August 2018 - 48

Newer Players

Startup Bridge
BY LYNN BERG

lberg@cfl.rr.com

Planning the play: When do I draw trump
When you read an outline of how to
play a hand in a trump contract, it will
say "Count your losers and look for
ways to eliminate losers." But what are
the ways? How does having a trump
suit complicate the decision process?
Even if the dummy has a singleton
in the suit led, don't call the play until
you've made your plan.
You should always evaluate your
hand in relation to dummy's hand. Decide which is the master hand whose
losers you're going to count. It won't
always be declarer's hand. What if you
have opened 1NT and are now playing
4♥ with this dummy:
♠2 ♥K J 9 7 4 2 ♦A Q 8 4 3 ♣9
Your hand:
♠Q 9 8 ♥A 10 6 ♦K 2 ♣A Q J 10 7
Clearly dummy's shapely hand has
fewer losers and should be the master
hand.
You might eliminate losers by
discarding on a long suit, by taking a
finesse, or by ruffing.
The opening lead is the ♠A. Seeing
the dummy, he shifts to the ♦10. How
do you play the hand?
Dummy has only one spade loser,
three diamond losers (one covered
by the ♦K), and no club loser since
you have the ♣A. You might have a
heart loser. If hearts break 2-2, you'll
still have a heart in your hand to ruff
a losing diamond. But if hearts are
3-1 - which is more likely than 2-2
- you won't be able to ruff that likely

48 Bridge Bulletin August 2018

diamond loser if you've drawn all the
trump.
Win the ♦K and play the two high
hearts. If the queen doesn't drop,
now play a second and third round of
diamonds: Play the ♦A, and now ruff a
low diamond in your hand. If it's overruffed, the opponent will be using the
queen, which you were going to lose
anyway. You'll end up making 11 tricks,
losing only a spade and the ♥Q.
Notice that there's nothing in the
plan about ruffing clubs. You have no
club losers in dummy's hand. If you've
chosen a master hand and made a plan,
you won't worry about the clubs. Ruffing a club gets you no extra tricks, but
ruffing a diamond is very helpful.
An old friend of mine said your
hand is like a car needing parts - and
partner's hand is the junkyard. As you
count the losers, look to the opposite
hand for ways to eliminate losers -
especially if you have too many to make
your contract. Overtricks are always
nice, but your first responsibility is to
make your bid.
Sometimes there's something you
have to do before drawing trump. You
are missing the trump ace, and if you
lead trump they can get in and cash
other winners.
♠8 4 3 ♥J 10 5 4 ♦Q 6 5 ♣A K Q
♠A 9 7 ♥K Q 8 6 2 ♦A 9 3 2 ♣7
Playing 4♥, you win the opening
lead of the ♠K. If you now lead hearts,
they can win the ace and cash two
more spade winners. But if you play

clubs first, you can discard your two
spade losers before you draw trump.
One reason some players wrongly
avoid drawing trump is that they have
losers - and no one really likes losing
tricks. What if you've opened 1♠ with
♠Q J 10 7 2, and partner has put you
in game with his ♠6 5 4 3? Clearly,
you have two spade losers if there's no
defensive error, but that's no reason to
delay drawing trump. Always ask yourself the question, "Is there anything
I need to do before I draw trump?" If
there's no bridge reason based on your
count of losers and plan to rid yourself
of losers, then you should bite the bullet and do it. A hideous consequence
of failing to draw trump can be that
they not only cash the ♠A K, to which
they're entitled, but also get to use the
♠9 8 separately by ruffing your winners in another suit. Ugh.
There are also hands where you don't
want to pull trump at all, but rather to
use your trumps separately. Consider a
very distributional hand in 4♠:
♠Q 8 5 3 ♥A 9 6 4 3 ♦7 ♣A K 6
♠A 10 9 4 ♥2 ♦A K J 4 2 ♣Q 7 4
If you play on trump, especially if
they break 4-1, you'll have a tough time
with this hand. After a heart lead, cash
your minor-suit winners and then start
a crossruff, ruffing diamonds on the
board and hearts in your hand. If you
can sneak in a few low ruffs, you'll then
be ruffing high, so only the ♠K or ♠J
is high enough to overruff.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2018
