Chapter
9
Drawing Trumps: All, Some, or
None
© 2004 - Marty Bergen
Page 95
Drawing Trumps: All, Some, or
None
When in Doubt –
Don’t
Perhaps the most
popular bridge misconception is: "In a suit contract, declarer
should immediately draw trumps." Why do so many believe this? Is
it because:
-
They can’t forget
the contract that was lost when they didn’t draw trumps – and
a defender trumped one of their winning tricks.
-
Their friends
taught them that the first thing to do is "get the kiddies off
the street."
-
Their first
bridge teacher gave them very easy hands, in which they didn’t
have to do anything, except draw trumps and take their
tricks.
Is this correct? No
way! The truth is: it
is usually wrong to draw trumps ASAP.
In
fact, I would estimate that declarer should draw trumps first
only 40% of the time.
It would be absurd
to say that drawing trumps first is never correct. However,
there are many reasons to postpone pulling trump. Here are a
few:
-
You need to ruff
losers in dummy.
-
You must preserve
trump entries in order to develop a long suit or set up an
endplay.
-
You are eager to
set up a side suit on which you will discard losers.
© 2004 - Marty Bergen
Chapter 10 :Timing
Is Everything ...................................
103
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