From                   12th July, 2006, Board 8

                                          Theme                Cross-Ruffing

                                          Difficulty            * * *

                                          Dlr West             None Vul

West leads the Q♦.

Relying on Clubs looks fraught with danger, it may not be possible to set up the Clubs, and draw trumps, and retain an entry to the board to enjoy the Clubs ... lots of work to do!

If not that, then where are your 10 tricks coming from?

SOLUTION

We have an over-ruffing situation in the Spade suit, and, if that Diamond lead is from length we'll be over-ruffing in that suit, too.  Yes, the hand looks ripe for a cross-ruff.  Win the Diamond lead on the board and take the Club finesse at Trick Two.  When it wins, cash all the side-suit winners, which gets the total up to 5, and then ruff Spades and Diamonds back and forth.

After we have cashed our 5 side-suit winners and ruffed a Spade, when we lead a Diamond from the board, East ruffs in with the Jack.  Good play!  That singleton trump wasn't about to serve any useful purpose, so why not try to promote something in Partner's hand.  Anyway, South overruffs, and proceeds with the cross-ruff, scoring 10 tricks ... if East hadn't ruffed in with the Jack it would have been 11 tricks.

Keys to Success

   - Realizing that the over-ruffing positions in Spades and Diamonds were suitable for a cross-ruff

   - Cashing the side-suit winners before embarking on the cross-ruff