The Devil's Coup is a declarer play in
contract bridge
Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two Team game, competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each othe ...
that prevents the defense from taking an apparently natural trump trick – often called ''"the disappearing trump trick"''.
Example
A typical example is shown where spades are trumps and the lead is in dummy (North).
The 3 is led. If East ruffs low, then declarer overruffs low and cashes the ace and king of spades. If East ruffs high, declarer overruffs with the K and finesses West for the Q to make the remaining two tricks.
Devil's coups are very rare: not only the trump suit but the side suits must lie well for declarer. In practice, declarer might well decide to play the ace and king of trumps earlier in the hand, in an attempt to drop a doubleton QJ.
Dorothy Hayden
Dorothy Hayden Truscott (November 3, 1925 – July 4, 2006) was an American bridge player, winner of four world championships and the top-ranked woman for many years. In the late 1960s, she authored two books on the game and later co-authored two ...
, ''Winning Declarer Play'', Robert Hale & Co, 1969, p119-120,
See also
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Smother play
Smother play in contract bridge is a type of endplay where an opponent's apparent trump trick goes away.
Example
The situation can be illustrated with the following end-position:
Spades are trumps, and the lead is in the North (dummy hand, dummy) ...
*
Trump coup
The trump coup is a contract bridge coup used when the hand on lead (typically the dummy) has no trumps remaining, while the next hand in rotation has only trumps, including a high one that would have been onside for a direct finesse if a trump ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devil's Coup
Contract bridge coups