Source: acblunit234.org

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

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

Auction goes:

West	North	East	South
2	Dbl	3	Pass
Pass	Dbl	Pass	4
Pass	Pass	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