Bridge Lesson 10: Drawing Trumps and Counting Them

Drawing trumps in bridge means leading the trump suit until the opponents have none left, so they cannot ruff your winners. As declarer in a suit contract, you usually draw trumps early, and you count the opponents' trumps as they fall so you stop as soon as they are gone.

In lesson 3 you saw how a small trump beats an ace. This lesson turns that around: now it is your aces that are in danger, and drawing trumps is how you protect them.

Each trump the defenders hold is a threat. As soon as one of them runs out of a suit you are cashing, they can ruff your winner, and a trick you counted disappears.

So you lead trumps. Every round forces each opponent who still has a trump to play one. When both opponents are out of trumps, your aces and kings in the other suits are safe, and your remaining trumps are winners on their own.

A typical trump fit for your side is eight cards (five in one hand, three in the other) or more. That leaves the opponents five or fewer. Drawing them usually takes two or three rounds.

New players often lose count and either stop too early or keep leading trumps long after the opponents have none. Use a simple routine:

1. Before you start: add your trumps and dummy's, and take the total from 13. With 5 + 3 = 8, the opponents have 5.
2. Each round: subtract the trumps the opponents play. If both follow, take off 2.
3. Watch for a show-out: when an opponent discards on a trump lead, that player has none left, and the partner holds all the rest.
4. Stop at zero. Do not lead trumps when the opponents have none: it only wastes your own.

With five trumps out and a 3-2 split (68% of the time, see lesson 8), three rounds draw them all.

You need ten tricks. Count them: five spades, three diamonds (the ♦A K Q in dummy) and two clubs (the ♣A K). That is exactly ten. The defenders start with three heart tricks: West cashes the ♥A, leads to East's ♥K, and East cashes the ♥Q. Then East switches to the ♦8 and you win dummy's ♦A.

Now the choice. Dummy is on lead with the ♦K Q, and it is tempting to cash them at once. Do not. East started with only two diamonds. On the third round East would be out of diamonds and would ruff your ♦Q with a small trump. Overruffing does not help: you would just win back a trick that was already yours, with one trick fewer at the end. You would be one down.

Instead, draw trumps first. Your side has eight spades, so five are out. Lead a spade to your hand and cash the ace, king and queen:

• Round 1: both opponents follow. Three trumps left.
• Round 2: both follow again. One trump left.
• Round 3: West plays the last one. Zero.

Now cash the ♦K Q and the ♣A K in safety. Ten tricks. Reveal the hands to see East's short diamonds and why the order mattered.

Drawing trumps at once is the right start most of the time, but not always. Hold back in these cases:

• You need dummy's trumps for ruffs. If you plan to ruff losers in dummy, drawing trumps first would use up dummy's trumps too. That is the subject of lesson 11.
• You must get rid of a loser fast. If the defenders can cash tricks as soon as they gain the lead, take a quick discard on dummy's winners before giving up the lead in trumps.
• The only trump out is the highest one. If one opponent holds the last trump and it beats all of yours, leave it. Spending two of your trumps to draw one of theirs is a bad trade. Let them take it when they choose.

The habit to keep: in every suit contract, before trick one, ask "should I draw trumps now, and if not, why not?" Then count every trump that falls.

Enter the deal above in BridgeDummy's free double dummy analyzer and play it both ways. Cash the diamonds first and you watch East ruff the queen; draw trumps first and all ten tricks come home.

Previous: Lesson 9: Your First Finesse. Next: Lesson 11: Ruffing in Dummy, when your trumps are better used for ruffs.