This Week in Bridge
(610) The Power of the Crossruff
© AiB Robert S. Todd
Level: 5 of 10 robert@advinbridge.com
General
When declaring in a suit contract, one of the most exciting ways to win tricks is to trump with our small trump. This is especially satisfying when we can trump the opponent’s honor cards – like their Aces and Kings! If we do this ruffing in both our hand and in the dummy, then we can do some significant damage to the opponent’s potential winners. Let’s see how we can use the technique to take as many tricks as possible.
Crossruff
Ruffing back and forth between both our hand and the dummy is referred to as a crossruff. In situations like this, we can sometimes produce a large number of tricks without a significant number of high card points.
The High Crossruff
The safest of these crossruffs is when we are ruffing with all high trump.
Example 1
Dummy
♠ KQJT
♥ 543
♦ A5432
♣ 6
Declarer
♠ A987
♥ 876
♦ 6
♣ A5432
If our LHO leads ♣ or ♦, we can win this with an Ace, cash the other minor suit Ace, and continue by ruffing 4 ♣ in the dummy and 4 ♦ in our hand – making 10 tricks.
Crossruff
When we are not lucky enough to have all high trump, then there is a chance that at some point our opponents could overruff.
Example 2
Dummy
♠ KQ54
♥ 543
♦ A5432
♣ 6
Declarer
♠ AJ32
♥ 876
♦ 6
♣ A5432
In this situation if we ruff our early ♣ and ♦ with the high trump, then we will be left to ruff our later minor suit losers with the low trump – which are certain to be overruffed. When playing a hand like this we need to try to ruff with our little trump early, while the opponents are still following suit to our minor suits. Then, by the time the opponents are in a position to “overruff” we are ruffing with high trump and are safe.
The Magical Crossruff
One of most interesting types of hands is where we have two losers but somehow find a way to take 12 tricks. How can that be? Take a look at this hand:
Example 3
Dummy
♠ K654
♥ A53
♦ AK32
♣ 62
Declarer
♠ A732
♥ K76
♦ 62
♣ AK32
When we look at this hand we see a ♠ loser and a ♥ loser, but if we get the timing right (and the cards lay friendly), then we can cash our two high trump, our two high ♥, two high ♦, and two high ♣ for 8 tricks. Then we can crossruff with both of our little trump in the dummy and in our hand for a total of 12 tricks!
How can we have 12 winners and two losers? We accomplish this by losing the last trick twice! At trick 13, one of our opponents has the high ♥ and the other wins the trick with the high ♠. Crossruffing sure is a lot of fun!
Conclusion
In a normal trump fit (like a 5-3 or a 4-4) if we use our trump to draw trump it costs us two trump to each trick we play. That is a very inefficient use of our trump and it is particularly bad if we play two trump and do not win the trick. If we crossruff the hand, then we get to “score” our trump separately and win a large number of tricks from very few trump. Make sure that you look for ways to get the most out of your trump suit and focus on accomplishing that by ruffing as much as possible. This is the power of the crossruff!