Pseudocontrol Larry Hammick larry@hammick.com 2002.02.28 Contents ;Introduction ;Control of ruffer count ;Control of a enemy long cards by the short trump hand ;Control of enemy high cards: waiting moves in "ruff-or-sluff" deals ;Introduction The ace of trumps, or the highest outstanding trump, may be more than a sure trick. If it has a small trump with it, then whichever side holds it gets the last word on how many rounds of trumps can be pulled. This can be decisive whether the small trumps are wanted as ruffing tricks, or only as controls against enemy long cards or high cards. This special power of a master trump, which we call pseudocontrol, has previously been confused with _trump control_, which is not at all the same thing. For more information on trump control, see www.hammick.com/hcs/mcontrol.txt and www.hammick.com/hcs/t_cntrl.txt. Except as indicated, spades are trumps in all the diagrams. The topmost suit in each diagram is spades, the next hearts, and so on. When we speak of "dummy", we mean the hand in which declarer is shorter in trumps. ;Control of ruffer count Declarer often wants to pull a specific number of trump rounds before setting about developing his tricks. Axx Axx xx xx KJTxx QJTxx Axx Axx Suppose declarer can afford a trump loser provided that he gets a heart ruff. At left, he can play off SA or SK, but not both, and then concede a heart. If he pulls two trump rounds (releasing pseudocontrol) the defender with three trumps could win the heart and pull a third round -- "two for one". At right, missing the trump K, he cannot take even one trump round before conceding his heart loser. To avoid too many or too few trump pulls, declarer may need to hold up a control in the side suit as well as in the trump suit. Tx xx J xxx Jx KQTxxx AKQxxxx Axx Declarer can probably ruff a heart, but would like to pull one trump first, in case an opponent has a doubleton heart and the singleton SJ, as shown. If he starts with SA, East will take declarer's heart loser and lead another trump. If he starts with HAx, East will overtake and lead a third heart, giving West his trump J. Declarer should start with a _low_ heart. Only then can he pull one and only one trump before ruffing a heart. The other side of the coin: Jxx xx Axx xx Q KJT9xx KQT9x Axxx Dummy will provide a discard for one heart but declarer needs to ruff another. Unless HA is his only entry to hand, he should just play ace and another heart. If he leads out the loser first, East overtakes and shovels the J through declarer's ace. The duck is pointless because the defence cannot remove all three of dummy's trumps. Below are a few synthetic positions to illustrate this matter of holding up the side control when you want to pull a specific number of trumps. Spades are the trump suit as usual, and declarer wants to ruff a heart. The distribution that gives him an extra chance is shown in the West hand, but could equally be in the East hand. xxx xx xx Declarer may pull one high trump but must _duck_ a xx heart next. AKxxx Axx =============== xxx xx xx Declarer may cash one _heart_ but must duck a _trump_ xx next. Axxxx AKx =============== xxx xxx Declarer may pull one high trump but must _duck_ a xx heart next. With three of the side suit in dummy, he xx cannot cash a winner there first. AKxxx AKxx =============== xxx xxx No ducking is needed. Declarer pulls just two trump xxx rounds and tries HAKQ. This gains if the distribution Jxxx(xx) is as shown, and never costs (assuming that there is AKQxx nothing at stake in the hand except the heart ruff). AKQx A little known defensive manoeuvre uses the second- plus the third- highest missing trumps to acquire pseudocontrol. xxx xxx Kx Kx Qxx KT Qxx K9 QJTxxx xx QJTxxx xx AJ9xx AJTxx Axx Axx To improve his chances of ruffing a heart, declarer starts with a low trump from dummy. If East plays low, declarer will finesse the J, and even if West ducks, declarer will be able to pull the K and ruff a heart. But if East goes up with the K on the first round, West's Qx becomes master and prevents declarer from pulling a second trump round without letting West pull a third round. ;Control of a enemy long cards by the short trump hand When declarer's trump control is at risk, he often wants to enlist dummy's trumps to protect his own holding from forcing leads. It helps to have the master trump. A standard illustration: xxxx xx AQx KQxx Kxxx x KQJx Axxx xxx xxx xx xxxx AQJT xxx KJx Axx Against 4S, West attacks in hearts, and dummy ruffs the third round. Declarer leads a trump to his Q and West ducks, because he does not want dummy (the short trump hand) to protect against the forcing defence. Declarer now leads DJ from hand, retaining the ace. If West ducks again, declarer cashes the trump ace, leaving West's K isolated, and starts the minors. The point is this: If we exchange South's trump ace with West's king, 4S goes down: West ducks his ace twice, retaining pseudocontrol. If declarer leads a third trump, West wins and forces the South hand in hearts. If declarer abandons trumps after two rounds, West will eventually score a ruff. So, while K and A of trumps behind declarer were each just one trick, pseudocontrol made a difference. A98x A98x xx xx xxx xx AKQx AKQJx KJTx KJTx xxx xxx AKQ AKx xxx xxx Against 4S the defence starts with three heart rounds and dummy ruffs. At left, declarer may cash the trump ace and run the 9, to protect against Qxxx in either hand; he plays low from hand if East shows out on the second round. But at right, he must run the 9 or 8 on the first round, and duck the second round as well unless the Q appears. The difference is that at right he needs dummy's club suit, and in such cases it is not enough to leave an isolated high trump at large if dummy has no side entry. ;Control of enemy high cards: waiting moves in "ruff-or-sluff" deals xx xx AKQJ KQJTx Ax xxx AKQJx xxx xxx xxx xxx Axxx KQJTxx xxx xxx x Against a spade contract (say 3S) West cashes a high heart, regrets it when he sees dummy, and switches to his _low_ trump. West is now threatening to pull dummy's last trump and cash two more hearts. If declarer tries for a heart discard on diamonds, East can ruff. West's low trump lead is an example of a "waiting move" -- forcing the other side to commit itself to one or the other of two possible sources of a trick. In this example, those two sources are the fourth diamond and a ruff of the third heart. The deal is borderline between two different (usually incompatible) lines of play: to ruff a loser, or to discard from that _same suit_ on dummy's length. At stake in such cases is the _last_ small trump in _one_ of the opponents' two hands. xx xx AKQxx xxxx xx Axx Kxxx AQTx Jx Txxx QTxxx Jx KQJTxx Jxx xx AK West leads a heart against 4S. East wins with the A or Q, and his only play now is a _small_ trump. Again the threat is to pull dummy's last trump and cash two more hearts. If declarer tries for a fast discard on diamonds, _West_ can ruff. An opening trump lead would also succeed, provided that East withholds the ace. A passive lead in clubs or diamonds is also good enough. xx x AKQJx xxxxx Ax xxx Kxx AQTxxx xxx xx QJTxx Kx KQJTxx Jxx xxx A In this variation the defence is a tempo behind the previous hand, in that dummy has only a singleton in the loser suit (hearts). 4S will be made unless West finds the opening lead of a low trump. (That lead would be less unlikely if West held HA.) If West rather than East had the doubleton diamond, he would need at least two small trumps, with or without the ace. xx xx AKQxx KQxx xx Axx Kxxx AQTx Jx Txxx Txxxx Jx KQJTxx Jxx xx Ax Now dummy has two side suits on which declarer might hope to throw a heart. Unfortunately, East has ruffing control of clubs and West likewise of diamonds. But if dummy's clubs are improved to KQJx, the hand can be made unless the opening lead is a trump and East ducks: If a heart is led to the A and a low trump is returned, declarer takes CAK and leads CQ, ruffed and overruffed. Next come a diamond to the ace and then CJ, throwing a heart. xx Qxx KQxx Kxxx AKJx Qxxx AKx xx xxxx Tx Tx QJ98x xxx JT986 AJx Ax EW bid to 2S, North balances with a double, and South ends up in 3H. West opens a high spade. The only switch that works is the low trump. If West leads K and another trump, East will have no trumps left and declarer will successfully pitch a spade. If dummy's suit requires development, it needs to be worked on first, and raises the question of a side entry. Jx QJ Axxx Axxxx xx Ax T9xx AKxx KQTx Jxxx JTx Qxx KQT9xxx xxx x Kx A diamond is led, removing dummy's ace. If South leads a heart off the table, East will play Ax of trumps and wait for two more heart tricks; it will be too late for declarer to use the entryless long clubs. So South starts with KA of clubs and a club ruff, then leads a heart. East's only play now is a low trump, so that his partner can ruff in on clubs. If, instead, East were to lead A and another trump, the second (and last) trump round would be won in dummy, allowing the clubs to be cashed. Below is a more advanced specimen of the same move by declarer: setting up dummy's suit to reinforce the threat of ruffs. This time declarer is concerned with _two_ losers, and dummy's trump entry is vulnerable to a force. Jxx x AKxx xxxxx xx Axx AQxx KJTx QJTx xxxx QTx Jx KQT9x xxxx x AKx DQ is led against 4S. Two heart ruffs would suffice for declarer, but if he starts by conceding his heart loser, the defenders will pull Ax of trumps, and it will be too late to use the clubs: on winning with CQ, West would force dummy with a heart, killing the dummy because the defence still has a trump. So South wins trick 1 and plays out CAKx. If the defence plays Ax of trumps, the remaining trump is pulled with the J and the clubs cashed. If they exit in diamonds, or they duck a round of trumps, South next leads concedes a heart, threatening two ruffs, and there is now no defence. A different waiting move may be needed when dummy's side entry is in the loser suit instead of the trump suit. xx Ax KQJTx Kxxx xx Axx Jxxx KQT xx Axxx QJTxx xxx KQJTxx xxxx xx A West leads CQ against 4S. CK will provide a discard for one heart, but declarer needs to look after another. He simply concedes a heart at trick two, thus threatening to ruff a heart, but without expending the heart entry. If the opponents pull Ax of trumps, declarer pulls the last trump and sets up diamonds instead.