruffed the third spade and paused for thought. It was
entirely possible that East’s ten of trumps had been a singleton. In that
case the contract would fail unless West could be endplayed.
Declarer crossed to the king of diamonds and ruffed dummy’s last
spade. He returned to dummy with the club king and ruffed a club,
reducing his trumps to just two. He then cashed the ace of diamonds
successfully. The lead was in the South hand, with these cards still to
be played:
Chapter 4 — Defending Against Trump Coups • 33

♠—
♥—
♦94
♣8
♠— ♠—
N
♥J87 E
♥—
W
♦— S
♦ Q 10
♣— ♣J
♠—
♥A9
♦8
♣—
Look at West’s predicament when the ♦8 was led. With a trump
fewer, he could have discarded, allowing the defenders to score two
more tricks. As it was, he had to ruff his partner’s winner and lead into
South’s ♥A9. Game made!
Declarer could not have arrived at this end position under his own
steam. Had West switched to a minor suit at Trick 2, or even when he
won the trump king, the contract could not have been made.
A teammate of ours suffered a similar fate recently. Holding
♦KQ107532 and an outside trick, opposite a partner who had opened
the bidding, he thought Christmas had arrived early when his right-hand
opponent ended in 2♦ doubled. The contract was unbeatable! Three
times he had to ruff partner’s winner, then lead away from his trump
holding. This is known as being ‘trump bound’.
Sometimes you can avoid such a situation by ruffing one of part-
ner’s winners at a time when you have a safe exit available.
Take the West cards in this end position (spades are trumps):
♠—
♥—
♦ 10 7
♣94
♠ Q 10 8 N
♠—
♥— W E ♥—
♦4 S ♦J
♣— ♣ Q 10 8
♠KJ
♥—
♦6
♣5

South has the lead and needs two more tricks. If he leads a dia-
mond at this stage, he will succeed. You will have to ruff the next trick
and lead into South’s trump tenace. Suppose that declarer is less
inspired and chooses to play a club. If you discard, you will be end-
played just the same on the next trick. Instead you must ruff and exit
with a diamond to partner’s jack.
Until now, we have looked at counters available to the defender
with the long trumps. On the next deal it is the player opposite who can
rescue the situation. Try your luck with the East cards.
Both Vul. ♠A6

Dealer East ♥974
♦K8642
♣J73
♠Q5 ♠ 10 7 4 3 2
N
♥ K Q 10 3 W E
♥5
♦J73 S ♦Q5
♣ 10 6 4 2 ♣AKQ95
♠KJ98
♥AJ862
♦ A 10 9
♣8

1♣ 1♥
1NT 2♥ pass pass
3♣ pass pass 3♥
dbl all pass
After a typically hard-fought auction from a matchpoint game,

South ends in 3♥ doubled. You win partner’s club lead and continue the
suit, declarer ruffing. He crosses to the ♠A and ruffs a third club. The
ace and king of diamonds are cashed, followed by a spade to the king
and the lead of a third spade. Partner ruffs with the ♥10 in front of
dummy, leaving these cards to be played:
Chapter 4 — Defending Against Trump Coups • 35

♠—
♥974
♦86
♣—
♠— ♠ 10 7
♥KQ3 N
♥5
W E
♦J S
♦—
♣ 10 ♣95
♠J
♥AJ8
♦9
♣—
Your partner now leads the master ♦J. Let’s see first what happens
if you allow this card to win. Declarer will ruff the ♣10 continuation in
dummy and play a trump to the eight. Your partner will have to win
with one trump honor and lead away from the other. Contract made.
Now try the effect of ruffing partner’s master diamond. You can
then play a spade, which partner will ruff with the queen. Since he still
has a safe exit in clubs, he will score the king of trumps too. A sweaty
plus 200 instead of a disastrous minus 730.
Key points
1. When you fear that your trump holding is exposed to a possible
trump coup, do not assist declarer in reducing his trumps. Aim
instead to remove the entries to the hand opposite declarer’s long
holding.
2. Be wary of becoming ‘trump bound’ — the situation where you hold
nothing but trumps and have to ruff partner’s winners and lead into
declarer’s trump tenace.

C H A P T E R • 5
Promoting Trump
Tricks in Defense
The defenders have several stratagems available for promoting extra

trump tricks. The first of these involves forcing declarer to ruff when
partner is in a position to overruff. Suppose that South is playing in a
spade contract with this trump suit:
♠ 10 8 6 4 3
N
♠Q7 W E ♠5
S
♠AKJ92
If declarer has the lead, he will have no problem drawing trumps
without loss. Suppose, instead, that East is on play and can lead a side
suit in which both South and West are void. Declarer will now lose a
trump trick. Whether he ruffs with the nine or a top honor, West’s queen
of trumps will be promoted.
Chapter 5 — Promoting Trump Tricks in Defense • 37

This is a full deal, illustrating the technique:
Neither Vul. ♠ 10 8 6 4 3
Dealer South ♥973
♦AJ92
♣A
♠Q7 N
♠5
♥QJ4 W E ♥AK62
♦ Q 10 8 6 4 S ♦753
♣J96 ♣ 10 8 5 4 2
♠AKJ92
♥ 10 8 5
♦K
♣KQ73

1♠
pass 4♠ all pass
You are sitting East and partner finds the happy lead of the queen
of hearts, continuing with the jack. You overtake with the king, in case
he holds no more hearts, and cash the ace successfully. Where can a
fourth trick be found?
It is clear from the dummy that there is little chance of a minor-suit
trick. The setting trick must surely come from the trump suit. If partner
has the ace of trumps or K-x, it will not matter what you do. If he has
Q-x, as in the diagram, you will need to play a fourth round of hearts to
promote the queen. The same defense would be necessary if partner
held a singleton king of trumps.
Another way to promote a trump trick is to find partner with a
trump that can beat all the trumps held by the hand in a position to
overruff. That’s what happens here:

East-West Vul. ♠982
Dealer South ♥AKQJ963
♦3
♣ 10 4
♠ K Q 10 7 5 3 ♠A6
N
♥ 10 E
♥82
W
♦A65 S ♦ 10 9 7 4 2
♣953 ♣J862
♠J4
♥754
♦KQJ8
♣AKQ7

1NT
pass 2♦ pass 2♥
pass 4♥ all pass
South opens with a strong 1NT and ends in 4♥ after a transfer

sequence. Sitting West, you strike out boldly with the spade king.
Partner overtakes with the ace and returns a spade to the declarer’s jack
and your queen. What now?
The ace of diamonds will score a third trick for the defense but after
South’s 1NT opening it is not possible for East to hold another side-suit
winner. You should cash the ace of diamonds, then play a low spade.
You choose a low spade, rather than the master ten, to alert a possibly
sleepy partner of the need to ruff. Since it cannot possibly gain to ruff
with the two, even if declarer is about to follow suit, East should ruff
with the eight. South cannot overruff and the contract is one down.
When is it right to overruff?

When you are in a position to overruff declarer or the dummy, always
think carefully whether it is best to do so. Look at this trump position:
Chapter 5 - Promoting Trump Tricks in Defense • 39

♠872
N
♠ K 10 3 W E ♠9
S
♠AQJ654
Suppose East, your partner, leads a side-suit in which both you and
the declarer are void. If declarer ruffs low, there is no problem; you will
overruff with the ten and later score the king of trumps. What if declarer
ruffs with the queen instead? Now it would be a mistake to overruff.
When declarer regained the lead, he would draw the outstanding trumps
with the ace and the jack. You would score no more than the one trump
trick you started with. Discard on the trick instead and you will
eventually score both the king and the ten of trumps. The position
would be the same, although more difficult to visualize, if you held K-
9-4 of trumps with partner holding the bare ten.
As a general rule, you should refuse to overruff with a natural
trump trick when there is any prospect that your trump holding may be
promoted by discarding instead.
Most ‘rules’ in bridge have exceptions to them (thank goodness, or
it would be a boring game!). On the next deal West saw that the
moment had come to break the rule we have just given.
Both Vul. ♠AQ84

Dealer North ♥63
♦K73
♣KQ84
♠9732 N
♠ 10 6
♥ Q 10 2 W E ♥7
♦8 S ♦AQJ96542
♣ 10 6 5 3 2 ♣A9
♠KJ5
♥AKJ9854
♦ 10
♣J7

1♣ 4♦ 4♥
all pass

West led his singleton diamond to East’s jack. Back came the ♦2,
East choosing his lowest card in the suit to suggest an entry in clubs.
Suppose first that you were the declarer. Which card would you play on
this trick?
It is fairly likely from the bidding that East holds eight diamonds
and the lead was a singleton. One possibility is to ruff with the ace, then
play king and another trump. You would succeed if trumps were 2-2 or
if the queen or ten fell singleton. As the cards lie, such a play would
fail.
At the table, declarer decided to ruff with the jack. Now all
depended on West’s reaction. This was not the moment to shut off the
brain and follow some rule from a book. West overruffed with the
queen and crossed to partner’s indicated ace of clubs. Now a third
round of diamonds promoted the ten of trumps. One down.
Another time to consider an overruff is when your own trumps are
fairly short and an overruff may promote partner’s holding. Suppose
your trumps are something like A-7 doubleton. Overruff with the ace
and partner’s trumps will move up one notch, perhaps creating an extra
trick. That’s what happens on this deal:
North-South Vul. ♠J82

Dealer East ♥Q65
♦KQ73
♣AJ6
♠A7 N
♠ 10 9 3
♥ 10 2 W E ♥AKJ973
♦ J 10 8 6 2 S ♦95
♣9854 ♣ 10 3
♠KQ654
♥84
♦A4
♣KQ72

2♥ 2♠
pass 3♥ pass 3♠
pass 4♠ all pass

Your partner opens with a Weak Two and you eventually lead the
♥10 against South’s spade game. East wins with the jack and continues
with the ace and king of hearts. What should you do when declarer ruffs
the third round with the king or queen?
If you discard, blindly following the rule about not overruffing with
a natural trump trick, declarer (who knows from the bidding that you
hold the trump ace) will play a low trump towards dummy’s jack. He
will duck to your bare ace on the next round of trumps and the contract
will be made. Suppose instead that you overruff South’s honor with the
ace. Now your partner’s ♠1093 will ascend in the world. They will be
promoted into the setting trick.
Cashing winners before attempting a promotion

It is often necessary for the defenders to cash any top winners they hold
before playing for a trump promotion. If they fail to do so, declarer may
be able to throw a loser on the critical trick. Look at this deal:
North-South Vul. ♠ J 10 4
Dealer East ♥Q3
♦AQ85
♣ 10 8 7 3
♠K3 N
♠AQ8752
♥J94 W E ♥ 10 5
♦763 S ♦J2
♣KJ654 ♣A92
♠96
♥AK8762
♦ K 10 9 4
♣Q

1♠ 2♥
pass 3♥ pass 4♥
all pass
West leads the king of spades and continues with a second round.
Sitting East, you win with the queen. What next?
If you ‘do what comes naturally’ and continue with the ace of
spades, a competent declarer will succeed. He will discard his club

loser. A fourth round of spades will not promote a trump trick now. If
your partner ruffs from his three-card holding, declarer will overruff
with dummy’s queen and draw the outstanding trumps with the ace and
king.
To beat the contract you must cash the ace of clubs before playing
a third round of spades. Declarer will then have no counter to the
promotion. Playing the ace of clubs might gain in a different way.
Suppose declarer’s trumps were solid enough to withstand a promotion
attempt but he had two top club losers. Now your partner would play
an encouraging high card on the ace of clubs, telling you to play a club
next instead of a spade.
The next deal is on a similar theme. Few players would find the
right defense in the East seat. All that is required, however, is to bear in
mind the number of tricks needed to defeat the contract.
East-West Vul. ♠ 10 8 7 5
Dealer East ♥Q63
♦Q53
♣AKQ
♠KJ63 N
♠Q94
♥A97 W E ♥ 10
♦J7 S ♦ A K 10 8 6 2
♣J873 ♣964
♠A2
♥KJ8542
♦94
♣ 10 5 2

2♦ pass
pass dbl pass 3♥
all pass
Partner leads the jack of diamonds, declarer covers with the queen
and you take your king. What now?
Had the final contract been 4♥ instead of 3♥, it would be
reasonable to continue with ace and another diamond, hoping to
promote a trump trick for partner. To beat the lower contract of 3♥, a
trump promotion will not be sufficient. You will need to make at least
one spade to bring the total to five tricks.

We will see first what happens if you continue diamonds. A
competent declarer will foresee his fate if he ruffs with the king or jack.
(West will refuse to overruff, thereby promoting a second trump trick
for himself. Since there will still be a spade loser, that will be one
down.) Declarer will therefore discard his spade loser on the third
round of diamonds. The contract cannot then be defeated, since dummy
can overruff West if a fourth round of diamonds is played.
Let’s backtrack to Trick 2 and try the effect of switching to a spade,
seeking the trick or two that the defenders need there. Now declarer is
doomed. Suppose he wins with the ace of spades and plays a trump to
the queen. A second round of trumps goes to declarer’s jack and
partner’s ace. West then cashes his spade winner and reverts to
diamonds. When you play a third diamond, partner’s ♥9 is promoted
into the setting trick.
The uppercut
In the trump promotions we have seen so far, declarer had to ruff in the
second seat — in front of a defender who might overruff. We look now
at a different situation, where declarer is in the fourth seat. The
defender in front of him ruffs with a high trump, forcing him to overruff.
The aim is to promote a trump trick for the other defender.
Suppose the trump suit lies like this:
♠ 10 8 5 4
N
♠Q2 W E
♠J7
S
♠AK963
If East could play a side suit in which both South and West were
void, a standard trump promotion would ensue. Suppose instead that
West plays a side suit in which South and East are void. East ruffs high,
with the jack, and this seriously weakens declarer’s trump holding. He
has to overruff with an honor and West’s queen is promoted into a trick.
East’s high ruff is a technique known as an ‘uppercut’. Think of it as
punching a hole in declarer’s trump holding.
Here is a full-deal example of an uppercut involving the trump
position we have just seen:

East-West Vul. ♠ 10 8 5 4
Dealer South ♥KQ
♦ Q 10 6
♣KQ96
♠Q2 ♠J7
N
♥64 W E ♥ 10 7 5 2
♦KJ9532 S ♦A4
♣ A 10 4 ♣J8732
♠AK963
♥AJ983
♦87
♣5

1♠
pass 3♠ pass 4♠
all pass
Sitting West, you make the inspired lead of the ♦5. Partner wins
the ace and returns the ♦4 to your king. If you play another diamond
immediately, East will uppercut with the ♠J but declarer will discard his
club loser and soon claim the rest. To beat the contract, you must cash
the ♣A first, then play a third round of diamonds for the uppercut.
Would you have visualized an uppercut on the next deal?
North-South Vul. ♠874
Dealer West ♥KQ
♦ 10 9
♣AQJ963
♠A92 N ♠ 10 3
♥96 W E ♥ 10 7 5 4 2
♦AKQ642 S ♦J73
♣K5 ♣842
♠KQJ65
♥AJ83
♦85
♣ 10 7

1♦ 2♣ pass 2♠
3♦ 3♠ pass 4♠
all pass

You lead the king of diamonds and partner follows with the three,
indicating an odd number of diamonds. When you cash another
diamond everyone follows, as expected. What next?
It is clear from South’s strong bidding that he must hold the ace of
hearts. You cannot therefore expect any more tricks outside the trump
suit. To set up an uppercut you must continue with a third round of
diamonds at Trick 3, giving declarer a useless ruff-and-discard.
Declarer ruffs in the dummy and plays a spade to his jack and your ace.
Now when you play a fourth round of diamonds partner ruffs with the
ten. Voila! Your nine of trumps has been promoted into the setting
trick.
On the previous hand it would be obvious to any self-respecting
East what was required. Sometimes your partner will need guidance.
Imagine that you are West and lead a side suit lying like this:
♣ 10 8 7
N
♣AKQ653 W E ♣9
S
♣J42
If the trumps lie in such a way that an uppercut is possible, you will
want to cash three rounds of clubs, then have partner uppercut on the
fourth round. Suppose instead that the club suit lies like this:
♣ 10 8 7
N
♣AKQ6543 W E ♣9
S
♣J2
Now you may want to cash two rounds of clubs and have partner
uppercut on the third round. Partner cannot know when to ruff unless
you help him. On the first layout you should lead the king of clubs, then
continue with the queen and ace. Since you are leading winners, partner
knows that you don’t expect him to ruff. On the second layout, where
declarer has only two clubs, you would again lead the king followed by
the queen. On the third round, however, you would lead a low club, and
partner will realize that you want him to ruff.
The next hand is more complex. Take the East cards and see what
you make of it.

East-West Vul. ♠KJ96
Dealer West ♥864
♦Q8764
♣K
♠A53 N ♠872
♥K9 W E ♥ A 10
♦ A K 10 9 5 2 S ♦J
♣ 10 7 ♣J865432
♠ Q 10 4
♥QJ7532
♦3
♣AQ9

1♦ pass 1NT 2♥
pass 3♥ all pass
Partner leads the king of diamonds and continues with the ♦10,
covered by dummy’s queen. How do you defend?
If declarer held another diamond, partner would probably have
cashed his ace before leading one for you to ruff. It looks as though
declarer has no more diamonds and partner is trying to promote his
trump holding. Suppose that you ruff with the ten. Declarer will
overruff and play a trump. You will score your ace and later partner will
make the ♥K and the ♠A. That is only four tricks for the defense, not
enough to beat the contract.
Now watch the effect of ruffing the second diamond with your ace!
Declarer discards a black card. Reading the ♦10 as indicating a spade
entry, you return a spade to partner’s ace. He plays a third round of
diamonds, and you ruff with the ten — an uppercut. Declarer overruffs
but partner’s ♥K9 are now worth two tricks. Your side will score a
spade, a diamond, and three trump tricks. One down.
Promoting trump tricks by ruffing with a master

The idea behind the uppercut was fairly easy to absorb. You ruffed high
to force a higher trump from declarer, thereby promoting your partner’s
trump holding. Not so easy to visualize, perhaps, is that you can
sometimes achieve the same effect by ruffing with a master trump. See
what happens on this deal:

Neither Vul. ♠KJ3
Dealer South ♥976
♦AKQ7
♣842
♠96 N ♠ 10 8 7 4 2
♥J52 W E ♥A3
♦82 S ♦ 10 9 6 5
♣AKQ965 ♣ 10 3
♠AQ5
♥ K Q 10 8 4
♦J43
♣J7

1♥
2♣ 2♦ pass 2♥
pass 4♥ all pass
You are sitting East and partner launches the defense with his three
top clubs. How should you react on the third round?
Let’s suppose first that you are too mean to expend an ace on thin
air and discard instead of ruffing. Declarer will ruff cheaply, cross to
dummy, and play a trump to the king. He will then return to dummy
and lead a second round of trumps, drawing the bare ace. Your side will
score only one trump trick and the contract will succeed.
A much better idea is to ruff with the ace at trick three, removing
that card from the fray and scoring a trick at the same time. All the
remaining trumps, including your partner’s jack, will move up one
notch. On this deal, the jack will become the setting trick.
Countering trump promotions

We will now look briefly at how declarer can sometimes thwart the
defenders in their attempts to achieve a trump promotion. Declarer
played poorly on this deal:

Neither Vul. ♠ J 10 4
Dealer East ♥7
♦ 10 8 7 5 3
♣AJ65
♠K6 ♠Q98753
N
♥A953 E
♥4
W
♦KJ92 S ♦Q64
♣874 ♣K93
♠A2
♥ K Q J 10 8 6 2
♦A
♣ Q 10 2

2♠ 4♥
all pass
Declarer won the ♠K lead and played the ♥10, winning the trick.
West won the next high trump lead and crossed to partner’s ♠Q. A third
round of spades promoted West’s ♥9, and when the club finesse failed
declarer was one down. Did you spot declarer’s error? He should have
allowed West’s ♠K to win the first trick. This would break the
defenders’ communications, eliminating any risk of a trump promotion.
On the next hand declarer’s error was perhaps more excusable.
Neither Vul. ♠7
Dealer East ♥ A K 10 6
♦ J 10 8 5 4 2
♣AK
♠K862 ♠3
N
♥Q73 E
♥J952
W
♦6 S ♦AKQ3
♣J9752 ♣Q864
♠ A Q J 10 9 5 4
♥84
♦97
♣ 10 3

1♦ 3♠
pass 4♠ all pass

West led the ♦6 and East cashed two winners in the suit. When
East continued with the ♦3, declarer ruffed with the queen. It was
obvious from dummy’s holdings that the defenders would need two
trump tricks. In any case, with a potentially promotable ♠K862 it was
clear to West that he should not overruff. He discarded a heart instead.
Declarer crossed to the ace of clubs and finessed the trump jack.
The contract was doomed. West won with the king of trumps and
locked declarer in the dummy with a club. The only route to hand was
by ruffing the third round of hearts. Whether declarer ruffed high or
low, West’s ♠8 would be promoted (he had discarded one heart on the
second diamond, remember). One down.
Do you see how declarer can avoid this fate? Before playing on
trumps, he must cash the top hearts and the other club honor. West
would not then be able to lock him in the dummy. This maneuver —
extracting the dangerous high cards from dummy — is known as the
Dentist’s Coup.
Key points
1. As a defender, you can promote trump tricks in two main ways. You
can force declarer to ruff in front of your partner, who is in a position
to overruff. You can also ruff high in third position (an uppercut),
forcing a higher trump from declarer or the dummy.
2. Be wary of overruffing when you hold a natural trump trick. By
discarding instead, you may promote your own trump holding.
3. When there is no chance of your own trump holding being promoted,
an overruff by you may result in the promotion of partner’s trump
holding.
4. When seeking a defensive trump promotion, you may need to cash
one or more winners in the other side suits first. Otherwise, declarer
may be able to discard a loser as you promote a trump trick.

QUIZ
To Answers
A. ♠ 10 9 3
♥76
♦J642
♣AKJ3
♠J52 N
♥ 10 8 4 2 W E
♦AKQ3 S
♣62

1♠
pass 2♠ pass 4♠
all pass
You are West, defending 4♠ by South. You lead the king of
diamonds, requesting a count signal, and partner follows
with the nine. How will you continue the defense?
B. ♠AK5
♥ J 10 9 7
♦QJ4
♣ 10 9 5
N
♠J983
W E ♥64
S ♦86532
♣74

1♥
2♣ 4♥ all pass
Your partner leads the king of clubs followed by the queen.

South follows with the jack of clubs on the second round and
at Trick 3 partner leads the ♣2. How will you defend?
Chapter 5 — Promoting Trump Tricks in Defense • 51

QUIZ
To Answers
C. ♠QJ74
♥5
♦Q9652
♣AKQ
♠K5 N
♥J862 W E
♦ K 10 8 4 S
♣962

4♥
all pass
You make the dashing lead of the king of spades, pleased to see
the card win the trick. When you play a second spade, partner
wins with the ace and returns a third round. Declarer ruffs the
third round of spades with the ten. What will you do now?
D. ♠QJ4
♥K5
♦ A K J 10
♣Q965
N
♠AK8653
W E ♥64
S ♦8
♣ A 10 8 7

2♥ (weak)
pass 4♥ all pass
Rightly or wrongly, you decide not to bid 4♠. Partner leads the
♠9, covered by the queen and king. You cash the spade ace
successfully, all following. What will you do next?

A. You must hope that partner has two diamonds, rather than four.
Continue with the queen and ace of diamonds, making it clear that
you do not want partner to ruff. Then lead your last diamond. If
partner holds as little as the eight of trumps he can uppercut with this
card, promoting your jack of trumps as the setting trick.
B. You should ruff with your higher trump, the six. Partner’s refusal to
lead the ace of clubs on the third round means that he wants you to
attempt an uppercut. If South’s trumps are A-K-5-3-2 your six will
force a top trump honor, promoting partner’s doubleton queen. You
must then hope that partner has some high card such as the ♦K to set
the contract.
C. You should refuse to overruff. You are following the normal rule of
not overruffing with a natural trump trick when there is any prospect
of promoting your own trump holding. Here you hope that partner
has the singleton queen (or king) of trumps. Do not worry that your
partner may hold the ace of diamonds and that declarer will now
discard his diamond losers. If partner held the diamond ace he would
have cashed it before playing a third spade.
D. The chances are quite good that a third round of spades will promote
a trump trick for partner. For example, his trumps might be Q-9-2,
declarer holding A-J-10-8-7-3. However, you will need a fourth trick
to beat the game. Before playing another spade you should cash the
ace of clubs. This will prevent South from discarding a singleton
club as you play for the promotion.

C H A P T E R • 6
Taking Control of
the Trump Suit
Imagine that declarer is playing in a 5-3 trump fit and you hold four
trumps yourself, or suspect from the bidding that partner may hold four
trumps. It is generally good policy to lead your longest and strongest
side suit. Your aim is to attack declarer’s five-card trump holding, forc-
ing him to ruff in that hand. If you can make him ruff twice in the long
holding he will have ‘lost control’.
Let’s see this technique in action. Take the West cards here:
Neither Vul. ♠AQJ74

Dealer South ♥Q74
♦Q5
♣963
♠83 N ♠ 10 9 6 2
♥A652 W E ♥8
♦ 10 3 S ♦98742
♣ K J 10 8 2 ♣A74
♠K5
♥ K J 10 9 3
♦AKJ6
♣Q5

1♥
pass 1♠ pass 2♦
pass 3♥ pass 4♥
all pass

With four trumps to the ace, you are anxious to attack declarer’s
trump length. Clubs offer the best chance of achieving this and you
reach boldly for the ♣J. You are pleased to see partner win the ace and
return a club to declarer’s queen and your king. So far, so good. You
play a third round of clubs, forcing declarer to ruff, and he is now down
to the same number of trumps as yourself. He plays a trump to the
queen and another trump to his king. How will you defend?
If you take your ace of trumps on either of the first two rounds,
declarer will prevail. A fourth round of clubs would inflict no further
damage. Declarer would be able to ruff in dummy, cross to his hand,
then draw your remaining trumps.
Suppose instead that you hold up the trump ace for one more round.
Declarer will slump in his chair. If he leads trumps again, you will win
with your ace and play yet another club. This will force declarer’s last
trump and leave you in control. He can cash four winners in the point-
ed suits but eventually you will be able to ruff in. You will then cash
your long club, putting the contract two down. Declarer does slightly
better by abandoning trumps after two rounds and playing on his side
suits. You will make your small trump and he will escape for one down.
A defensive trump holding of ace fourth can be an effective weapon
against a 4-4 fit too. On the next deal West has the chance to attack the
trump length in both declarer’s hand and the dummy.
Neither Vul. ♠ K 10 5 3
Dealer North ♥K83
♦65
♣AQ86
♠A942 ♠8
N
♥J7 W E ♥ Q 10 9 5 4 2
♦KJ873 S ♦A94
♣ 10 3 ♣752
♠QJ76
♥A6
♦ Q 10 2
♣KJ94

1♣ pass 1♠
pass 2♠ pass 3NT
pass 4♠ all pass
Chapter 6 - Taking Control of the Trump Suit • 55

What would you have led from the West hand? Holding four
trumps to the ace, you should head for a forcing game. You attack in
your best suit, leading a diamond. Here fortune favors you. Partner
wins with the ace and returns the ♦9 to the ten and jack. A third round
of diamonds forces the dummy to ruff. You now have four trumps to the
dummy’s three.
Declarer plays the king of trumps from dummy. If you win this
trick, or the next round of trumps, declarer will be able to ruff the next
diamond in dummy. His own four-card holding will be left intact and
he will make the contract. You must continue your good work by duck-
ing the first two rounds of trumps.
The trump suit now looks like this:
♠5
N
♠A9 W E ♠—
S
♠QJ
Declarer is now very unhappy. If he persists with trumps, forcing
out your ace, you will play yet another diamond and he will go two
down. As on the previous deal, the best he can do is to abandon trumps,
playing on his side suits. You will ruff a club with the nine and the con-
tract will go one down.
How do you know the right time to win your master trump? There
is an easy but important rule that covers all these situations:
When you are playing a forcing game, win the trick on
which the short hand plays its last trump.
In our example, dummy had ruffed once and had three trumps left.
It was therefore correct to take your ace on third round of trumps, and
not before.
Take the East cards on the next deal and aim to follow the same
style of defense. You are defending 4♥.

North-South Vul. ♠AQ83
Dealer East ♥AJ5
♦K7
♣KQ62
♠J7542 N ♠9
♥ 10 W E ♥K942
♦J52 S ♦ A Q 10 9 6 3
♣ 10 7 5 3 ♣J8
♠ K 10 6
♥Q8763
♦84
♣A94

1♦ pass
pass dbl pass 2♥
pass 4♥ all pass
Partner leads the ♦2 and you take the first two tricks. From part-
ner’s carding you know that he holds the remaining diamond. You are
going to make the king of trumps, but where will a fourth defensive
trick come from?
The only real chance is to promote your nine of trumps into the set-
ting trick, and the way to enhance your prospects of a second trump
trick is to persist with diamonds at Trick 3, giving declarer a ruff-and-
discard that is of no use to him. He will have to ruff in hand, or there
will be no trump left in dummy with which to finesse later against your
nine. He then leads a trump to the ten, jack and king. This will be the
trump position:
♥A5
N
♥— W E ♥942
S
♥Q87
You continue your attack on the trump suit with yet another dia-
mond. Declarer has no answer. If he ruffs in dummy, he cannot pick
up your ♥9. If he ruffs in hand, he will lose control.
What happens if, instead of continuing diamonds at Trick 3, you
exit in a black suit — with a spade, say? Declarer will win in hand and

play a trump to the ten, jack and king. When he regains the lead he will
cash the ace of trumps and take the marked finesse against your nine.
He will soon be claiming his contract.
When declarer holds a two-suiter and will have to establish the side
suit by ruffing it, his control of the hand is particularly vulnerable. On
the next deal a forcing game succeeds, even though trumps break 3-2.
Take the East cards and see what you make of it.
East-West Vul. ♠763

Dealer South ♥AQ963
♦ Q 10 8 5
♣2
♠94 ♠852
N
♥J85 W E
♥ K 10 7 2
♦K963 S ♦AJ74
♣ K 10 6 3 ♣Q7
♠ A K Q J 10
♥4
♦2
♣AJ9854

1♣
pass 1♥ pass 1♠
pass 1NT pass 3♠
pass 4♠ all pass
South’s trump holding may not look fragile, but appearances can be
deceptive. Your partner does well to lead the ♦3 and you win the first
trick with the jack. When declarer has shown a two-suited hand, it is
often a good policy to pursue a forcing defense.
You continue with a low diamond and declarer ruffs. He cashes the
♣A and ruffs a club in dummy, bringing down your queen. He returns
to hand with a trump and takes a second club ruff with dummy’s last
trump, the seven. You are in a position to overruff with the eight. Will
that be a good idea, do you think?
Overruffing may seem the natural thing to do — suppose that you
do overruff and force declarer with another diamond. Declarer ruffs,
draws the outstanding trumps with his penultimate trump, and concedes
a club trick to partner’s king. He can then claim the remainder of the
tricks and his contract.

Now see what happens if you refuse to overruff, sacrificing your
♠8. Declarer is stuck in dummy and will have to ruff a diamond to
return to his hand. Let’s suppose that he draws one more round of
trumps, then concedes a trick to the ♣K. A fourth round of diamonds,
ruffed by South, would lead to an endplay on East. After ruffing a club
winner, he would have to lead into dummy’s ♥AQ! To avoid this out-
come, West must switch to a heart when he takes his club trick. The
game is then one down.
Disrupting declarer’s ruffs

Never underestimate the value of the ace of trumps. By holding up the
card, you can adversely affect declarer’s timing — particularly on hands
where he needs to score some ruffs.
Give yourself the East hand here and see if you would have beaten
South’s contract of 4♥.
Neither Vul. ♠KJ
Dealer North ♥K874
♦J73
♣ A 10 8 5
♠ 10 9 5 3 2 ♠Q7
N
♥Q5 E
♥A62
W
♦ K 10 9 2 S ♦Q65
♣J7 ♣Q9432
♠A864
♥ J 10 9 3
♦A84
♣K6
1♣ pass 1♥
pass 2♥ pass 4♥
all pass
Your partner starts brightly with the ♦10, which wins the first trick.
He continues with a low diamond to the queen and ace. Declarer now
runs the ♥10 to you. Do you take the ace?
Let’s see what happens if you do. You can play a diamond to part-
ner’s king, but that will be the last trick for the defense. When declarer
regains the lead, he will play a second round of trumps, gratefully cap-
turing partner’s queen with dummy’s king. He will then play off his

winners in the black suits and claim the last four tricks on a high cross-
ruff.
Now wind the tape back to Trick 3 and suppose you allow declar-
er’s ten of trumps to hold — he will then have no winning option. Let’s
say he plays a second trump. You will win and play a third round. With
insufficient trumps left to ruff all his losers, declarer will doubtless fall
back on the losing spade finesse. Alternatively, he may abandon trumps
after one round and set about crossruffing his losers. This plan will also
fail. When he ruffs a club in hand, partner will overruff with the queen.
The same type of defense, holding up the trump ace, may succeed
even when you hold only ace doubleton. Unaware of this, declarer may
shy away from playing a second round and run into a ruff while follow-
ing an alternative line.
Key points
1. When you hold four trumps, or hope that partner does, consider a
‘forcing defense’. By leading your strongest side suit, you aim to
force declarer to ruff with his long trump holding
2. To pursue the attack on declarer’s trump length, it is often necessary
to hold up your ace of trumps until the trumps in declarer’s shorter
holding are exhausted. Otherwise declarer may be able to take the
force in the short-trump hand.
3 Even when not pursuing a forcing game, always consider holding up
with three or more trumps to the ace. You will then be able to pull
two more rounds of trumps if declarer continues the suit.

QUIZ
To Answers
A. ♠AJ2
♥ Q J 10 4
♦ 10 9 6
♣KJ2
N
♠95 W E
♥K952 S
♦AKJ74
♣63

1NT (15-17)
pass 2♣ pass 2♥
pass 4♥ all pass
You lead the ♦A against South’s heart game, drawing the two
and the three from the closed hands. How do you plan to beat
the contract?
B. ♠ Q 10 4
♥A53
♦ K Q 10 5
♣963
♠A853
N ♥J964
W E
♦8
S
♣ A 10 8 7

1♠
pass 3♠ pass 4♠
all pass
Your partner leads the ♣2 against South’s spade game. How do

you plan to beat the contract?

Answers
To Questions
A. Partner’s ♦2 suggests three cards in the suit. You should continue

with the ace and jack of diamonds, forcing South to ruff. Suppose
he crosses to dummy with a black suit and runs the queen of trumps
to you. If you win with the king, declarer can deal with a further dia-
mond force with his last small trump. The contract will succeed.
Instead, you should hold up the trump king. The contract cannot now
be made. If declarer continues with ace and another trump, you will
force dummy’s last trump with a diamond.
B. You should pursue a forcing defense, returning a club in the hope
that partner can win with the king and continue the suit. When
declarer ruffs and plays on trumps, you should hold off until the third
round. You will then be able to play a fourth round of clubs, setting
up a long trump for yourself. It is possible that partner holds the dia-
mond ace and can give you a diamond ruff, but there is no need to
play on diamonds at Trick 2. If the forcing defense fails, perhaps
because South has the ♣K instead of West, you can try for a diamond
ruff later.

1-894154-18-5
The Bridge Technique Series is designed to take the reader

through the most important aspects of card-play technique at
bridge. Each book of the series focuses on a different topic, and
wherever possible the tactics and strategy are considered from the
point of view of both declarer and defenders.
TRICKS WITH TRUMPS

This book covers the fundamental strategies available for develop-
ing extra tricks in the trump suit for both declarer and the
defense. Topics covered include dummy reversal, the trump coup
(and how to defend against it), the en passant play, trump promo-
tions and uppercuts on defense, the fight for trump control, and
unusual positions such as the smother play and the Devil’s Coup.
DAVID BIRD has authored more than forty previous books, including the
well-known ‘St Titus Abbey’ series and several co-authored with
Terence Reese. He writes two newspaper columns in the UK, and his
work appears regularly in numerous bridge magazines in the UK and
the US.
MARC SMITH’s previous books include Countdown to Winning

Bridge (1999, with Tim Bourke) and 25 Bridge Conventions You
Should Know (1999 American Bridge Teachers Association Book of
the Year, with Barbara Seagram). He is a regular contributor to a
number of bridge magazines.
MASTER POINT PRESS

BTS 02 TricksWithTrump

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

BTS 02 TricksWithTrump

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Master Point Press on the Internet

Our main site, with information about our books and

Our site for bridge teachers and students – free

Purchase downloadable electronic versions of MPP books.

Read and comment on regular articles from MPP authors

All rights reserved. It is illegal to reproduce any portion of this material

Master Point Press

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

Bird, David 1946-

1. Contract bridge - Dummy play. I. Smith, Marc, 1960-. II Title. III

GV1282.435.B574 2000 794.41’.53 C99-932381-4

Cover design and Interior: Olena S. Sullivan

Printed and bound in Canada

Chapter 2 The Trump Coup 13

Chapter 3 Other Coups in the Trump Suit 27

Chapter 5 Promoting Trump Tricks in Defense 37

Chapter 6 Taking Control of the Trump Suit 54

Chapter 1 - Reversing the Dummy • 5

6 • Tricks with Trumps

Both Vul. ♠A98

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

Chapter 1 - Reversing the Dummy • 7

East-West Vul. ♠KQ5

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

8 • Tricks with Trumps

Neither Vul. ♠742

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

Chapter 1 - Reversing the Dummy • 9

10 • Tricks with Trumps

Chapter 1 - Reversing the Dummy • 11

12 • Tricks with Trumps

The Trump Coup

Chapter 2 — The Trump Coup • 13

Neither Vul. ♠AKQ

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

14 • Tricks with Trumps

Chapter 2 — The Trump Coup • 15

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

16 • Tricks with Trumps

Chapter 2 — The Trump Coup • 17

East-West Vul. ♠A974

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

18 • Tricks with Trumps

You arrive in 6♠ and West leads the king of diamonds. Insulting

Chapter 2 — The Trump Coup • 19

The coup en passant

North-South Vul. ♠K853

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

20 • Tricks with Trumps

The trump endplay

Chapter 2 — The Trump Coup • 21

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

22 • Tricks with Trumps

Both Vul. ♠AK84

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

Partner’s 4NT is Roman Key Card Blackwood, your 5♣ response

Chapter 2 — The Trump Coup • 23

24 • Tricks with Trumps

Chapter 2 — The Trump Coup • 25

26 • Tricks with Trumps

Other Coups in the

The smother play

Chapter 3 — Other Coups in the Trump Suit • 27