Don’t Trump… Dump

Occasionally, the opponents lead a suit which you can easily trump in your hand, but if you do, one of two problems may occur. Either one opponent will overtrump you (and trumping high may only create another problem later when you need the high trump for pulling trump), or you don’t have enough trump to trump and still pull out all of their trump. The solution may be to dump a loser, instead of trumping - a.k.a. a loser on a loser play.


                                 (Dummy)
                                 ♠ 10 8 2
                                 ♥  A Q 10
                                 ♦ J 9 5 4
                                 ♣ A Q 10

               ♠ A K 4 3                      ♠ Q J 9 7 6 
               ♥  9 7 4 3                      ♥ 5 2
               ♦ 8 7 2                          ♦ K Q 10
               ♣ 7 2                             ♣ 8 6 4
                                (Declarer)
                                ♠ 5
                                ♥  K J 8 6
                                ♦ A 6 3
                                ♣ K J 9 5 3


The contract is 4♥. (It’s better than 5♣ and 3NT is out with those spades.) Opening lead is the ♠A. 
West rattles off the two top spades. Should South trump the second spade? Well, let’s analyze:

South lost one spade and will lose two diamonds. The clubs are good if South can pull out all their trumps. South cannot pull all trumps if he trumps the spade. So, since he has to lose two diamonds, he dumps a diamond on the second spade lead. But West is not put off - he leads a third spade. Now what?

Yup, South dumps his second diamond loser. And now notice the dummy has run out of spades. If East wants to lead a fourth spade, the dummy can take over the trumping job. Remember, dummy (the short hand) loves to trump. But trumping in declarer’s hand (the long hand) shortens the trumps fatally. 

So, while East and West were collecting spade tricks, South was dumping diamond losers and did not lose control of the hand. Trumping in your hand gives you heartburn!

Don’t trump… dump!

©2013 Roberta Salob