opportunity to win a trick in the suit led. Scissors coup The Scissors coup is so named because it cuts communications between defenders, most commonly by discarding a key card from either the declarer's own hand or dummy. This enables declarer to prevent the defenders transferring the lead; usually for a defensive ruff. Trump coup The Trump coup happens in the end-game when declarer needs to finesse in trumps but doesn't have one to lead up. It is often associated with a Trump Reduction. Vienna coup The Vienna coup is the act of cashing an ace opposite the queen (or, more generically, an immediate winner opposite a menace) in order to enable a squeeze to work on either opponent. Deceptive coups Some coups rely on the opponents making a mistake. Grosvenor gambit The act of deliberately misplaying a hand in order to induce a mistake by an opponent which results in either the same or a superior result. Even when the gambit does not yield a material gain, it usually induces a big psychological impact on the opponents who were offered a trick for free but couldn't have believed it were possible. Idiot coup The act of only losing one trick when missing AKx of trumps. Declarer leads through one of the defenders hoping they will play the king from Kx which then falls under their partner's stiff ace. Obviously going up with the king is foolish because if declarer holds the ace, he has a legitimate line whereby he can escape a loser (play the ace and hope for stiff king or take a finesse), hence the name. An Idiot coup can also refer to a play that appears to present an alternative (losing) option to an opponent, but upon closer inspection could not possibly be the right one. For example, suppose declarer holds xx opposite KT in dummy. During the play of another suit LHO, who is holding AJx, discards the jack, knowing that he is only entitled to one trick in the suit in any case. Now when declarer leads the small card toward dummy and LHO follows low, he might think he has a "guess" in the suit, when in fact LHO would have no reason to discard the jack if he also had the queen. (That is, unless LHO is trying to Grosvenor him.) Illegal coups There are also a number of illegal coups: Alcatraz