DEALING WITH BAD TRUMP BREAKS [PART 3]
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Designating a trump suit benefits declarer provided he retains control. A bad trump break can rapidly turn the tables. The defense tries to shorten the hand with the long trumps by forcing it to ruff repeatedly. To combat being shortened, declarer has several levers at his disposal, generally using the trumps of the short hand as “security guards”. Example:
| W | N | E | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♥ | |||
| Pass | 1NT | Pass | 3♥ |
| Pass | 4♥ |
Lead: ♠7.
With nine top tricks, you need to set up a Club trick to make your contract. To do so, you will need to lose the lead three times, giving the defense the opportunity to play three more rounds of Spades to shorten your trumps. In case of a 4-1 trump break, you will lose trump control and go down… Preserve dummy’s trumps to protect from this shortening and do not draw trumps until later. Instead, immediately play a Club and continue with another one after ruffing a possible Spade return. When you play a third Club, you will only have four trumps left in your hand but this time, you will be able to ruff in dummy if the defense can insist with another Spade. Saved!
PRACTICE KEEPING TRUMP CONTROL WITH THESE NEXT TWO EXAMPLES:
| W | N | E | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass | 1♠ | ||
| Pass | 1NT | Pass | 3♣ |
| Pass | 3♦ | Pass | 3♠ |
| Pass | 4♠ |
Lead: ♥Q. East wins the Ace and plays back a Heart.
Fearing a Club switch, you are forced to ruff the Heart continuation and are now threatened by a 4-2 trump split. Cashing three trump tricks would condemn you, since conceding the last trump would allow the defense to cash their Heart tricks and leaving one trump out would allow the defense to ruff the third (or fourth) round of Diamonds, thus cutting you off from dummy’s Diamond tricks. If you need to lose a trump trick, best to lose it right away by ducking a round of Spades. Dummy’s second trump will serve as security guard and allow you to ruff a possible Heart return in the short hand, thus avoid shortening.
| W | N | E | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♠ | |||
| Pass | 2♠ | Pass | 4♠ |
Lead: ♥Q. If you call for the King from dummy, East will cover with the Ace.
If you ruff straight away and the trumps are 4-1, one of the defenders will now have the same number of trumps as you. All he then has to do is wait until the third round of trumps, when dummy’s last trump is played, to kill you by taking the Ace and playing a Heart. Instead, discard your two losing Clubs on the first two rounds of Hearts! Dummy will step up for you and ruff the third round of Hearts, thus allowing you to keep all five trumps in your hand.
