Steer Clear of Trumping Losers in the Long Trump Hand in Bridge

If you can generate extra tricks in bridge by trumping your losers in the dummy, you may think that you can generate extra tricks by trumping the dummy’s losers in your hand. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.

For a moment, turn things around and think about trumping a loser in your hand — the long hand. Let’s put this theory into practice. Assume that hearts is your trump suit.



You want to draw trump, so you play ♥AKQ, removing all your opponents’ trump cards. You remain with ♥J2, both of which are winners. You score five heart tricks. Agreed?

Now see what happens if your opponents lead a suit that you don’t have and you trump the lead with your ♥2. You remain with the ♥AKQJ, four tricks, plus the deuce you have already used. Same five trump tricks. Trumping with the ♥2 in the long hand doesn’t give you an extra trick. But if you can manage to trump a loser in the dummy, the short hand, you still have five winning heart tricks in your hand plus theruff(trump) in the dummy. Six trump tricks!

In the game of bridge, when holding a long trump suit, the strategic adage "Steer Clear of Trumping Losers" holds significant importance for maximizing declarer play efficiency. A long trump hand—typically the declarer’s hand with a dominant trump suit, often 5+ cards—serves as a powerful asset, primarily to control the opponents’ suits, ruff their winners, and maintain command over the hand’s progression. However, a common pitfall arises when declarers unnecessarily use their long trumps to ruff losers in their short hand (the dummy)

Trumping losers in this context squanders the long trump suit’s potential. Each trump spent on a trivial loser reduces the hand’s ability to handle the opponents’ subsequent leads, especially if they force additional ruffs. Instead, the long trump hand should focus on preserving its trumps to draw the opponents’ remaining trumps once control is established, ensuring that the remaining winners in both hands can be cashed without interference. By avoiding unnecessary ruffs, declarers retain the flexibility to manage the tempo, limit the opponents’ opportunities to score tricks, and leverage the long trumps to their full strategic advantage—whether through establishing side suits, executing endplays, or simply maintaining control of the hand’s direction. In essence, protecting the long trump suit from wasteful use is key to converting a strong trump holding into a successful contract.

Some bugs still haven’t been fixed, kind of annoying.

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