by Bernard Magee
This is a summary of the Streaming DVD available at bernardmageebridge.com which is all about declarer play in trump contracts: starting off with the usual message that we like to draw trumps as soon as possible, but then refuting this throughout the rest of the seminar.
When there is just one trump left out and it is the master, should you draw it or not?
Generally you would leave it out, rather than possibly using two of your trumps to draw it, but there are times when it is right to knock it out:
Hand Example:
West leads the ♥️A-K-Q. You ruff the third round and cash the ♠️A-K, West discarding on the second round. East has the ♠️Q left in his hand, should you ignore it or draw it?
This hand exhibits the most common time when you should draw the outstanding trump: when you have a solid side suit.
It looks odd to waste a trump from both hands, but you are making sure of four diamond tricks by doing so and can then safely discard your losing club.
If you leave the ♠️Q outstanding, then East could ruff the third round of diamonds and you will not be able to reach your last diamond winner.
The DVD then deals with all sorts of reasons not to draw trumps and whether you should ruff high or low. The second half of the DVD deals with bad breaks (and also small trump fits). Most of the time you will not know you are going to get a bad break, although your opponents’ body language can give it away. However, if you get doubled or the auction places one player with trump length, you should plan accordingly.
Another Hand Example:
4♥️by South. Lead: ♣️Q.
It might look as though you have had a bidding misunderstanding, but playing duplicate pairs, if you can make 4♥️you will score more points than making 5♦️. However, making 5♦️is a lot more straightforward than making 4♥️.
With only seven trumps, you need to be careful to keep trump control: six cards are more likely to divide 4-2 than 3-3, so you should try to cope with a 4-2 break.
With the same length as one of your opponents, you still have trump control because you have the top trumps, but if you play off the top trumps you will lose control. The way to keep control is to duck a trump early. Win the ♣️A and play a small trump from both hands. The defence can take two spade tricks, but that is it. When you regain the lead you can draw the rest of the trumps and take your diamonds. 4♥️making scores 420 points for a great score when most were making just 400 for 5♦️.
Had trumps broken 3-3 you could have made at least 12 tricks but you are happy enough with ten because of the excellence of the contract. An early duck is a clever tactic to keep control of trumps.
The seminar finishes with the slightly more advanced techniques required for a trump coup.
Managing the trump suit is such an important aspect of declarer play – if you handle your trumps well, you wield a mighty power.
