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Fri   Play…for those new to the game.

The Exception to the Rule.

We are told it is usually a very good idea to draw the opposition’s trumps as soon as possible so that they cannot use them for winning tricks. Yet, that approach did not work out on today’s deal. Let’s have a look:

 

 

Even though by bidding 2, their partner showed a minimum hand, probably with 6 hearts, North did well to invite game with their raise to 3. South accepted the invitation hoping the Q might be a useful card.

West leads J. You win A. Which card do you play at trick 2 and why?

All would have been well for South had West led the A or had all the defence’s trumps had fallen in two rounds. However, neither of these eventuated and at the end of the play, South had to write down -100 as the contract failed by one trick. These were the 4 hands:

 

 

What happened?

South won the A (If they played low and East played the king, there would still be 2 clubs and A to lose) correctly and drew trumps with West having 3 hearts. Next came a diamond towards the king taken by West’s ace. The defence soon took their 2 club tricks and South later found that the 4 was a fourth loser..down 1.

The way to play.

Could South have done better? The answer is yes if they had remembered the end of the saying “Draw the opposition’s trumps as soon as you can unless you have a special use for dummy’s trumps.” That “special use” here may be to ruff a diamond. So, at trick 2, declarer should play one of dummy’s small diamonds putting tp the king. All would be well if East had A but when it was with West, they had to ruff their little diamond in dummy.

So, when West wins A, they will continue with T which South ruffs. They then play Q and then ruff the 4 in dummy. Only then can they draw trumps and eventually make 10 tricks after losing the top two clubs. 

So, it’s a great idea to draw trumps  

 

Richard Solomon

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