No, those ruffs are in the “long
hand”. Declarer’s five trumps have already been included in the trick total,
and using two of them for ruffing does not create two extra trump tricks. But
getting a couple of ruffs in the “short hand”, well that is an entirely
different kettle of fish. That’s right, you can make your contract by arranging
two Spade ruffs in Dummy. Can you afford to draw trumps first?
►
No, getting those ruffs must be
done early in the play. It won’t do to draw two rounds of trumps (hoping they
are 2-2) and then to lose a Spade. If trumps turn out to be 3-1, then the
defender with the last trump will be sure to win the Spade and return a trump,
holding you to a single ruff. It’s OK to draw just one round of trumps, but
then the Spade trick must be conceded. Now, whatever the defense does, you get
those two ruffs in the short hand for a total of 12 tricks.
►
|
|
♠ 32
♥
Q832
♦
AK52
♣ K43 |
|
|
♠ KQT97
♥
4
♦
98763
♣ 75 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ J8
♥
765
♦
QJT4
♣ QJT2 |
|
|
♠ A654
♥
AKJT9
♦
♣ A986 |
|
It was fortunate for Declarer
that Dummy showed up with the
♥8!
If you were to exchange Dummy’s
♥8
with East’s ♥7,
then the slam fails (East can over-ruff one of the Spade tricks). When East
curses his rotten luck in being dealt that inadequate
♥7,
the customary retort is “But we would never have bid the slam without the
♥8”
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