[daveharty]

Every Monday night in the Beginner/Intermediate Lounge, I moderate a Play-and-Discuss table. This past Monday, I changed the format a little and ran a team game for some of the regular attendees. In a battle I called the "Psychobabble Smackdown," the Freudian Slips took on the Jungian Archetypes; Team Freud prevailed in the eight-board match. The following hand came up during the match; it contains a very simple and extremely common theme. One declarer was caught off-guard; the other kept his cool and earned a big swing for his team. Follow the play of the first few tricks by clicking the "Next" button:

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At this point, the paths taken at the two tables diverged. How would you proceed?

Spoiler

Don't panic!

Despite the bad trump break, you still have only three losers: two trumps, and the club Ace. Simply win the spade King and play on clubs, forcing out the Ace. Even if East, who is known to have the two high trumps, also holds the club Ace, he can't hurt you; he take his two trumps, but you will still have one in the dummy to prevent the defense from taking any red suit winners, and the remainder of the tricks will be yours.

At one table, the declarer did just that, and scored up the vulnerable game. At the other, the declarer panicked upon seeing the bad trump split, and decided he needed to ruff the low diamonds from his own hand. He thus shortened the trumps in the dummy, and ended up losing control of the hand and going down. The low diamond "losers" are an illusion; the defense can never take diamond tricks as long as you have a trump standing guard in the dummy. What is important is that you ESTABLISH YOUR SIDE SUIT before losing control. That way, even if the defense tries to "force" you by leading a red suit, you can force them right back by playing a good club! You will stay one step ahead of the defense in the "trump count", and victory will be yours.

[billw55]

Excellent material for B/N forum. After several threads with material beyond B/N level, I was worried the concept would fail. This is more like it.

Admittedly a strange thread title but it got my attention

[Fluffy]

on a teacher's terms... The base hand is north (more trumps), and north has no diamond losers, so ruffing them is pointless.

[y66]

Good problem.

Just fyi - David Bird has a great chapter on surviving 4-1 trump breaks in Off-Road Declarer Play.

[neilkaz]

y66, on 2012-April-03, 08:18, said:

Good problem.

Just fyi - David Bird has a great chapter on surviving 4-1 trump breaks in Off-Road Declarer Play.

Great problem for N/B and the key is to count winners and losers and not panic. Thx for the link to that book, I was unfamiliar with it.

.. neilkaz ..

[HighLow21]

Spoiler

Seems fairly straightforward to me. I have 1 more trump than East so I have control. The risk is that if I duck the K♠, E might force me with a heart. The club ace winner can then force me again. If it is East he can draw N's trumps and I'm in big trouble.

So win this round, knock out the A♣, win the return, and claim.

[Antrax]

I'm not sure a beginner would understand your answer, HighLow21.

[kuhchung]

It can't cost to draw two rounds of trumps before ruffing the heart, right?

[HighLow21]

Antrax, on 2012-April-05, 00:02, said:

I'm not sure a beginner would understand your answer, HighLow21.

What is there not to understand? This is a hand about trump control. I have more trumps than East and I have to keep it so that I have more than he does until the A♣ gets knocked out.

[Antrax]

Quote

I have 1 more trump than East so I have control. The risk is that if I duck the K♠, E might force me with a heart. The club ace winner can then force me again. If it is East he can draw N's trumps and I'm in big trouble.

So win this round, knock out the A♣, win the return, and claim.

I've bolded uses of slang and/or concepts that at least I, as a beginner, was unfamiliar with. Overall your post addresses another line of play without explaining exactly what it is, and only hinting on how it could go wrong. I think it's better to be more verbose and use English terms.

[Fluffy]

kuhchung, on 2012-April-05, 12:18, said:

It can't cost to draw two rounds of trumps before ruffing the heart, right?

Right