Ruff high, low or discard? (2)

Last week I featured a common scenario in card play; declarer leads a winner, dummy (or the closed hand) is void. The defender caught between those two hands has the choice of ruffing high to win the trick, low and be overruffed, or discarding. With only low trumps it is almost always right to ruff, to 'kill' declarer's winner – in effect, forcing him to trump his own trick.

The situation is harder to assess when ruffing low imperils the defensive trump holding. Usually, however, ruffing low is still best. This is the recent deal that prompted a return to the topic. It is complicated by being at matchpoints, where the number of tricks is an unknown target, but that's pairs for you. North-South only vulnerable.

West
North
East
South
 
Partner
 
You
—
11
1NT2
Pass
23
Pass
2
All Pass
  1. Clubs or longer minor if 11-13/17-19 balanced
  2. "15-17 Bal"
  3. 5+ Hearts

Dummy

  • 1074
  • 107653
  • KJ10
  • J4
N
W
E
S

You

  • Q853
  • Q84
  • 97654
  • 9

The defence starts smartly enough, singleton club lead, four, ace, three. Partner returns the two, his lowest spot, suit preference for the lower of diamonds and spades. North plays low, you ruff dummy's knave and continue the diamond seven (denying an honour), North takes his ace to lead a third round of clubs here,

Dummy

  • 1074
  • 107653
  • KJ
  • ---
N
W
E
S

You

  • Q853
  • Q8
  • 9654
  • ---

East, declarer, puts in the ten, do you,

  1. Ruff high – with Q?
  2. Ruff low – 8?
  3. Discard?

Remember if South ruffs high or discards, a likely spade loser will go away. The other critical suit is trumps, now reduced to 12 cards (missing the four-spot). One layout,

  • J9
  • 107653
W
E
  • AK2
  • Q8

If South ruffs low the defence never makes another trump and must hope for compensation in the spade suit. But give North the heart two and now ruffing low doesn't cost a trick. That's also true here,

  • K9
  • 107653
W
E
  • AJ2
  • Q8

Again, if South ruffs low (to stop the spade discard) there is still a heart trick for the defence. Ruffing with the queen loses both a spade trick (discarded) and allows East to finesse in trumps. More detailed this time, if North is a card longer,

  • K92
  • 107653
W
E
  • AJ
  • Q8

Ruffing low still does not cost a trick as North's nine is promoted.

Only one-suit positions but… hard to picture in the heat of play. But in the cool of analysis they support the idea that ruffing low is less scary than it looks.

After South's actual high ruff and diamond continuation won in West, this was the actual layout,

  • K2
  • KJ2
  • ---
  • Q87
  • 107
  • 107653
  • J
  • ---
N
W
E
S
  • AJ96
  • A9
  • Q
  • K
  • Q853
  • 8
  • 954
  • ---

Declarer led a heart to the nine. It would not have helped North to split his now-equal honours. The remaining play was heart ace then club king, discarding another spade from West, conceding just a trump to the king. The defence took no spades, three hearts and the two minor aces. Had South ruffed low the defence scores a spade in addition. Let's not be hard on South; none of this is easy and, at matchpoints, grabbing a winner is a good reflex.

Published Saturday 20.Apr.2024