Prevent a Ruff by Jon Brown

Dealer West E/W Vul.

	6 4 A Q 10 8 7 Q J 9 3 A K
A K Q 8 3 K 9 6 4 3 A 5 9		J 9 7 5 2 J 5 6 8 6 5 3 2
	10 2 K 10 8 7 4 2 Q J 10 7 4

The Auction:

West	North	East	South
1	Double	4	5
End

West led his singleton club, which dummy’s king won. South read the lead as a singleton. Should a trump be led, West would win and underlead his  A K Q and East would gain entry with his knave and give his partner a ruff, thus setting the contract. South therefore played dummy’s A followed by the Q on which, when East could not cover, he threw his singleton spade. After this the contract cannot be defeated for as West has the A East cannot obtain the lead in order to give the ruff. This entry killing play of throwing a loser on a loser can be very profitable at times. Its aim is, of course, to keep out of the lead one opponent whose lead value rank higher that that of his partner.