When not to overruff

Questions and talk about interesting deals and situations.
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rod
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When not to overruff

Post by rod »

When an opponent ruffs our winner, it seems natural to overruff when we can. However that's not always right. Consider this end position with hearts trumps.

♠ K
--
86
♣ --

♠ 3
--
K3
♣ --
♠ --
J10
A
♣ --

♠ --
Q7
2
♣ --


You lead your spade winner from the dummy and East ruffs. If you overruff you still have to lose a trump and a diamond. But if you discard the diamond loser, the rest are yours.

Seems simple but I have a hard time describing a principle to remember. Can you?
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