Popular Delusion

You frequently hear a few of the poorer club players saying "We were trump bound" or "We had too many trumps". Like any popular delusion there is a measure of truth in the concept.

For example, it is certainly true that sometimes when trumps break badly declarer needs reduce his/her trumps by ruffing to the same number as the opponents holding to bring off a trump coup of some kind.

But a hand outlined to me recently by one of my bridge partners is a version of too many trumps that I had not seen before. I might not have remembered the exact cards, but the key features are present - hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

You are South playing the following hand in 4, East having opened 1:

The diamond lead was won by the Ace and a diamond discarded on a top spade.

The winning play is to ruff a spade at this stage - but I could not see the value, at first, of this play.

Two clubs need to be lost before drawing trumps to ensure a club can be ruffed in dummy. On each lost club East pushes diamonds through, forcing declarer to ruff high on each occasion. South can no longer enter his/her hand to draw Wests 9 of trumps without promoting the 9 to winning status.

The solution which evaded me is that by ruffing the third spade after cashing the Ace and King ensures that entering the South hand is no longer required: West is forced to under-ruff!

If like me you could not see it at first - try it with actual cards.

Enjoy your bridge.
R. Wells Simple Tips with Big Impact

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