Dubious Logic

Introducing Mrs Ottlik

I've mentioned this elsewhere but the observation retains its ability to entrance; how beginners dearly love cross-ruff play but how often experienced players eschew it. The delicious delight of those small trumps taking tricks! But how that quickly fades. As we develop enough ability to think and plan the play, the calculation required to go hand to hand, protecting the order of play against over-ruff, having to take our plain suit winners yet conserve those entries take a toll. For such a sequence of play are among the longest lines of calculation we have to make – a slip and the opponents will lead trumps and spoil it all. Far easier the expert's squeeze: lose all the tricks you may, run your winners, note the discards – duck soup by comparison.

And then there's Mrs Ottlik's rule; "You can never tell with these tricky trump things". Somewhere in the strange mechanic of ruffing there are things that you have never considered. I was too hasty here - it was late, the light was poor – a hand from an Ipswich and Kesgrave evening, analysed in The Bell:

Peter Sutcliffe's cue-bid showed at least a constructive three-card raise, Colin Bamberger's opening showed five and Robert Green led the ♥10.

I won, played ♦Q, Robert Green, took ♦A and switched smartly to a trump. I played to bring down ♦K without success (I needed short trumps in the short diamond hand too). I pretty much knew that the game was up when the spade was played but there was some chance that East might think I had ♦KQ and was trying to pitch a club.

Playing a club is technically better - after all, East might have had ♣A and not ♦A. Caroline Gemmell tried that; low, king, ace for another club. Phew! Now the decks seemed clear for a cross-ruff and I pronounced – in the poor light etc. – that she was now home free. But Caroline astutely observed, it's not as simple as that. Club ruff, ♥ ruff, ♣ ruff, ♥ ruff, ♣ ruff, ♥ ruff - on the third or fourth club (2nd or 3rd ruff) West will try the ♠10 and that will promote her partner's ♠9. But for some reason East sacrificed the game-defeating card, choosing to ruff a heart that was destined to be trumped with a high honour. Got that? Let's have a look at the point of impact when West has an opportunity to influence matters, as the third club is led from South:

With only the heart ace as a trick outside trumps, North needs nine trump tricks – that's all of them. Let's say West ruffs with the spade four. Odd but that's the sort of things people do (as we saw above with East's play at the table). No loss surely? North over-ruffs, ruffs another heart and plays another club. Now West tries the spade ten – too late! North declines to ruff, throwing a diamond and as West has no trump to lead, North cannot be stopped from completing his cross-ruff.

So let's guide West properly and ruff in with the ♠10. North will have to over-ruff and ruff another heart, lead another club. West is on play again – maybe he can do more damage with another ruff? He contributes the ♠4 and North over-ruffs again, ruffs his last heart and ruffs the last club. We are here:

North has to score the eight of spades to make game and exits with the last heart. What does East discard? There is only one card that works. The ace of diamonds. Keep that card and East will have to lead into the trump tenace at trick twelve.

So, failing to conserve that little four of trumps is either fatal – if you let go of it too soon – or puts some uncomfortable pressure on the defence later on. You see, you need that trump to lead.

The diligent can persuade themselves that declarer can always make ten tricks on the ♥10 lead by setting up clubs via a club to the nine. So it wasn't a cross-ruff hand after all…