When Not to Draw Trumps: 3 Situations to Delay (Beginner Declarer)
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When Not to Draw Trumps (Beginner Guide)
Most beginner declarers are taught an important rule: draw trumps. As we improve at bridge we start to see that it is not always correct.
Sometimes you must delay drawing trumps to keep control of the hand, create extra winners, or avoid losing communication between your hand and dummy.
This article gives you a simple way to know when to draw trumps now and when to wait.
The default rule
In suit contracts, when we learn bridge, the default plan is:
- Win the lead
- Draw opponents' trumps
- Then cash winners or set up side suits
Why this works: if defenders still hold trumps, they can ruff your winners. Drawing trumps removes that danger.
So "draw trumps first" is a good starting point. But we need to develop some instincts around it, rather than just an inflexible rule.
When you should delay drawing trumps
There are three common situations where delaying trumps is right.
1) Ruff losers in dummy
One of my favourite rules - when dummy has a short suit (0, 1 or 2 cards in a suit), often you get ruffs by playing that suit, until dummy runs out, then ruff! Simple hey? And very effective. One of the cornerstone strategies in bridge.
If you draw trumps too early, dummy may run out of trumps and you lose the chance to ruff.
2) You must establish a side suit first
Very often, probably 75% of the time if I have to give it a number, we want to set up our side suits BEFORE drawing trumps. Our side suits are often the most lucrative source of tricks.
The key concern: Trumps often act as entries, or they stop the enemy from cashing all their winners - because we can trump them. If we deplete dummy of trumps, sometimes we can't stop the enemy's attack.
3) You need to preserve entries and communication
Some contracts fail because declarer draws trumps too fast and then cannot reach the right hand at the right time.
Hot tip: It can take a while for a bridge player to start seeing trumps as "entries". One of the biggest resources in bridge is entries, we need to use them wisely.
If we don't have entries, we can't move between hands when we need to.
Where to next
Build the habit with guided practice
Reading helps, but trainer reps are what make bidding decisions automatic under pressure. Use the trainer to train your mind and lock this theme in.
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