Trump promotion
Encyclopedia
Trump promotion is a technique in contract bridge
where the defenders create an otherwise non-existing trump trick for themselves. The most common type of trump promotion occurs when one defender plays a side suit
through, in which both the declarer's hand and the other defender are void:
Spades are trump. If the declarer were on lead, he could draw trumps and claim the rest of tricks; however, with East on lead, when he leads a diamond, declarer has two unfavorable choices: if he ruffs low, he will get overruffed by West. If he ruffs high (with an honor), the West's spade jack will become a trick.
In general, it is not required that the defense leads to the trick; often, the "killing suit" can be led by the declarer (because of an error or because he doesn't have anything else to lead).
Sometimes, a defender can get a trump promotion by refusing to overruff:
Spades are trump, and hearts are led by South or West; knowing that East is void, declarer must ruff high (with the queen or jack). If East hastily overrufs with the king, that will be the last trick for the defense. (The A and Q will take care of his now-doubleton T) However, if he discards a minor suit
card, he will suddenly come into possession of two trump tricks—the king (which he was always entitled to) but also the ten - he can play low on the ace, take the queen with the king, and still have the ten.
When the same motive is used by the declarer, it is referred to as Coup en passant
.
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
where the defenders create an otherwise non-existing trump trick for themselves. The most common type of trump promotion occurs when one defender plays a side suit
Suit (cards)
In playing cards, a suit is one of several categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several symbols showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or in addition be indicated by the color printed on the card...
through, in which both the declarer's hand and the other defender are void:
Spades are trump. If the declarer were on lead, he could draw trumps and claim the rest of tricks; however, with East on lead, when he leads a diamond, declarer has two unfavorable choices: if he ruffs low, he will get overruffed by West. If he ruffs high (with an honor), the West's spade jack will become a trick.
In general, it is not required that the defense leads to the trick; often, the "killing suit" can be led by the declarer (because of an error or because he doesn't have anything else to lead).
Sometimes, a defender can get a trump promotion by refusing to overruff:
Spades are trump, and hearts are led by South or West; knowing that East is void, declarer must ruff high (with the queen or jack). If East hastily overrufs with the king, that will be the last trick for the defense. (The A and Q will take care of his now-doubleton T) However, if he discards a minor suit
Minor suit
In contract bridge the minor suits are diamonds and clubs . They are given that name because contracts made in those suits score less than contracts made in the major suits , and they rank lower in bidding. In particular, one can make game with a bid of 4 in a major suit, while a bid of 5 is...
card, he will suddenly come into possession of two trump tricks—the king (which he was always entitled to) but also the ten - he can play low on the ace, take the queen with the king, and still have the ten.
When the same motive is used by the declarer, it is referred to as Coup en passant
Coup en passant
Coup en passant is a type of coup in contract bridge where trump trick are "stolen" by trying to ruff a card after the player who has the master trump....
.