Hand
of the Fortnight
Theme:
Cross-ruffing
You are sitting West. Dealer is South. The bidding has gone
S W N
E
/
1D
/
1H
/
1S
/
2S
/
/
//
Opening lead: Cx taken by South’s CA.
These are the hands that you have to manage:
West:
East:
S: Q T 8 4
S: K 9 3
2
H: K
H: A T 9 4
2
D: A J 6 4 3
D:
7
C: K 9 8
C: 7 6
2
Trick 2: South returns a Club. Your King captures – North apparently encouraging Clubs.
Q: If you lead a Spade, you risk also losing a Club trick immediately. Assuming the N/S hands are
reasonably distributed, how should you play the hand?
A:
Looking for somewhere to discard the losing Club, have
you seen how to use the HA?
Trick 3:
Play the HK (& H2 from Dummy)..
“ 4:
Lead the DA
“ 5:
Lead the D3. Trump in dummy with S2.
“ 6:
Lead the HA. Discard the losing C9 from West’s hand.
“ 7: Lead the C7. Ruff with West’s S4 (or higher if North has played High – Low
{
to
show a Doubleton Club).
“ 8:
Lead a Diamond. Ruff with S3.
“ 9:
Lead a Heart. Ruff with S8.
This is
“Cross-ruffing”
“ 10:
Lead a Diamond. Ruff high with SK.
At some stage you will probably be over-ruffed. An astute N/S player would soon lead a trump at you to cut down on the cross-ruffing.
Extra
Point: If you have tricks in
the 4th suit (i.e. not used in the
cross-ruff),
cash
them early in the play to avoid them being
trumped
later. Then start cross-ruffing.
* * * * * * * * * *