Source: acblunit234.org by Amit Chakrabarti
Ruff and Sluff is considered the cardinal sin in Bridge. Many Bridge players think like this: If I ever give a ruff and a sluff, I will be the talk of the town. Next time I am in a Bridge tournament, I can see them pointing at me; I can hear them whispering: Amit is such a weak player — you know what he did in the last tournament? In this column I will give you examples when Ruff and Sluff (R&S) is the correct defense.
There are two types of situations when R&S is the right thing to do:
1) Giving declarer a useless R&S rather than a finesse that he cannot take otherwise
and
2) setting up a trump trick by doing so.
I. R&S Type 1 — giving declarer a useless R&S
| Dummy | ||
 K J 10 5 3 A 8 6 3 A 8 7 2 |
||
| You | ||
| A Q 6 J 9 7 6 Q J T J 9 5 |
The contract is 5.
Trick 1. Partner leads the 5 and you win the Q
Trick 2. You play the A which declarer ruffs. Declarer started with 1 spade.
Trick 3. Declarer cashes A
Trick 4 Declarer cashes the K. Partner shows out. Declarer started with 5 diamonds.
Trick 5-7 Declarer plays A, K, Q. Partner follows all three times. Declarer started with 3 hearts. Hence he started with 4 clubs.
Trick 8 Declarer plays a to your Q.
What do you return?
Returning a might give him the contract. For example the suit might look like:
| A 8 7 2 |
||
| Q 3 |
J 9 5 |
|
| K 10 6 4 |
But playing another heart although gives a ruff and a sluff cannot allow the contract to make as declarer started with 4 clubs.
II. R&S Type II— Creating a trump trick for Defense
| Dummy | ||
| A K Q 5 A K 8 7 J 4 9 4 3 |
||
| You | ||
| 4 3 2 10 9 K Q 9 7 3 2 A 10 |
Auction goes:
| West | North | East | South |
| 2 |
dbl | 3 |
Pass |
| Pass | dbl | Pass | 4 |
| All Pass |
Amit’s rule: If the opponents want to play in Gerber (4) or Derber (4; this word is my invention), let them.
Trick 1. You lead the K of D which holds. Partner plays the T (attitude for A).
Trick 2. You continue with the Q of D which holds. It is clear that partner has the A of D and declarer is out of Ds. How do you continue?
Trick 3. Two things should catch your attention. The T of trumps that you have and the major suit strength in dummy. So continue with D and give a ruff and a sluff. R&S type2.
When declarer next plays trump, win declarer’s K with the Ace and play a 4th D. Partner ruffs with the J and your T becomes the setting trick.
References:
Example 1 is from Official Encyclopedia of Bridge published by ACBL. Example 2 is taken from “The Deadly Defence Quiz Book” by W. Izdebski, R. Krzemien, and Ron Klinger
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