All News

Daily Bridge in New Zealand

Avoiding the “ruff”.

No matter how it is spelt, you want to avoid it whether you have a club or 13 cards in your hand. We cannot be much help here with the former but let’s see if a ruff can be avoided at the table.

Bridge in NZ.pngnz map.jpg

South Deals
E-W Vul
A 8 6 5 4
Q 5
A Q 4 2
K 5
   
N
W   E
S
   
 
J 10 2
K J 6 2
K J 9 7
A 3
West North East South
      1 NT
Pass 2  Pass 2 
Pass 3  Pass 4 
All pass      

 

1NT was 12-14. North transferred to spades and bid their second suit; South jumped to the spade game. West led Diamond-small6, with East following. Plan the play.

When an opponent leads a suit in which you have all the high honours, they are either making a passive lead or are after a ruff because the lead is from a one or two card suit. When you and dummy have a combined 8 cards in that suit, you know that one opponent or the other will score a ruff on the third round of the suit if you actually survive without conceding a ruff earlier.

On the board above, you have only one initial problem and that is in the trump suit. You have to lose a trick to the Heart-smallA but otherwise your side-suits are excellent. The possibility of an imminent ruff has produced a second issue. Thus, the more trumps you can draw quickly, the less chance there is of conceding a ruff.

You are fortunate in that you can make your contract even if you lose two trump tricks. With such a “gappy” trump holding, you are likely to lose two trump tricks no matter how you play the suit. Your best chance of having just one loser is that one opponent has Spade-smallKQ doubleton, and to benefit from that, you do not want to take a finesse. Fortunately, that fits in with the plan of drawing two rounds of trumps as quickly as possible…laying down Spade-smallA and that line had an added advantage on the actual lay-out:

South Deals
E-W Vul
A 8 6 5 4
Q 5
A Q 4 2
K 5
Q 9 7 3
9 8 7 4
6
Q 7 6 4
 
N
W   E
S
 
K
A 10 3
10 8 5 3
J 10 9 8 2
 
J 10 2
K J 6 2
K J 9 7
A 3
West North East South
      1 NT
Pass 2  Pass 2 
Pass 3  Pass 4 
All pass      

 

Leading a low spade from dummy would be a good play if East held Spade-smallKQ9x though would create three losers on the more common situation when East held Spade-smallKQx and West scored a ruff with their small doubleton. Laying down the Spade-smallA is also the big winner above. West can now only score two trump tricks because East holds the Spade-smallA, giving East the entry to give their partner a ruff. After playing Spade-smallA, a second spade goes to West’s Spade-smallQ. East signals for a heart to be played but the ruff is the third and last trick the defence gets.

After a low spade from dummy at trick 2, East can give their partner not just one ruff but two .. and that’s three trump losers and Heart-smallA.

There are many situations where you have to forgo a standard finesse to draw two rounds of trumps quickly and cut down the possibility of conceding a ruff. On the above deal, where you are prepared to lose two trump tricks but not three, there is no clear line to follow, of trying a finesse or leading low away from the ace. So, risk losing to a bad break like KQ9x in one hand and avoid going down to more normal 3-2 breaks, a line which also provides you with a life-line with some 4-1 breaks as well. A singleton K or Q is twice as common as a singleton 9.

rough conceded.jpg

Out of 12 declarers in 4Spade-small, 7 failed, 4 after receiving a diamond lead. East would not be pleased at the other five tables when the Spade-smallA was played at trick 2.

Where is she?

Rightly or wrongly, you bid on after West’s annoying jump bid. Such double jumps should be banned…unless it is our side making them! foot-in-mouth

North Deals
None Vul
K 8 7
K Q 10 7
9 7 3
K 10 5
   
N
W   E
S
   
 
A J 10 9 6 5
A J 4 2
8
J 6
West North East South
  1 NT Pass 2 
5  Pass Pass 5 
All pass      

 West started off with Diamond-smallA which felled East’s Diamond-smallQ and on West’s Diamond-smallK, East threw a nebulous Club-small4 (With the Club-small3 and 2 missing, this might be asking for a club switch (low encourage) or might not! You ruff and try a couple rounds of trumps with West throwing a diamond on the second round.

You need to make 11 tricks. You need to “find” that Spade-smallQ. If and when you play spades, both opponents follow to the first round.

Richard Solomon

Go Back View All News Items

Our Sponsors
  • Tauranga City Council
  • TECT.jpg