Trumps

Some bridge deals are played with a trump suit. A trump suit means that if you can᾿t follow suit and you play that suit, you win the trick. You win unless someone else played a higher trump. Let᾿s modify an example from the tricks page.

This time East wins the trick because hearts are trump.

A note on slang: We use the terms ruff, overruff, and underruff to describe playing a trump when another suit was led.

• ruff: To play a trump when trumps weren᾿t led.
• overruff: To play a trump higher than one already played, when trumps weren᾿t led.
• underruff: To play a lower trump than one already played, when trumps weren᾿t led.

In the trick above, South overruffed East.

If you have a trump in your hand and it᾿s your lead, you may always lead it. Here is a small example of someone leading trump.

North and South lead trumps first. This prevents East or West from ruffing the ♥A.