By Val Rhead
Most Bridge players are familiar with the expression, “when in doubt, lead trump.” This is blatantly untrue. You do not lead trump when you are in doubt. You lead trump, as a passive lead, for a specific reason. You lead trump when you want to reduce declarer’s ruffing power – his opportunity to get rid of losers. For today’s column, you are on opening lead against a suit contract.
After the contract is set and the lead is made, the dummy is tabled. At this point, it is obvious that if dummy has some trump, and is short in one of the other suits, you must lead trump at the next opportunity. You don’t want declarer to make extra tricks with dummy’s trump by ruffing your good cards. But it is better if you can diagnose situations like these before you make that opening lead. Then you can make trump your opening lead.
How do you recognize this? It isn’t always easy. You must listen carefully to the bidding. You are looking for situations in which the declarer’s hands have short suits that will present ruffing opportunities. If the declarer can ruff on the short side he can make extra trump tricks. The short side is the hand on the declarer’s side that has the fewest trump, usually the hand in the dummy. A possible exception could occur when a transfer bid has been made and the hand with the fewest trumps is that of the declarer.
Here are some bidding patterns that suggest a trump lead will be useful. If the opponents have each bid separate suits and end up playing in a third suit, lead trump. Because they didn’t support each other’s suits, they are likely short in them and declarer may be able to perform a cross-ruff which can lead to the destruction of a lot of your good cards.
If declarer has first bid a major suit followed by a minor suit and his partner passes the second bid, this implies shortness in the major suits. Lead trump.
If the declarer side uses a two-suited convention such as Michaels or the unusual 2NT, there may be short suits in one or both of declarer’s hands. Lead trump.
Any time your partner converts your take-out double to a penalty double indicating he has a lot of the declarer’s trump, lead trump.
Another situation in which it is advantageous to lead trump is if your partnership has lots of points and the declarer is clearly sacrificing. They will be attempting to maximize the number of trump tricks they can make. So lead trump and continue to lead trump at every opportunity to reduce the number of trump in the declarer’s hands. It also helps if you have more trump in your hand than does your partner. You then can catch two of their trump for each one of yours.
As you can see, defensive manoeuvres involving cutting down your opponent’s ruffing ability can be tricky. But they also can be rewarding. Just don’t get into the habit of leading trump whenever you don’t know what else to do. Think it through. In most passive situations, you do not want to lead, nor lead from, your Aces and Kings. But in these passive situations, if you have the Ace-King of trump, lead them. If you have the Ace-small of trump, lead the Ace and then the small trump. If you have King-small of trump, lead the King. If you have the King and two small trump, lead a small trump. Then keep leading trump at every opportunity. Next week we move on to the active defense.
If you wish to promote an activity in your bridge group or ask a bridge question, send the information to [email protected] and I will include it in this column.
HUNTSVILLE DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB
Please NOTE new time 7pm: Games are now on EVENING PLAY for the Summer, Tuesday 7:00pm Trinity United Church 33 Main Street. Please arrive 15 minutes before game time. For partners and information call Liz Graham (705) 789-7187
The following winners are for Tuesday, May 29 with 16 pairs playing a Mitchell movement. North-South 1. Liz Barnes and Bev Howard; 2. Betty Fagin and Brian Brocklehurst; 3/4. Val Rhead and Gail Lederer; 3/4. Mary Hogarth and Albert Eatock; East-West 1. Susan Marshall and Jan Roberts; 2. Vern Foell and Rod Dixon; 3. Julianne Guselle and Jim Smith; 4. Liz Graham and Dorothy Russell
MUSKOKA DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB (Bracebridge)
Games for the Bracebridge Club are Mondays 7pm, Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Taylor Road. Please arrive 15 minutes before game time. For information or partnerships, call Brian at 705-645-5340 [email protected]
Our summer party will be held on Monday, June 4 at the South Muskoka Golf Club. 5.00 p.m. for 5.30 p.m. Prime rib buffet. The game will be back at the usual venue Knox Church at 7:00PM, hopefully not delayed.
The following winners are from Monday, May 28 with 17 pairs playing a Mitchell movement. North-South 1. Fay MacDonald and Yvonne Cox; 2. Betty Rintoul and Hazel Bowes; 3. Lyn Walisser and Bev Howard; 4. Mary Luke and Donna McIntosh; 5. Betty Fagin and Brian Brocklehurst; East-West 1. Liz Barnes and David Bryce; 2. Gerry Flaherty and Ralph Hair; 3. Art Insley and Don Evans; 4. Frank Vagnoni and Gerry Lawrence; 5. Ann Cassie and Bruce Cassie
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