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Bridge 4/10
If it goes ruff, it goes rough
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    John Brown said, "Be mild with the mild, shrewd with the crafty, confiding to the honest, rough to the ruffian, and a thunderbolt to the liar. But in all this, never be unmindful of your own dignity."
    In this deal, you must be rough to the ruffer. You are in four spades, East having overcalled two diamonds. West leads the diamond two. East wins with his ace and returns the diamond eight. How would you continue?
    North was safe in bidding three hearts to show his concentrated values in the suit. If you had four hearts, you would have rebid two hearts, not two spades. Then, because you have a diamond stopper, maybe you should have continued with three no-trump. That would have worked well here, but it is hard to argue with your going for game in your solid suit.
    You seem to have 10 tricks: six spades, three hearts and one diamond. What could possibly go wrong?
    Well, read West's lead. You are missing only seven diamonds, and East overcalled in the suit. West's diamond two must be a singleton. (With two diamonds, West would have led his higher card, playing high-low with a doubleton.)
    So, if, at trick two, you play your diamond king — one of your 10 tricks — it will be ruffed by the "ruff-er-ian" West. Instead, play a low diamond, letting East take the trick. And if East persists with another diamond, play low again. West may ruff (to stop you from winning the trick by trumping on the board) and return a club, but you ruff, draw trumps, and claim those 10 tricks.
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