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Welcome
to lesson six.
Today
we're going to talk
about a wild thing ... well,
really, wild cards.
They
are called trumps!
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Last
time, we learned that when a hand of bridge is
being played out, each player must always
"follow suit" whenever possible.
This means, for example, that if the card led to a
trick
was a spade, and you have one or more spades in
your hand, you must play a spade. We also said last
time that if you are fresh out of the suit being
played -- for example, you have no more spades
in your hand -- you can play any card from any suit
that you wish. However, only the highest card in the
suit led will win the trick, even if someone
plays a higher card from a different suit.
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Suppose
you're East. Your partner, West,
leads the three of spades, and North, your
opponent, plays the six of spades; you play
the ten of spades, and South, your other
opponent, plays the jack of diamonds.
The
ten of spades wins the trick even though
a jack is a higher honor-card than a ten.
Why does the ten win? Because the ten is
the highest card of the suit that was led.
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What
if I
don't see a
card in my
hand and I
accidentally
play the wrong
suit. I can't be
blamed for an
accident,
can I?
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When
you don't follow suit, partner can ask:
"No spades, partner?" Then you
have a
chance to change your card. Once a card
is
led to the next trick, however, there's
no
going back. But here's some good news:
When you play bridge on the computer, the
computer won't let you "revoke."
If a spade
is led, and you have a spade to play but
try to play a club instead, the computer
beeps and tells you that a club play is
illegal. You'll be forced to follow suit
with a spade.
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Even
though there's no
exception to the rule that
you must follow suit if you
can, there is an exception
about taking tricks with
cards outside of the suit led.
This occurs when there is
a trump suit.
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A
trump suit is a special suit that is named
trumps before the card-play begins.
This
happens in the bidding, which we will
begin to learn in our next lesson. The trump
suit is special because when you're fresh
out of the suit being played, you can play
a trump and it will take the trick,
whether
it's higher or lower than the highest card
played in the suit led! In other card games,
trumps are sometimes called wild cards.
But
in bridge, they're just plain trumps,
even though they're powerful. Remember
this: If you can follow suit, you must. You
can't play a trump when another suit was
led unless you have no more of the suit
led. Here are some examples.
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Hearts
are trump. West leads the ace of
spades, North plays the eight of spades,
East plays the five of spades, and
South, who has no spades in his hand,
plays the two of hearts. The little deuce
of hearts wins the trick! South "trumped."
Another
word that means the exact same
thing as "trumped" is "ruffed."
You can
say, "I trumped the trick" or "I
ruffed the
trick" and it means the same thing. It's
a lot of fun to ruff a trick.
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Diamonds
are trump here. West leads
the ace of diamonds, North plays the
four of diamonds, East plays the nine of
diamonds, and South plays the jack of
diamonds. This is a regular trick, with
the ace winning, but the trick happens
to be played in the "trump" suit.
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6.7
No obligation to trump
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Spades
are trump. West leads the king
of hearts, North plays the four of hearts,
East plays the nine of hearts, and South,
who has no hearts left in his hand, plays
the nine of diamonds. The king of hearts
wins the trick. South didn't follow suit,
but he didn't trump it either (he didn't play
a spade on the trick), so West wins the trick.
If South had played the nine of spades,
or any spade, instead of the nine
of diamonds, then he would have
trumped the trick and won it.
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South
has
to trump
the trick
if he can,
right?
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No,
he doesn't. It's probably a good idea
to trump the trick, but maybe South wants
to save his trump for later.
If
he doesn't have a heart to follow suit
with, he can ruff the trick with a spade,
or he can "discard" from another suit.
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Clubs
are trump this time. West leads the
queen of hearts, North plays the ace of
hearts, East trumps with the deuce of
clubs, and South finishes the trick by
playing the four of clubs. South wins
the trick. This trick is more interesting.
It's
true that East "trumped" the trick
first, but South played a higher trump.
If two players trump the same trick,
whoever trumps with the higher card wins
the trick. In bridge lingo, we say that
South "overruffed" East. East ruffed
and South overruffed.
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Sometimes
a deal is played without a trump suit
this is called a "notrump" contract, because
there
are "no trump."
Throughout
the entire hand,
no trumping takes place.
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Yes,
on each deal it is possible for any
of the four suits to become the trump
suit. Or there could be no trump. So
there are five possibilities: clubs are
trump, diamonds are trump, hearts
are trump, spades are trump,
or there's no trump.
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Going
back
to that
example hand when the
spade suit
was the
trump suit:
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South
played
the nine of diamonds
when hearts
were led. Now,
why didn't
he trump?
I
say he had
no spades in
his hand! Why
would he save
his trump
for later?
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Actually,
that's a good point, Norm. You're
thinking. If you can trump a trick, you
do
trump it, usually. But there's no law that
says you must. When we learn the intricate
strategies of card play in future courses,
we'll see that in certain situations when
you can trump a trick it's better if you
don't. You have every right to "refuse
to
ruff" if you so desire. Like I said earlier,
if
you cannot follow suit, you can play any
card in your hand that you wish.
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LESSON
6
QUIZ
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OK, now here's a quiz for you.
It's
not easy but I expect
everyone
to do well.
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Questions
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Move
over ?
for answer |
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 1.
Spades are trump.
West leads the ace of
hearts, North follows suit
with the four of hearts,
East plays the seven of
hearts, and South trumps in.
What
suit did South play?
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2.
Hearts are trump.
West leads the jack of
diamonds, North plays
the four of diamonds,
East ruffs in with the jack
of hearts, and South
"overruffs."
Which
possible cards
could South have played?
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3. Playing at notrump, which suits are possible for
the trump suit?
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4.
Diamonds are trump.
Who
trumped this trick?
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5.
Clubs are trump.
Who
ruffed?
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6.
Spades are trump.
Who
ruffed?
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7.
Spades are trump.
Who
sluffed?
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Scores
All
seven answers correct - excellent!
Five
to six answers out of seven correct - very good!
Four
answers out of seven correct - review the quiz part of this
lesson.
Zero
to three answers out of seven correct. Review the entire
lesson, and then take the quiz again.
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