18 English Bridge February 2016 www.ebu.co.uk

(playing off the ™A-K and another) or to duck

an early trump. Now a further spade lead would

leave declarer with insufficient trumps to control

the hand. The full deal was:

This type of play, leaving the opponents with a

winning trump or two and attacking a side suit, is a

common one. Here, in a modest contract of 2´,

declarer succeeds by ignoring the siren call

for overtricks.

MY PREVIOUS two articles stressed the need to

make a sound plan at the outset of a hand. This one

carries on the theme but focuses on how you need

to keep control of the trump suit.

We'll start with a straightforward example of

drawing the right number of trumps:

Now the formula is always the same - Count - Plan

- Execute. Count your winners and losers and make

a plan before you start to play.

East-West (who have competed to 3´) lead two

rounds of spades against 4™ and you ruff the

second spade. Now, counting winners and losers

you can see three of the latter immediately, a spade,

a club and a trump. If trumps are 4-1 then you have

two trump losers and 4™ is doomed. Rather than

take a fatalistic approach you assume trumps are

going to split 3-2. What do you do?

Well, almost all players would get this right,

probably without really thinking it through. The

right play is to cash the ™A K and then, leaving the

master trump at large, set up the side-suit by

leading clubs. The defenders can take the ®A and

the boss trump at their pleasure but can take no

more than their three obvious winners. The fatal

mistake would be to drive out the winning trump

Hand 1. Contract 4™ by South. Lead ´4

´ J 10 8

™ 9 4 3

t A K 2

® 9 8 6 4

´ Q 6 4 ´ A K 7 5 3 2

™ 10 8 ™ Q J 6

t 10 9 6 4 3 t Q J 7

® A 5 3 ® 2

´ 9

™ A K 7 5 2

t 8 5

® K Q J 10 7

Hand 1

Contract 4™ by South

Lead ´4

´ J 10 8

™ 9 4 3

t A K 2

® 9 8 6 4

´ 9

™ A K 7 5 2

t 8 5

® K Q J 10 7

N

W E

S

Hand 3. Contract 2´ by South. Lead t10

´ Q 7

™ J 9 4

t A Q 3

® A 9 6 4 2

´ J 4 ´ A 10 9 6

™ A Q 7 ™ K 10 8 5 2

t 10 9 8 4 t 6

® K J 8 7 ® Q 10 3

´ K 8 5 3 2

™ 6 3

t K J 7 5 2

® 5N

W E

S

N

W E

S

Controlling the trumps by Paul Bowyer

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