Trump leads by the defence Larry Hammick larry@hammick.com 2000.07.11 Contents ;Foreword ;Purposes of a trump lead ;Diagnosis of a trump opening lead ;;Declarer is playing in the fourth suit ;;Dummy has shown a preference but not a fit ;;Dummy has removed from NT to his partner's suit ;;Dummy has removed a penalty double to his partner's suit ;;Declarer has a real 2-suiter ;;Your side has relatively a lot of high cards ;;Defenders' trumps are 5-0 or 5-1 ;;Declarer will play a scramble ;Diagnosis of trump leads in the middle game ;;Declarer is averse to pulling trumps ;;A trump ending is threatened ;Foreword One of the commonest weaknesses of defence is an aversion to trump leads. Opening leads are tough; one can only go on general principles, on the limited information available, and on one's estimate of probabilities based on experience. But in the middle game the diagnosis is sometimes pretty straightforward. This little article is about those general principles and that diagnosis. ;Purposes of a trump lead Sometimes the defence leads a trump for some reason (such as safety) which is unrelated to the special ruffing property of the trump suit. But the usual idea of a trump lead is to get small trumps (ruffers) out of play -- "to get the kids off the street", as is said. There are three general cases in which the defence wants to do that: 1. Declarer does not have trump control. 2. Declarer has control, but will also want a ruff or two in the short trump hand. 3. A trump lead will pull two for one. 1. The side with trump control is the side that can expect to make long-card tricks in a side suit. That is usually, but not always, the declaring side. As a rule, the side with control will benefit by pulling trumps. If declarer does not have control, he will play in one of two ways; either a crossruff, or what we call a scramble. In a scramble, declarer enters dummy in side suits to lead for ruffs in his own hand. (If he has, say, a 6-1 trump fit and can scramble 3 ruffs, it gains a trick if the break is 4-2 and 2 tricks if it is 5-1.) It is obviously necessary to lead trumps against an impending crossruff. Once a crossruff is underway, there is little the defence can do except: - discard away from declarer's high-card tricks in a side suit, if any. - uppercut second hand, hoping to get in and lead a trump. Sometimes an impending crossruff is more or less clearly advertised by the bidding. The scramble, too, is sometimes easy for the defense to diagnose after dummy goes down, and sometimes earlier. 2. Dummy frequently has three trumps and a side doubleton , or thereabouts. If three trump rounds are played, declarer will be unable to ruff a third round of the doubleton side suit. 3. The advantage of pulling two for one is clear, but assumes that declarer can benefit from ruffing until one of his hands is out of trumps. ;Diagnosis of a trump opening lead ;;Declarer is playing in the fourth suit One case should be known to all players, but isn't: when declarer is playing in the fourth suit, a trump lead is all but obligatory. N S 1D 1H 1S 2C 3C etc. Dummy is more or less 3-suited, and short in declarer's side suit. Either a crossruff is coming, or declarer will try to establish hearts by ruffing in dummy. It is dangerous for the defence to cash any side winner. Also, it is usually unnecessary to make a developing lead such as K from KQ: if declarer has the ace he will cash it before crossruffing; if not, he is unlikely to have a fast discard followed by a crossruff. ;;Dummy has shown a preference but not a fit Evidently the dummy will be short in declarer's other suit, and fairly short on ruffers, as well. ;;Dummy has removed from NT to his partner's suit Again, dummy will be singleton or void in some suit where declarer has about 3 cards. Declarer's stopper, if something like QJx, may not develop into a trick, in which case declarer will probably try for ruffs in that suit. An important case is when your side has bid a suit, declarer has bid NT, and dummy has gone back to his partner's suit: it is highly dangerous to lead your side's suit up to declarer's stopper, clearing away dummy's probable singleton at the same time. ;;Dummy has removed a penalty double to his partner's suit Clearly declarer has some length in your side's suit and dummy is acutely short. Again it is very bad to lead your side's suit. ;;Declarer has a real 2-suiter If dummy is, say, 2-2 in declarer's suits, trump leads may prevent him from ruffing away your side's stopper in the side suit. If, however, his side suit is solid, a trump should be avoided. Tend to lead a trump lead when you have a trick or two behind declarer's side suit, and when you are short there; in the latter case partner will be that much longer and moreover will not be in a position to overruff the dummy. On the other hand, if the side suit seems to break well or may be solid, you must attack (or force) before the discards come. When declarer has bid two suits, he may or may not aim to develop his side suit. But the auction may indicate that he has a real 2-suiter and will therefore do so. When he has removed a penalty double by dummy, or has avoided NT when his partner has bid it or seems balanced, declarer tends to turn up a 5- or 6-card side suit. ;;Your side has relatively a lot of high cards Trump leads have a natural tendency to prevent high cards from being ruffed. If your side has quite a few high cards, a trump lead tends to be in your interest. (Whist players were taught always to lead a trump from a strong hand.) A trump is often a good lead against an out-and-out sacrifice; fast discards by declarer are unlikely in this situation. ;;Defenders' trumps are 5-0 or 5-1 In this unusual case, there is no need to force declarer if he is 4-4 or 4-3; pull trumps. But if he has a strong 6-1 fit or so, or has a solid side suite, a forcing or ruffing defence may be needed. ;;Declarer will play a scramble Here's a case we all know: S W N E 1H Dbl P P P West leads a trump, hoping to pull declarer's small trumps before he can score ruffs with them. A less clear, but related case: S W N E 1H P P P If West is rather weak, he must assume that East is relatively strong, for otherwise 1H will be made. East's failure to balance on good values then indicates that he likes the enemy suit. If dummy opened 1NT and the contract is 2 of some suit, doubled, it again looks as if declarer will try to scramble ruffs. ;Diagnosis of trump leads in the middle game ;;Declarer is averse to pulling trumps A priority of defence is to become aware, as soon as possible, of the declarer's approximate plan of play. If declarer does not immediately address trumps, the reason may be that his trump control is poor or non-existent, but there are several other possible explanations: - he is steering for a fast discard; in this case he may be credited with a loser either in trumps or in the suit that will provide the discard. - he is steering for a ruff in the short hand (normally dummy). - he needs to develop a high card or length in dummy while trumps will provide entry to it. - he wants to develop a side-suit of his own while there are still ruffers in dummy (for use in case the suit breaks badly). All I can suggest on this topic is that you practise trying to diagnose what declarer is up to. If declarer is leaving trumps at large later in the play, it is usually pretty clear why, and also clear that the defence should have its thumbs waiting on trumps. Even so, such cases are often overlooked by average defenders. A defender with an isolated master trump should consider whether he can get on lead with a side suit, and then pull two for one. That tends to be better than to ruff an adverse winner with the master trump. ;;A trump ending is threatened Whenever the defence expects to make trump tricks, it is wrong to allow declarer to shorten his trumps. There are two common varieties of this situation: 1. A coup en passant will gain a trick for declarer. 2. A defender is trump-heavy (meaning that in the endgame he may be obliged to ruff in and then lead away from his trump stopper). The first case, akin to a dummy reversal, requires entries opposite the long hand. For the second case, possible remedies are a trump lead through declarer, and a trump reduction by the defence (a defensive ruff to shorten trumps).