Trump En Passant

 

Imagine a two-card ending.  There are three trumps still at large.  Declarer has the bare King left, and his RHO has the Ace and Queen.  If the lead is in Declarer's hand he cannot take another trick.  But, if the lead is in Dummy, and a suit in which Declarer has no cards can be led, then the King scores a trick en passant.

 

Related Play Problems           Play Problem 100

 

 

Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games

 

 

6	♠ J96 ♥ QT54 ♦ 3 ♣ KQ976	From 28th March, 2007
♠ KQT85 ♥ 2 ♦ Q854 ♣ AT2	North West             East           South	♠ A7 ♥ A763 ♦ AJ762 ♣ J3	Dlr     East  Vul     E-W
© BES, Inc  All Rights Reserved	♠ 432 ♥ KJ98 ♦ KT9 ♣ 854	West    North   East     South                         1♦        Pass 1♠        Pass    1NT     Pass 2♣        Dbl     Rdbl    Pass Pass     Pass

 

The moral of the following story is “Beware of low-level lead-directing Doubles”, here’s what might happen.  Suppose that North throws in a Double of that artificial 2♣, and E-W (somewhat improbably, perhaps through a misunderstanding) decide to tough it out in 2♣ redoubled.  No doubt this decision will have been based on their good controls, their ruffing values, and an eagerness to get their names into the newspapers.  North leads a Heart won by Dummy’s Ace … now ruff a Heart, cross to the A♦, ruff a Heart, cross to the A♠, ruff another Heart, cash K♠ and Q♠.  Now North is down to 5 trumps and nothing else, with the KQ976 sitting in front of the J3.  Declarer leads another Spade, and Dummy’s Jack scores a trick en passant.  That’s 9 tricks and +1160 for E-W!

 

 

8	♠ A92 ♥ T98643 ♦ AJT3 ♣	From 1st August, 2007
♠ QT6 ♥ AQ52 ♦ Q87 ♣ QT9	North West             East           South	♠ J7543 ♥ KJ7 ♦ K ♣ K754	Dlr     West Vul     None
© BES, Inc  All Rights Reserved	♠ K8 ♥ ♦ 96542 ♣ AJ8632	West    North   East     South Pass    Pass    1♠        2NT 3♦        5♦        Dbl      Pass Pass    Pass

 

Of course, with E-W having a substantial majority of the points, and control of Dummy’s second suit, a trump lead is usually called for, even if it is the singleton King.  Does a lead of the K♦ beat the contract?  Actually, no!  Declarer wins the Ace, ruffs a Heart, cashes the Spades and ruffs a Spade.  Now, it’s Club ruff, Heart ruff, Club ruff, Heart ruff.  At this point, Declarer has scored 10 tricks, and scores her last trump en passant when she leads a Club from the Dummy.  West, with Q8, under Declarer’s singleton Jack, is helpless.

 

 

24	♠ Q ♥ Q865 ♦ KT3 ♣ AKJ73	5th March, 2008
♠ AKJ3 ♥ K93 ♦ A9 ♣ QT92	North West             East           South	♠ 76542 ♥ T74 ♦ 87 ♣ 865	Dlr     West Vul     None
© BES, Inc  All Rights Reserved	♠ T98 ♥ AJ2 ♦ QJ6542 ♣ 4	West    North   East     South 1NT     2♣       Pass    2♦ Pass    2♥        Pass    Pass Pass

 

Playing in 2♥, North has plenty of tricks, provided that she can maintain trump control.  The best defense is to weaken Declarer’s trumps by repeated Spade leads, but that allows Declarer to scramble 9 tricks in exotic fashion:

            Spade to West’s King

            Spade ruffed by Declarer

            Low Diamond (not the King!) to the Queen and West’s Ace (ducking won’t help)

            Spade ruffed by Declarer

            Diamond to the Jack

            Club finesse

            A♣ and K♣ are cashed

            Another Club, East ruffing with the Ten (nice try!), overruffed by Dummy

This takes us to a delightful 4-card ending:

                        Declarer

                        ♠

                        ♥ Q8

                        ♦ K

                        ♣ 7

West                                        East

♠ 3                                           ♠ 76

♥ K93                                      ♥ 74

♦                                              ♦

♣                                             ♣

                        Dummy

                        ♠

                        ♥ A2

                        ♦ 65

                        ♣

Declarer has 7 tricks and must score two more.  When Dummy leads a Diamond, West cannot ruff without conceding a trick to the Q♥, so he pitches a Spade.  East ruffs and does best to return a trump.  But to no avail, Dummy’s Ace wins that trick, and now another Diamond allows Declarer to score her Q♥ en passant!

 

 

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