PARTIAL ELIMINATION

This is a throw-in play depending on ruff-and-discard possibilities, in which the stripping process is incomplete. In a perfect elimination, the declarer eliminates all the suits which a defender may safely lead and then places upon this particular defendant the decision of conceding a ruff and sluff or leading into a tenace. This imperfect elimination arises when the declarer only partially eliminates the suits which a defender may safely lead. When this happens, the defender may lead to the advantage of the declarer or may play otherwise, depending on his distribution. The following example should clarify this concept.

Example 1

	10743 AK64 A5 962
6 J1082 10643 10873		QJ9 Q93 K872 J54
	AK852 75 QJ9 AKQ

South is the declarer and must fulfill a contract of 6 Spades.
West leads the Jack of Hearts.

South wins the first trick in the dummy, and discovers that West discards on the second round of trumps. It is apparent that East will take a trump trick, and South therefore avoids playing the Diamonds as an endplay. South plays the second top Heart, ruffs the third round in his hand. Then South proceeds to cash his three top Clubs, and then "throws" the lead to East by leading a small trump.

East is void in Clubs and Spades and Hearts at this point, and must lead a Diamond, away from his King of Diamonds. The strategy of South is called a Partial Elimination because he could only partially eliminate the Heart suit of East. South did not have the entries to eliminate the Hearts completely. This play has the additional advantage that if East did have the 13th Club as an exit card, East might have been unwilling to give South a ruff-sluff and may have led a Diamond anyway. This ruff-sluff could not possibly help South because South had only one trump left and South could not ruff both the Club return and also the last Heart in the dummy. In this example, the critical suit, Hearts, was eliminated from two of the four hands, also due to favorable distribution.

 

Example 2

	A10 J8752 A972 75
QJ972 K10 J6 Q1042		8543 Q Q1053 J963
	K6 A9643 K84 AK8

South is the declarer and must fulfill a contract of 6 Hearts.
West leads the Queen of Spades.

By means of Partial Elimination, South can fulfill the contract. South wins the Spade lead in his hand, and plays the Ace of Hearts, realizing that the King of trump does not fall. South then continues to eliminate his cards in the Spade suit and the Club suit by ruffing the losing Club in the dummy. South then cashes the Ace and King of Diamonds, followed by a small trump lead, which West wins.

This critical situation is possible, even though the critical suit must be eliminated from only one hand of one defender. West, now on lead, realizes that he has no Diamond to return, which would defeat the contract. West must lead either a Spade or a Club, which South ruffs in the dummy while discarding his losing Diamond.

 

 

If you wish to include this feature, or any other feature, of the game of bridge in your partnership agreement, then please make certain that the concept is understood by both partners. Be aware whether or not the feature is alertable or not and whether an announcement should or must be made. Check with the governing body and/or the bridge district and/or the bridge unit prior to the game to establish the guidelines applied. Please include the particular feature on your convention card in order that your opponents are also aware of this feature during the bidding process, since this information must be made known to them according to the Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge. We do not always include the procedure regarding Alerts and/or Announcements, since these regulations are changed and revised during time by the governing body. It is our intention only to present the information as concisely and as accurately as possible.

 

 

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