The Schnapsen Log
Trump Entries (solution)
Martin Tompa
Lore brushes some crumbs off the table and turns her charming attention to Peter. “Schatzi, think about the situation when you trumped that ♦J. Here, I’ll help you.” With this she rearranges the cards on the table.
Peter: (31 points)
♠ AK
♥ K
♣ Q
♦ —You: (39 points)
♠ TQ
♥ A
♣ —
♦ K
“You were on lead,” Lore continues, “and led ♣Q. You should have been thinking about that last trump in your hand.”
“I did think about it,” Peter replies. “Hey, what happened to my Linzertorte? I thought about my last trump and realized I could set it up as the master trump.”
“Wrong way to think about it, Schatzi,” says Lore. “That ‘master’ trump was a distinct liability to you. It’s the entry back into your hand for the endplay in spades. You should have been thinking, ‘I wish I wasn’t holding this trump entry,’ and maybe then you would have led it instead of the ♣Q. Your opponent would win your ♥K with ♥A and cash ♦K, on which you could discard your worthless ♣Q, but then would have been endplayed in spades instead of you.”
“Oh, very nice!” you chime in. “It’s an elimination play, isn’t it? By getting rid of his trump entry, Peter eliminates my exit card ♦K.”
“Right,” Lore agrees.
“You said that I made a mistake too?” you go on. “What was it?”
“Oh,” replies Lore, “you gave Peter the chance for this elimination play. You see, you had an elimination play yourself one trick earlier. If you hadn’t been in such a rush to force Peter with ♦J and had simply cashed your ♥A first, this would have eliminated the trump entry back into your own hand. Here is what it would have looked like after you cashed ♥A.” She moves a few cards around on the table.
Peter: (19 points)
♠ AK
♥ T
♣ Q
♦ —You: (54 points)
♠ TQ
♥ —
♣ —
♦ KJ
Lore continues: “Now, when you lead ♦J, it throws Peter in and he is helpless this time, because you’ve eliminated ♥K, which was his exit card. He can cash ♣Q, on which you discard your worthless ♦K, but then he is endplayed and must open up the spades. He will get to, let’s see, 21, 31, 34, 38 points, and then cash ♠A for 52, but you will take ♠T in the end for 68.”
Lore is a very smart cookie.
© 2012 Martin Tompa. All rights reserved.
