Pages 1-12 (3.1mb) - Mr Bridge

Bernard Magee SaysRuff in theShort HandFirstly, let me define ‘short hand’.When you are playing in a trumpcontract, we call the hand(declarer or dummy) with longer trumpsthe long hand and the hand with theshorter trumps the short hand.Some ruffs you aim for and some youhave forced upon you. The ones you aimfor either create extra tricks, or are worthextra tricks in their own right. Ruffs inthe short hand are very often worth extratricks in their own right:♠ 9 8 7♥ 3♦ 9 5 4 3 2♣ A 10 5 2NW ES♠ A K Q J 10♥ A J 5♦ A♣ K Q J 9Contract: 7♠ by South. Lead: ♦K.Spades are trumps and your target isthirteen tricks. You have a singleton ineach hand, but you do not try to ruff inboth hands – generally you go for ruffsin the short hand. You start with fivetrump tricks but need more. Ruffinghearts in the short hand is the way to dothis. Each time you ruff a heart youmake an extra trick as you still have fivetrump tricks in your hand.How different the case is if you try toruff diamonds in the South hand. Nowinstead of gaining a trick you are justmaking the same five trumps: only asfour top trump tricks and a ruff. Indeed,not only do you not gain a trick, but youalso shorten your trumps. This couldprove disastrous as you can see from thefull diagram.♠ 9 8 7♥ 3♦ 9 5 4 3 2♣ A 10 5 2♠ Void ♠ 6 5 4 3 2♥ K 9 7 6 N ♥ Q 10 8 4 2♦ K Q J 8 6W ES ♦ 10 7♣ 8 6 4 3 ♣ 7♠ A K Q J 10♥ A J 5♦ A♣ K Q J 9The play is simple if you focus on ruffingin the short hand. You have eleven toptricks and so need just two ruffs. Take thered aces, ruff a heart and come to handwith a trump, on which West shows out.Then ruff another heart, come to handwith a club and finish drawing trumps.Your good clubs win the last three tricks.Eleven tricks have become thirteen byruffing twice in the short hand. Just onediamond ruff in the long hand and youwould have lost control as East wouldhave more trumps than you. Sel dom willtrumps break so badly, but you shouldavoid needless ruffs in the long hand.Here is a typical example of ruffing inthe short hand from a duplicate pairs:♠ K Q 7♥ 3 2♦ A 8 5 3♣ Q 7 6 5NW ES♠ A J 10 5 4♥ J 9 5♦ K 2♣ A K 2Contract: 4♠ by South. Lead: ♦Q.You count ten tricks on top and have achance of an eleventh from your clubsuit. However, a 3-3 break is against theodds, so you would like a surer way ofmaking an overtrick. Whenever you arelooking for extra tricks, always considerruffing in the short hand.♠ K Q 7♥ 3 2♦ A 8 5 3♣ Q 7 6 5♠ 9 8 6 ♠ 3 2♥ A 10 8 7 N ♥ K Q 6 4♦ Q J 10 6W ES ♦ 9 7 4♣ 10 4 ♣ J 9 8 3♠ A J 10 5 4♥ J 9 5♦ K 2♣ A K 2If you can ruff a heart in dummy, youmake your eleventh trick. Win the firstdiamond in hand and give up a heart.Win the trump return in dummy andplay another heart. Win the next trumpin hand, ruff a heart in dummy and crossto hand with a club to draw trumps.The defenders could have stopped youfrom making eleven tricks by leading atrump at trick one. Of course, as theclubs broke 4-2, there was no extra trickthere. Once again, note that ruffingdiamonds in the long hand would notgain tricks.ConclusionRuffing in the short hand nearly alwaysgains a trick, so you should always lookfor ways to do so in your plan. It is anespecially useful tactic in Pairs, wheremaking overtricks can be veryimportant. There are so many deals onwhich making that extra ruff will moveyou up the scoreboard.■Page 9