Trump Coup

Sometimes you can see exactly where the missing trump honors are, but you can’t finesse in the normal way. The defender’s king sits nicely placed for a finesse, but you have no way to lead toward your holding. Or worse, you’re out of trumps in the hand you’d need to lead from.

That’s when you execute a trump coup. Instead of leading toward your tenace, you reduce your own trump length until you have the same number as the defender. Then you lead a side suit, and the defender gets endplayed into ruffing or underruffing. Either way, you pick up their trump honor.

It’s a spectacular play when it works. And unlike many advanced techniques, you’ll get chances to use it.

The Basic Position

Here’s the simplest trump coup:

           ♠ A Q
           ♥ —
           ♦ A 2
           ♣ —

♠ 7                 ♠ K 6
♥ —                 ♥ —
♦ K 8               ♦ Q J
♣ —                 ♣ —

           ♠ J 10
           ♥ A
           ♦ —
           ♣ —

Spades are trump. East has the ♠K-6 over your ♠J-10. You’re in your hand with no spades in dummy. If you lead a spade now, East wins the king and their ♠6 takes another trick. You’re down one.

The normal play would be leading from dummy toward your ♠J-10, but dummy is out of trumps. Can’t be done.

Solution: Play the ♥A. East must ruff or discard. If they ruff low, you overruff with the ♠J and the ♠10 draws their king. If they ruff with the king, you discard from dummy and your ♠J-10 are both good.

That’s a trump coup. You forced East to ruff first, putting you in the favorable position.

The Key: Trump Reduction

The tricky part? You need the same number of trumps as the defender you’re couping. In the position above, both you and East had two trumps when you played the heart.

If you’d had three trumps to their two, the coup wouldn’t work. You’d play the ♥A, they’d ruff, you’d overruff, but now you’d still have two trumps to their one. You’d eventually have to lead trumps and lose to the king.

So before executing the coup, you must reduce your trump length. This usually means ruffing something in your own hand - the hand with the trump tenace.

A Full Hand Example

           ♠ A Q 6 4
           ♥ K 7
           ♦ A 9 8 5
           ♣ K 5 2

♠ 8 7              ♠ K J 10
♥ Q J 10 9 6 2     ♥ 5 4
♦ 6 3              ♦ K Q J 10
♣ 9 7 3            ♣ Q J 10 8

           ♠ 9 5 3 2
           ♥ A 8 3
           ♦ 7 4 2
           ♣ A 6 4

You’re in 4♠. West leads the ♥Q. East follows low at trick one.

You can count your losers: three potential spade losers if they’re 3-0, plus two diamonds. Even if spades are 2-1, you have a diamond loser. You need to avoid losing three spade tricks.

Take the ♥A and play a spade to the ace. Bad news - East shows out, pitching a diamond. West started with ♠K-J-10.

A normal finesse won’t help because you can’t lead from dummy twice. But you can set up a trump coup.

Here’s the plan:

  1. Ruff a heart in your hand (reducing your trumps from three to two)
  2. Cash dummy’s minor suit winners
  3. Play a red suit from dummy, forcing West to ruff

After taking the ♠A and seeing the bad break, play like this:

  • Cash the ♥K
  • Ruff a heart with the ♠9
  • Cash the ♣A-K
  • Cash the ♦A
  • Lead a diamond from dummy

You’re now down to ♠5-3-2 in hand. West has ♠K-J-10. When you lead that diamond, West must ruff. If they ruff low, you overruff and your remaining trump takes their king. If they ruff with an honor, you discard your club loser and your two remaining trumps are both higher than West’s remaining cards.

Contract made through a trump coup.

The Grand Coup

There’s a spectacular variation called the grand coup. It’s the same idea, but you reduce your trump length by ruffing dummy’s winners. Yes, you deliberately ruff good tricks to get your trump count down.

           ♠ 6 5
           ♥ A K Q
           ♦ 9 8 7 6
           ♣ A K Q 2

♠ K J 10            ♠ 8 7
♥ 9 7 6 5 3         ♥ 4 2
♦ 5 3               ♦ K Q J 10 4
♣ 9 7 5             ♣ J 10 8 6

           ♠ A Q 9 4 3 2
           ♥ J 10 8
           ♦ A 2
           ♣ 4 3

You’re in 6♠. West leads a diamond to East’s king. You win the ace.

Play a spade to the ace. West shows out, pitching a heart. East has ♠K-J-10 behind your ♠Q-9-4-3. You have five trumps, East has three. The normal finesse is impossible - you can’t lead from dummy enough times.

You need to reduce your five trumps down to three to match East. How? Ruff dummy’s good hearts!

  • Play the ♥A-K
  • Ruff the ♥Q with a high spade
  • Cross to the ♣A
  • Ruff a heart (dummy’s fourth heart) with another spade
  • Cross to the ♣K
  • Play a club or diamond from dummy

Now you’re down to three trumps, same as East. When dummy leads that last minor, East is stuck. Ruff low? You overruff and draw their remaining trumps. Ruff high? You pitch your diamond loser and your remaining ♠Q-9 are good.

That’s the grand coup - ruffing winners to get your trump count right. It looks insane when you do it, but it’s the only way to make the hand.

Coup en Passant

Another variation is the coup en passant (French for “in passing”). You have trump length over a defender but can’t finesse normally. You arrange to make a trump trick by having the defender ruff and you overruff.

The key difference from a normal trump coup: you’re not reducing to equal length. You’re deliberately forcing the defender to ruff, knowing you can overruff profitably.

           ♠ A 6 5
           ♥ K Q J
           ♦ K 8 7
           ♣ A 7 6 2

♠ K 9 8 4           ♠ 7
♥ 10 9 5            ♥ 7 6 4 3
♦ J 10 9            ♦ Q 6 5 4 3
♣ Q 9 4             ♣ J 10 8

           ♠ Q J 10 3 2
           ♥ A 8 2
           ♦ A 2
           ♣ K 5 3

You’re in 4♠. West leads the ♦J.

Win the ♦A and play a trump. West takes the ♠K and continues diamonds. You win dummy’s ♦K.

Now you can draw trumps and claim… except West still has the ♠9-8 over your ♠J-10. If you lead trumps from dummy, you lose two more tricks.

Instead, run dummy’s hearts. On the third heart, West must make an uncomfortable discard. If they pitch a club, you can establish a club trick. But if they pitch their last diamond, you’re ready.

Cash the ♦A and lead your last diamond. West must ruff, and you overruff. Now your remaining trumps are good enough to draw theirs.

You scored a trump trick en passant - in the act of overruffing.

Planning the Trump Coup

When you see a bad trump break that prevents normal finessing, ask yourself:

  1. Can I reduce my trump length to match the defender’s?
  2. Do I have enough entries to dummy to do the reduction and then play a side suit at the end?
  3. Can I get the timing right so both hands are out of the side suit I’ll use for the coup?

The hardest part is usually entries. You need to get back and forth between hands, ruff things, and still be in dummy to lead the final coup card.

Count your entries before you start. Map out the entire sequence. A trump coup executed at trick eleven doesn’t help if you can’t get there.

When to Look for It

Anytime you see:

  • A bad trump break with honors sitting over your tenace
  • No way to lead toward your tenace from dummy
  • Enough trumps in your hand to ruff for reduction
  • Entries to execute the plan

The opponents won’t see it coming. They’ll think they have a safe trump trick, then watch it vanish as you ruff down and execute the coup.

Not every hand with a bad trump break offers a trump coup. But when the elements align, it’s one of the most satisfying plays in bridge. You convert a hand that looks hopeless into a making contract through careful planning and precise execution.

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