Promoting Trump Tricks with an Uppercut

An "uppercut" is an advanced defensive tactic designed to promote a trump trick for your partner. It involves deliberately ruffing a side-suit trick with a middle-ranking trump, forcing declarer to overruff with a high honour. By sacrificing your middle trump, you elevate partner's lower trump into a winner.

Why it works

If declarer holds strong, touching trump honours (like A-K-10), partner's queen or jack might be trapped and destined to fall when trumps are drawn. By ruffing with a card just high enough to force out declarer's ten or higher, you shatter their sequence, saving partner's card from being captured.

A worked example: Delivering the uppercut

The Contract: 4♠ by South.

Your Hand (West):

♠ 9 7

♥ 2

♦ K Q J 10 8 7

♣ 9 5 3 2

6 HCP.

Partner (East):

♠ Q 8 2

♥ A K 8 7 6

♦ 5 4

♣ A 7 4

13 HCP.

Dummy (North):

♠ J 4 3

♥ Q J 10

♦ 9 6 3 2

♣ K 10 8

7 HCP.

South (Declarer) Trumps: ♠ A K 10 6 5

You lead your singleton ♥2. East wins the ♥K. At trick two, East cashes the ♥A. You discard a club. At trick three, East returns a third heart.

If you ruff with the ♠7, declarer can overruff cheaply. But if you deliver an uppercut by ruffing with the ♠9, declarer is forced to overruff with the ♠10!

Because declarer had to spend the 10, they are left with A-K-6-5. Partner's ♠Q-8-2 is now safe. When declarer plays the Ace and King, partner's Queen will survive to become the master trump, securing the setting trick.

Four common mistakes

• Ruffing with your lowest trump when a higher one would force an honour from declarer.

• Delivering an uppercut when partner has already shown out of trumps.

• Overruffing partner when they have already forced declarer's high trump.

• Failing to recognise when partner is returning a suit specifically to let you uppercut.

When the rule does not apply

You should not waste a natural trump trick to perform an uppercut. If your trump was going to win a trick anyway (e.g., you hold the king and the ace is gone), ruffing with it does not create an extra trick; it merely swaps your trick for partner's.

Key takeaways

• Used to promote a defensive trump honour.

• Ruff with a middle trump to force a high overruff.

• Destroys declarer's sequence of high trumps.

• Requires visualizing partner's likely trapped honours.