Refusal to Over-Ruff

There are many situations where the defense will gain a trick by refusing to over-ruff :

                       ---

                       8532

                       5

  54                                    ---

  KT6                                 7

  ---                                    9876

                      ---

                      AQJ97

                      ---

With diamonds trump, West leads a club.  South ruffs with the J and West refuses to over-ruff with the King, discarding a spade instead, and gets 2 trump tricks in return.  When South next cashes the Ace,  West has the KT over declarers Q9.

                      432

Q86                                K9

                     AJT75

South ruffs with the J.  If West over-ruffs with the Queen it will be their last trump trick as South can now finesse against East's King.   West discards, and the defense will score 2 trump tricks.

                     32

J854                           K6

                   AQT97

South ruffs with the 10, and West refuses to over-ruff, gaining a trump trick in the process. 

These situations are all similar in that West has refused to over-ruff with a natural trump trick, so the refusal could at worst cost nothing, and at best gain a trick.

Compiled by Lorne Russell 2005