From                 23rd August, 2006, Board 9

                                          Theme               Trump Control

                                          Difficulty           * * *

                                          Dlr West           N-S Vul
 

West leads a low Club, East wins the Ace and continues with a low Club.

If trumps are 3-3, you can make no fewer than 10 tricks by drawing trumps and establishing the Diamonds.  However, that pleasant state of affairs only occurs about 36% of the time.  The other 64% of the time, they will keep leading Clubs at every opportunity, forcing you to ruff in your hand, and you will lose control, running out of trumps and being unable to enjoy the Diamonds.  In this case, you'll score just 7 or 8 tricks (depending on whether the J♠ comes down).

SOLUTION

As so often happens when trump control is an issue, best  play is to establish side-suit winners before drawing trumps.  So, ruff the second round of Clubs, lose a Diamond, ruff another Club, and lose a Diamond.  Now, things are different, because we still have a trump on the board to look after the Club force.

	♠ 5 ♥ AK753 ♦ QJ76 ♣ JT8
♠ J9 ♥ Q84 ♦ K83 ♣ K9432	North    West          East            South	♠ 8432 ♥ T92 ♦ A5 ♣ AQ75
	♠ AKQT76 ♥ J6 ♦ T942 ♣ 6

The defense may be able to organize a Diamond ruff, followed by a 4th round of trumps, in which case the contract will require 3-3 trumps or 4-2 with the enemy Diamond ruff taking place in the long hand.

Key to Success

   - Establishing the side-suit while there is still a trump in Dummy to handle the force.