|
Trump Promotion
Sometimes the defense does not have a natural trump trick but can generate one by a trump promotion or an upper-cut ... the examples will explain everything!
Related Play Problems Play Problem 29
Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games
3♦ is not a success, unless the defense errs grievously. East will lead the K♥, and should shift smartly to a low trump, ducked by West. Why the duck? West cannot be sure that Declarer does not have the A♣, it would be most unfortunate if Declarer won the second round of trumps and claimed 11 minor suit winners, pitching major suit losers on the run of the Clubs. So, Declarer wins the first Diamond and knocks out the A♣, but the defense is in control, drawing Dummy’s other trump and cashing its remaining three Heart winners. Down two.
It turns out that the 6-1 Club fit plays better, and when West makes the natural enough Spade lead, it even makes. In fact, the only way to beat 3♣ is an upper-cut. Let’s say that West somehow stumbles upon the lead of the A♥, followed by a Heart to East’s hand. Now, East must lead a Diamond, ducked by West. Then, a Club to the King, and the Q♣ to East’s Ace. Next is a Diamond to West’s Ace and a Diamond back … East ruffs with his Ten, hitting Declarer with an upper-cut that establishes West’s Nine. Very nice defense!
Accurate defense beats 3♥ by two tricks: Club opening lead is won by West Diamond to East’s Queen A♦ is cashed Diamond ruff A Club is cashed. Now, on the third round of Clubs, Dummy is forced to ruff, and that promotes the 6th defensive trick when East’s Heart holding wins the third round of trumps. Pretty good defense, we’d expect down one to be a more likely result.
Against 2♥, South leads a Diamond, and with careful defense N-S can beat 2♥ one trick: South leads a Diamond to North’s Ace Three rounds of Spades are cashed A Diamond is won on the board A Heart to Declarer’s King A Club to Dummy’s King North wins her Heart Ace Now North leads another Diamond, promoting South’s J♥ for the setting trick.
On opening lead, East can safely deduce that Dummy will have Diamond shortness, and, that being the case, a trump lead stands out. The Q♠ is played from Dummy, covered by the King and Ace. Now the A♦ and a Diamond ruff and it looks as if Declarer can escape with 7 tricks via 5 Spades in her hand, plus the A♦ and a Diamond ruff. But not so! Declarer has no way to get back to her hand and draw trumps and if the defense times things correctly there will be a trump promotion in the end-game. The defense will wind up scoring two tricks in each side-suit, plus that promoted trump, for a juicy +300 and a well-earned top board. The precise sequence of plays is: Spade to the Queen, King, Ace A♦ and ruff a Diamond Heart to East’s Jack The A♥ is unblocked Q♣ covered by the King and Ace Club to the Jack K♦ and Q♦ are cashed Declarer’s hand has been picked clean of side-suit cards and the defense has arranged to have the lead with West at the crucial Trick Ten. West leads a Heart and Declarer is done for. If she ruffs high then East’s 8♠ is promoted, and if she ruffs low then East can overruff. Nicely done, E-W!
East’s 3♠ had the desired effect of creating complications for N-S. North’s Double simply said “Do something”, and at any other vulnerability South would probably have passed. But, being Red vs White, she went in search of the game, and the partnership ends up in the rather poor contract of 5♣. At first glance it might appear that 5♣ will be a lucky make. The Clubs are breaking, the Diamonds turn out to be worth 4 tricks, and the only losers are the AK♠. Not so fast! After the two Spades are cashed, the defense has a surprising resource. East leads a third round of Spades, allowing West to deliver an upper-cut with the 9♣, thereby promoting a trick for East’s JT3. Nice defense!
On this board N-S let themselves get bounced into 3♠ by the West Weak Two and East’s preemptive bump to 3♥. This turns out to be particularly unfortunate for them as with perfect defense nobody can make more than 7 tricks in anything! North’s Double was fine, and South’s 3♠ was not terrible, but the end-result was down two for N-S when it could be E-W going down two. A triumph for preempting, we would say.
Actually, although Deep Finesse says that both 3♥ and 3♠ can go down two tricks, they are both quite likely to go down just one: - The defense against 3♥ has 5 obvious tricks (3 Spades, a heart and the A♦). Do you see where the 6th comes from? Yes, it requires a trump promotion, but the defense must play with great accuracy to achieve this … North cashes the A♠, K♠, A♦, then a Spade to South’s Queen, setting the scene for the play of the 13th Spade for the trump promotion. This is a very tough defense to find, surely most Declarers will escape with 8 tricks in their Heart contract. - The defense against 3♠ must get a Club ruff if they are to beat the contract by two tricks, and we’d also rate that as unlikely.
© BES, Inc All Rights Reserved | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home ThisWeeksHands PlayArchives BiddingArchives Conventions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
