Good dummy play in Bridge is not everyone's forte. Yet without it, success in Bridge is well nigh improbable. When the Dummy comes down after the opening lead has been made, the declarer's attention rivets down to the making of his contract. The assesses at trick 1 how many winners and losers he faces and tries to find the possible routes towards the success of his contract. At first, sometimes this may not appear to be probable looking to the losers outnumbering the possible margin allowable in the making of the contract.
Of course the tournament players are pretty well versed in the various Bridge techniques that bring the declarer nearer to his ultimate goal. The only important thing is to find the key play at the right time, for the essence of a good dummy play lies in its timing. The judgement and visualisation are the other factors that need to be kept in mind when one embarks on a tough Bridge journey where tricks are not easy to find in face of good defence.
Let us illustrate by example. Suppose you are in 6S on the following hand as south:
The opening lead from west is the JD. As south how do you go about to make your Little Slam of 6S? A glance at the dummy reveals that your probable losers can be 1 in hearts and a loser in the trump suit - one too many for comfort. The question that needs to be addressed immediately is how does one avoid 1 of the 2 losers to make 6S. Of course if the trump finesse is right, there would be no problem at all. As far as the heart loser is concerned, there is hard anything you can do about its inevitability. So your concentration should focus on the trump suit to ensure that it runs successfully without considering any trick. To avoid the spade loser is the key requirement. How will you go about it? Suppose you win the first trick with QD and take the spade finesse by leading the 10S from dummy which holds much to your relief. But disappointment strikes when west shows out on the 9S which wins. East still holds the KS doubleton while there are no more trumps left in the dummy to bother him. Now you hold the AQJ6 of trumps over East's K8. Does it mean the end of the road for you and you Little Slam. No! The die-hards at Bridge never give up. So should you. What then is the alternate left for the success of your slam.
Of course those who are familiar with the requirements of a successful trump coup would know that here the key requirement is to reduce your trump holding to a length equal to what east holds. For that to happen you need to ruff the hearts, even the good ones without risking any one your winners being ruffed by East. Therefore, first things first - you need to cash your side winners simultaneously using the heart suit for trump reduction. Thus 2 ruffs would bring your trumps at par with the 2 held by east.
It is time to lift the curtain on the west east hands as under:
While executing a trump coup, you need to tread carefully, for any slip in the timing can lead to failure. So after winning QD at trick 1 and 10S and 9S at trick 2 and 3, you go about cashing you side winners but before that you rectify the count by leading KH to east's ace who naturally returns a diamond to your KD in hand as the best return. Your next 4 plays should be in this neat order. A club to dummy, ruff for heart, lead a second club to dummy and ruff another heart. Having brought your trump length to the same level as east, the final position emerges as under:
Now enter dummy with the club ace and play the good QH. East is trapped. If he ruffs, game is over. If he does not, you discard the AD and win either way.
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North South West East
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10 3 A Q J 9 6 2 5 K 8 7 4
Q J 10 9 2 K 8 7 6 4 A 5 3
Q 5 4 A K 7 J 10 9 8 6 3 2
A K Q 8 5 4 10 3 2 J 9 7 6
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North West East South
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-- - K 8 A Q
Q J 8 - -
5 109 - A
A 10 J9 8
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