Rambling on Bridge by Jim Culhane
Setting aside some time to review hands after we have played them is one of the cornerstones to
improving the quality of our bridge play. One of the great practice features is the scoring record from
local games maintained on our website (http://www.centralmassbridge.org).
While trawling through the record for the July 24, 2016 unit game in search of a hand worth
writing up, I came to Board 9. Two pairs, anchored by local bridge luminaries made 5 spades, numerous
pairs made 4 spades, and one pair (anchored by this local luminary) went down 5 in 3 NT. The Hand
Analysis software calculated that 5 spades is the expected result. With 2 obvious heart losers, when
spades break 4-0 to the jack, the hand looked ripe for a Trump Coupe write-up. For the sake of accuracy,
I contacted two of the participants at the tables where 5 spades was made. Unfortunately for this
article, both contacts reported that 5 spades was made via alternative methods to a Trump Coup.
Upon further analysis of this hand, in fact, there are not enough entries into dummy to fulfill the
prerequisites for a Trump Coup. After you lose two heart tricks, the Hand Analysis software makes the
assumption that declarer will take a first round trump finesse, picking up the spade suit when it breaks
4-0! While such a play is possible, it is not a probable option in practice.
We will cover a real Trump Coup example next time. Today’s lesson to learn is when you are
reviewing the hands that you have played, Hand Analysis software reports the number of tricks that
you may potentially win at all unrealistic probabilities, and not the number of tricks that you will win
at common sense probabilities.
Rambling on Bridge by Jim Culhane
Last time I said that we would visit Trump Coups.
During the 40's and 50's, at the edge of Chinatown in New York City, down around Mott and
Canal, street hustlers played the crowds for amusement. If you worked your way past the three-card
Monte dealers and chickens playing tic-tac-toe, there was a small section devoted to the mystics,
firewalkers and occultists. Outside one tent hung a small sign reading "Squeezes & Trump Coups".
Inside the tent, it was difficult to see through the dense incense cloud and the sitar music was
deafening. Suddenly, a swami appears beside you. He asks whether you wished to gain insight into the
hidden wonders of Trump Coups. You nod, and after a minute, he begins to open up to you the various
practices and experiences that you will need. The soothsayer says while in some kind of altered state of
consciousness, ”Take a look at the hand below.”
South has landed in a fine 6g contract. The Hand Analysis shows that 6g is on. South loses the
Qj finesse to the Kj at trick 1 and wins the j return with the Aj in dummy. He leads the 10g from
dummy, plays low from hand, and catches a break when the finesse holds. When South repeat finesses
the 9g, he gets the bad news that trumps are 4-1.
After four tricks the great seer pauses and makes an assessment of the situation. We have lost
one trick and that’s all we can afford to lose. The Kg is in a finesse-able position, but we have no trumps
left to lead from the dummy. He points out that while this is a dire situation, all is not utterly lost.
The swami coaches us to join his dreamlike trance state by closing our eyes to envision the
maneuvers needed to win tricks 5-10. Next, he directs us to win trick 11 in the dummy. Meanwhile East
will mystically be forced to retain his two trumps throughout this process by following suit. Finally, the
yogi shows us that miraculously whichever card we lead from the dummy at trick 12 will force East to
concede the Kg and 7g in his hand to the Ag and Qg in the South hand.
“But we need to turn this dream into reality on a routine basis. How can we possibly remember all of
these rules to execute this magical gambit and make the trump loser disappear?”, we ask the sage from
the East.
L-O-V-E” spelled out the mystic. “All you need is LOVE”, he said.
L Shorten your trumps to the same Length as the defender.
O Get to the hand Opposite the long trump for the final move at trick 12.
V Defender's Valued card must be finesse-able.
E Extract all the side suit cards held by the defender.
Following the L-O-V-E Rule,
1. We must enter dummy twice to lead cards for South to ruff in order to shorten down to
East’s trump Length.
2. We will also need entry to get back into dummy, Opposite the long trump, for trick 11. So a
total of 3 dummy entries are required. On this particular hand, entries are not a problem,
but many times entries can be a problem.
3. The defender’s Valued Kg is finesse-able.
4. While Extracting side suits, it will necessary for East to have at least a 3 card h holding.
Additionally, if East doesn’t hold 4-3-3-3 shape, then it is necessary that he have a 4 card h
holding.
The play is of the “black box” variety. You simply try to run it and it works or it fails. Tricks 5-10 are spent
cashing the AKi, ruffing a i, ruffing a j and using the QJ h as entries to dummy ending as shown
below.
At trick 11, on lead from the North hand, we cash the Ah, East contributing the 9h and playing the Kh
from South. At trick 12, we lead either card and trap East’s Kg7g with the AgQg, scoring up the wellplayed slam.
Next time, the great mystic from the East will teach about Squeezes.