REALLY EASY PLAY with TRUMPS 

(Bridge for All - under the auspices of the English Bridge Union)

In this country Bridge is run by the English bridge Union and under their umbrella is an organization called Bridge for All which promotes good sound teaching techniques so that bridge can be enjoyed by everybody. They have just published Really Easy PLAY WITH TRUMPS  part of the really Easy series of Bridge learning books. The book is beautifully presented and students can easily follow the themes. After  each them is explained there follows a quiz and some practice hands .

In the following example from the book

 West arrives in a contract of 7ª. With only 12 top tricks there doesn’t appear to be a source of extra tricks. Under these circumstances one has to resort to a technique known as reversing the dummy whereby one ruffs in the long hand and eventually usually uses the short hand for drawing trumps. Here the way to make 13 tricks is not to draw trumps but to ruff Diamonds in hand 3 times and to count your winners as only 3 trump tricks, 3 Heart tricks, 1 Diamond trick and 3 Clubs tricks and to produce the necessary 3 extra tricks from ruffing Diamonds in hand. By taking this line declarer is not having to rely on Clubs breaking 33.

After analyzing the hand the book lists the following clear points to determine when a Dummy reversal is possible :-

• Dummy’s trumps are good enough to draw the defenders’ trumps
• There are sufficient entries to the dummy hand
• There is a short side suit in declarer’s hand
• There is no realistic prospect of making extra tricks any other way    

If you want to get in touch with the English Bridge Union or   Bridge For All you can phone 01296 317200 or go to their website http://www.ebu.co.uk

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