RUFFING PLAYS [4]
The nightmare of any declarer who aims at ruffing his losers is obviously to be overruffed with an illegitimate trump
by one of the defenders. To avoid this disastrous fate, we have several methods at our disposal. The most obvious is of course to ruff high… but first you need to have the means to do so, which is not always the case. Another solution is to ruff early. Example:
| W | N | E | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♠ | |||
| Pass | 2♠ | Pass | 2NT |
| Pass | 3♦ | Pass | 3♥ |
| Pass | 4♥ | Pass | 4♠ |
Lead: ♦K, won with the Ace.
You play matchpoint pairs.
To take eleven tricks, it is necessary to ruff two Hearts. Let’s imagine that South cashes the Ace and King of Hearts and then ruffs a first Heart safely. Back to hand and another Heart. At this point, the defense has only two Hearts left and if they split 2-0, the defense will get a trump trick. To prevent this, South must change the timing of his ruffs: Ace of Diamonds, Heart to the Ace, Heart ruff, Spade to the Ace and a second Heart ruff (no threat of an overruff unless in the unlikely event Hearts were 6-2), Diamond ruff and trumps. The Heart King can be peacefully cashed after all the outstanding Spades are drawn.
THERE’S ANOTHER FREQUENTLY USED METHOD FOR LIMITING THE RISK OF OVERRUFFS, WHICH YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THE FOLLOWING EXERCISES:
| W | N | E | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♣ | 1♦ | Pass | 1♠ |
| 2♣ | 2♠ | Pass | 4♠ |
Lead: ♣A (the 10 from East).
West continues with the King of Clubs (the 7 from East), then with the Queen.
West’s (not very skillful) second bid clearly reveals that East has no Clubs left and that you’re likely to go down if you ruff and are overuffed because you still have a Heart to lose. To make sure that you’ll make your contract in nearly 100% of the time, transfer the ruff by discarding dummy’s small Heart on this third round of Clubs. No matter what the defense plays at trick four, you can win the trick, draw trumps, unblock your Queen of Diamonds and then get to dummy with a Heart ruff and discard your other two losing Hearts on Ace-King of Diamonds.
| W | N | E | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♠ | |||
| Pass | 2♠ | Pass | 2NT |
| Pass | 3♥ | Pass | 6♠ |
Lead: ♥K.
You will make easily if Diamonds split 3-3, but you can also get your twelve tricks if they are 4-2. Ace of Hearts, Ace-King of Diamonds a Diamond ruffed with the Queen. You can now claim if they were 3-3. If not, you now play a Club to the Ace and another Diamond, discarding dummy’s Club, thus setting up your fifth Diamond on the one hand and opening the Club ruff on the other hand – with no risk of being overruffed. After the Club ruff you can peacefully draw trumps, going down only if Spades split 5-0 (or Diamonds 5-1).
