Managing trumps in defence

Press, 26 August 1986, Page 14

Managing trumps in defence

CONTRACT BRIDGE

J.R. Wignall

When defending againsi a suit contract there is a natural tendency to lead a short suit in the hope ol being able to score a few ruffs. But this is not always the right defence, particularly from a hand which is long in trumps. Then it usually pays to attack in one’s longest suit, make the declarer ruff and thus obtain trump control. With both sides vulnerable, North dealt this hand:

South played in two hearts, not perhaps the ideal spot, but a reasonable one. Resisting the temptation to lead his singleton club, West began the defence with a diamond to the queen and king. When the declarer led a spade towards dummy. West took his ace to continue the attack in diamonds.

After winning in hand South crossed to the king of spades, then tried a heart from dummy to the five, nine and 10. A third round of diamonds was ruffed by East’s queen of hearts and then the queen of spades was played. When the declarer ruffed, West, declining to overruff, discarded his club.

South continued with the king of hearts but West won with the ace to produce a fourth diamond. Now the declarer could win and cash two high hearts but this left West with the last trump and a winning diamond, so South never made the ace of clubs and finished one down. Sometimes, however, it can be a mistake to force the declarer to ruff. West was punished for a lazy defence in this hand dealt by North with only EastWest vulnerable:

All Pass West started the defence with four rounds of clubs, South ruffing the fourth with the 10 of hearts. He crossed to dummy with a diamond to

the queen, and led the nine of hearts, following suit with the four when East played the two. Next came the eight of hearts to the five and seven, and when West discarded it seemed that the declarer had an inescapable trump loser. But things are not always what they seem. South continued by cashing the king and queen of diamonds, discarding a low spade and a spectacular ace of spades, to leave this position with the lead in dummy:

Now North’s last diamond was ruffed with the jack of hearts, dummy was re-entered via the king of spades, and a low spade from the table ensured that South made both his ace and queen of hearts. Though the hand was certainly very well played, West had helped considerably by leading a fourth round of clubs which allowed South to reduce his length in trumps. Had the defence switched to a spade or diamond at the fourth trick, the declarer would have lacked the entries to ruff twice and would have had to concede a trick to East’s wellguarded king of hearts.