Crossruff in Bridge: Technique, Rules and a Full Deal

A crossruff is a declarer play where you ruff one suit in dummy and another suit in your hand, back and forth, so that every trump in both hands wins a separate trick. You do not draw trumps. Instead, each ruff is also your entry to the other hand for the next ruff. It works best when both hands have a short suit and the trumps are strong.

The technique has a few simple rules: count the tricks first, cash your side winners before you start, ruff high when an overruff is possible, and never lead trumps yourself. Like all card play, it is the same in every bidding system.

Take ♠A J 10 7 in your hand and ♠K Q 9 8 in dummy. If you draw trumps, the two hands take four trump tricks together: each round uses one trump from each hand. If you crossruff, each trump takes a trick on its own, so the same eight trumps can take up to eight tricks.

For that you need a short suit in each hand:

After the ♥A, dummy's small hearts can be ruffed in your hand. After the ♦A and ♦K, your small diamonds can be ruffed in dummy. You lead a diamond and ruff in dummy, lead a heart and ruff in your hand, and so on. Each ruff wins the trick and puts the lead in the hand that ruffed, ready for the next ruff.

A crossruff is the right plan when most of these are true:

• Both hands have a short suit opposite length in the other hand.
• You have few side winners and no long suit to set up. If you could draw trumps and run a long suit, that is usually safer.
• Your trumps are strong, so the defenders cannot overruff, or can overruff only rarely.
• The trick count adds up. Side winners plus the separate trump tricks reach your contract.

If drawing trumps leaves you short of tricks and both hands can ruff, the crossruff is often the only way home.

1. Count your tricks before you start. Write it out: side winners plus ruffs in each hand. If the total is enough, the crossruff is your plan.
2. Cash your side-suit winners first. During a crossruff the defenders discard their cards in the suits you are ruffing. If you wait, a defender who is out of your side suit will ruff your winner. Take the aces and kings early.
3. Ruff high when an overruff is possible. If the player after you may be out of the suit, ruff with a trump he cannot beat. Use your low trumps when the next player must follow suit.
4. Do not lead trumps. Every trump lead takes two of your trumps on one trick. Leave trumps alone until the end.
5. Watch the defenders' trumps. Count how many trumps they have left. In the last tricks, you may need to cash a high trump rather than ruff low.

Count first. Your side winners are the ♥A, ♦A and ♦K: three tricks. Clubs give you nothing, since the ♣K sits in front of East's ace, so you have three club losers. You need seven trump tricks.

If you draw trumps, you take only four trump tricks plus a ruff or two: the solver gives eight tricks if you draw three rounds. So you crossruff.

West's trump lead has already cost you one trump from each hand on the same trick. Against a heart or a diamond lead you could make eleven; now ten is the limit, and you need all of them.

1. Win the trump lead in dummy with the ♠8 (you play the ♠7).
2. Cash the ♥A.
3. Lead the ♦2 to your ♦A, then cash the ♦K, throwing a club from dummy. Side winners first.
4. Now crossruff. Lead the ♦3 and ruff in dummy with the ♠9.
5. Lead the ♥3 and ruff in your hand with the ♠10.
6. Lead the ♦4. West, out of diamonds, ruffs with the ♠3, and dummy overruffs with the ♠Q.
7. Lead the ♥4 and ruff with the ♠J.
8. Lead the ♦6. West ruffs with his last trump, the ♠5, and dummy overruffs with the ♠K.
9. Lead the ♥6 and ruff with the ♠A. If East ruffs in with his ♠6 first, you overruff.

That is ten tricks: the trump trick at trick one, six ruffs and three side winners. You give up three clubs at the end. The solver confirms ten, and it confirms the two mistakes: drawing trumps holds you to eight, and leaving the ♦K until after the diamond ruffs holds you to nine, because West ruffs the king once he is out of diamonds.

You hold all eight top trumps, so no ruff of yours can be overruffed. West's ruffs in front of dummy cost you nothing, because dummy overruffs with a high trump.

On many deals the defenders hold a middle trump, such as the 10 or the 9, and the choice of trump matters:

• When the player after you may be out of the suit, ruff with a trump he cannot beat. An overruff gives the defenders a trick, often with a trump that would never have scored otherwise.
• When the player after you must still follow suit, ruff low and save your high trumps.
• Take your low ruffs early, while the defenders still follow, and save your high trumps for the later ruffs, when a defender may be out of the suit.

Count the defenders' trumps as the play goes on. The moment they have none left, every small trump of yours is as good as an ace.

The defenders have two good weapons:

• Lead trumps. Each trump lead pulls one trump from each of declarer's hands on the same trick, and so costs declarer one ruff. On the deal above, a trump lead holds declarer to ten tricks instead of eleven. Against a hand that will clearly crossruff, a trump lead is often the best start. You can practice that decision in BridgeDummy's Lead Gym.
• Discard declarer's side suits. While declarer ruffs, a defender throws his cards in declarer's side suit, and later ruffs declarer's winners. That is why declarer cashes those winners first.

A defender who holds a trump that could overruff should also keep it as long as possible, so declarer must ruff high and lose a trump trick he needs later.

• Drawing a round of trumps out of habit. In a crossruff, each round of trumps you lead costs you a ruff. Leave trumps alone unless the count says you have tricks to spare.
• Forgetting the side winners. Cash them first. A winner that a defender ruffs is a trick lost and a trump the defense used well.
• Losing count of the defenders' trumps. When they have one trump left, a low ruff in front of that defender is a risk; when they have none, every ruff is safe.
• Running out of crossings. Each ruff is also your next entry. If you break the rhythm, for example by cashing a winner in the wrong hand, you may be stuck in a hand that has nothing to lead.
• Crossruffing when a long suit would do better. If drawing trumps and running a long side suit gives you enough tricks, that line is usually safer.

Crossruffs reward careful counting. Enter the deal above in BridgeDummy's free double dummy analyzer and try the lines: draw trumps, crossruff without cashing first, and the full line.

Related reading: dummy reversal, ruffing in dummy, drawing trumps, counting declarer's tricks, loser on loser, the trump coup and opening leads against suit contracts.