Pattern Recognition 1: Ruffing Strategy in Dummy

The first type of hand we need to get familiar with is, the hand where we "ruff stuff in dummy". Abbreviated as RSID for short. As a rule, this is before drawing trumps. Generally if you draw trumps you will not be left with any trumps, or not enough trumps in dummy, to achieve your goals. 

What are the main features of these type of hands

1. Dummy will have some trumps

2. Dummy typically will have a shortage* some exceptions to this rule where you can "create a shortage"

3. Typically dummy will be weak, as a guide 10 or less points. With a strong dummy, often a different course of play is indicated (shown in further articles of this series).

Some examples 

1. Playing in 4♠, you get the K♥ lead. 

This is a perfect hand to ruff as many hearts as possible. Dummy is weak, has a shortage and has trumps. Win the lead, ruff a heart. Return to hand with a minor Ace, ruff a heart. Return to hand with the trump Ace, ruff the 4th heart. If that holds up, return to hand with the remaining minor Ace and draw trumps. This all looks very natural and simple. Hopefully you will make 11 tricks (more on counting tricks in future articles).

2. Playing in 2♠, you once again get the K♥ lead.

This hand is subtly but substantially different. Dummy has a 5 card diamond suit. In future articles I will try emphasise the importance of this, and show some new opportunities that arise when these magical 5 card suits exist. In this particular hand, there are no real extra opportunities because dummy is too weak, it has less than 10 points. The addition of one or two extra high cards to dummy could change the flavour of the hand completely. Don't worry, it will all make sense soon.

Anyway, the play should go substantially the same as the previous hand, except it is good technique at an early stage to cash the  ♦ K. That is not within the scope of this article though, future hands on "cross ruff" themes will tackle this idea.

3. Playing in 2♠, once again you get the K♥ lead

Once again, dummy is too weak, so setting up the magical 5 card suit is not indicated. We want to ruff hearts, but first we want to "create shortage". We can do this by cashing our club tricks, pitching a heart from dummy. This will reduce dummy's hearts to two, and set the stage for us to ruff two hearts. Expert tip - look for sources of tricks (in this case clubs), often you can do great things with the extra tricks, like shorten a suit in dummy, as we did here.

4. Playing in 6♠, once again you get the K♥ lead

Dummy has a nice source of diamond tricks, 4 to be exact. But before we enjoy them, lets take advantage of dummy's shortage (the key feature). Even though dummy only has a couple trumps, they are still very useful. In other words, dummy does not always need 3+ trumps. 

Win the heart, ruff a heart. If you count your tricks (6 spades, 1 heart, 1 heart ruff, 4 diamonds) you  have already reached 12. So you don't need to push it and go for a second heart ruff, you might run into trouble. So at this point, probably best to just draw trumps. (More on trick counting later).

5. Playing in 4♠, once again you get the K♥ lead

This one is there to keep you on your toes. In this hand you should not aim to ruff hearts. Dummy has 10 points and has 4 trumps, giving it even extra power. Check out the next article to see how to identify these types of hands, and how to handle them. 

Where to next

• -> Next: Pattern Recognition 2: Set Up Side Suits
• -> Related: Count Winners in No-Trump: Build a Trick Plan
• -> Back to Declarer Articles Hub