Author's note: This hand teaches a crucial lesson — not all trump contracts require drawing trumps immediately. Sometimes, you need dummy's trumps for ruffing losers and maintaining entries. Watch how this restraint sets up an elegant endplay. — MDLJ
South opens 1♥ with six hearts and 13 HCP. North raises to 3♥ with four-card support and 12 points. South accepts the invitation to game.
Two spade losers and one club loser are certain. The normal route would be to finesse in diamonds — but declarer can instead eliminate the side suits and endplay West.
The Play (Trick by Trick)
Contract: 4♥ by South. West leads ♠4 (fourth-best).
- Trick 1 — Spade to the ace.
West leads ♠4. North plays ♠6, East wins ♠A and returns a spade. South follows low.
- Trick 2 — Second spade.
East continues with ♠K. South covers with ♠Q, North and West follow small. The defenders have taken their two spade tricks.
- Trick 3 — Third spade; the suit is dead.
East continues with a third spade. South follows with ♠2, dummy follows, and West discards. Declarer allows the defenders to exhaust their safe spade exits.
- Trick 4 — Start drawing trumps, but only partially.
South plays ♥K, all follow. Declarer draws one round only, keeping dummy’s hearts for later entries.
- Trick 5 — Eliminate clubs.
South leads ♣9 to dummy’s ♣A, then ruffs a club with ♥3 in hand. Clubs are now eliminated.
- Trick 6 — Return to dummy with a trump.
South leads a low heart to dummy’s ♥T (or ♥A). This re-establishes dummy for the diamond play.
- Trick 7 — Attack diamonds.
Dummy leads a small diamond to declarer’s ♦A, then ♦Q to force out West’s ♦K. The defender who wins is marked for the endplay.
- Trick 8 — The throw-in develops.
When West wins a diamond, he has no safe exit: any club gives a ruff-and-discard, a heart concedes tempo, and another diamond returns into declarer’s tenace. Declarer wins and claims ten tricks.
Result: South makes 10 tricks without taking a finesse. Timing and restraint do the work.
Why This Works
- The defenders’ spades are fully removed early — no safe exit later.
- Clubs are stripped from both hands before the endplay.
- Trumps are managed carefully so dummy retains entries.
- When West wins a diamond, he is endplayed — any return helps declarer.
Key insight: The endplay replaces a 50% diamond finesse with a 100% sure plan by eliminating the opponents’ safe exit cards.
Why Trump Management Was Crucial
- Drawing all trumps early would remove dummy’s entries.
- We needed dummy’s trumps to ruff a club and regain the lead twice.
- By keeping three dummy hearts, we maintained control for the elimination and throw-in.
The Lesson: In elimination play, dummy’s trumps are often worth more as entries than as immediate winners.
Alternative Lines That Fail
If you draw trumps immediately: Dummy loses all entries, you can’t ruff a club, and you must rely on the diamond finesse (which loses).
If you take the finesse early: West wins ♦K and returns a club before elimination is complete, defeating the endplay.
Wrap-Up and Key Takeaways
Three lessons:
- Don’t automatically draw trumps.
- Preserve entries for eliminations and ruffs.
- Endplays often turn a guess into a certainty.
This endplay shows declarer thinking several tricks ahead — visualizing the defender on lead with no safe exit. That foresight is what separates routine declarers from expert ones.
Practice This Hand
Download the PBN file (endplay_4hearts.pbn)
Dealer: West. Opening lead: ♠4.