Loser on Loser in Bridge: When to Discard Instead of Ruff

A loser-on-loser play means discarding a losing card from one hand on a losing card of the other, instead of ruffing. You give up a trick you were going to lose anyway, and in return you gain something: a ruff later, a long suit set up, safety from an overruff, or the lead in the hands of the defender you want. The trick count stays the same on that trick, but one of your losers disappears.

It is one of the most useful ideas in declarer play, and one of the easiest to miss, because ruffing looks natural. Loser on loser is pure card play, so it works the same in every bidding system.

Suppose the defenders lead a suit in which dummy is void, and you also have a losing club. You have two choices on that trick:

• Ruff in dummy. You win the trick if nobody overruffs, but your club loser is still there.
• Discard a club from dummy. You lose the trick, but now dummy is shorter in clubs, and your club loser can be ruffed later.

Either way you lose one trick in the two suits together. The discard is better whenever the ruff is dangerous (an overruff, a trump promotion, a loss of control) or whenever the shortness you create is worth more than the trick you would win now.

The same idea applies when you lead a card that must lose. If a trick in dummy's suit has to go to the defenders anyway, throw a loser from your hand on it, and you have traded a loser in one suit for a loser in another.

Loser on loser has several jobs. The most common ones:

1. Avoid an overruff. If ruffing low lets a defender overruff and score a trump he would otherwise lose, throw a loser instead. You lose the same trick, but the defender's trump honor stays where you can catch it.
2. Create a ruff. Discard a card from the suit you want to ruff later. Dummy becomes short there, and your loser in that suit can be ruffed.
3. Set up a long suit. With ♦K Q J 10 in dummy and the ace out, lead the king and throw a loser from your hand. If the defenders take the ace, the queen, jack and ten are now winners for more discards.
4. Keep the danger hand off lead. Lose the trick to the defender who cannot hurt you, and discard a loser at the same time. See avoidance play.
5. Cut the defenders' communications. Discard a loser on a loser so that one defender cannot reach his partner for a ruff. This version has its own name, the scissors coup.
6. Endplay a defender. Throw a loser on the trick you give up, so that the defender who wins has to lead into your tenace or give a ruff and sluff. See the endplay.

You have lost two hearts and you are about to lose a third. You also have a club loser: ♣A 5 3 2 opposite ♣K 9 4 gives you two club tricks, a third-round loser and a fourth club you can ruff in dummy. Four losers in total.

The tempting play is to ruff the third heart in dummy. But West's overcall shows at least five hearts, so East may well be out of hearts too. If East holds the ♠Q, he overruffs, and he scores a trump that you would otherwise pick up by finessing. You still have the club loser: nine tricks.

The loser-on-loser play is to discard a club from dummy. You lose the heart trick, which was a loser anyway, and dummy is now down to ♣K 9. Your third club can be ruffed. Here is one line, against a trump switch:

1. On the ♥Q, throw dummy's ♣4. East discards the ♣7.
2. West switches to the ♠3. Play dummy's ♠6; East plays the ♠4 and you win with the ♠9.
3. Cash the ♣A and lead the ♣2 to dummy's ♣K. Both defenders follow twice.
4. Lead the ♠7 from dummy. East covers with the ♠Q, you win the ♠K, and West follows with his last trump.
5. Lead the ♣3 and ruff with dummy's ♠8. East follows with the ♣Q.
6. Lead the ♦2 to your ♦A and draw East's last trump with the ♠10. Your ♠J, ♠A and ♣5 are all winners now.

Ten tricks: you lost only the three hearts. A double dummy solver confirms the picture: on the third heart, a club discard from dummy makes ten, while ruffing with any trump, or discarding a diamond, holds you to nine. The discard works even if East has a third heart, because then the defenders simply win the heart trick they were always going to win.

Notice which card dummy throws. A diamond discard achieves nothing, because it does not shorten dummy in the suit where you have a loser. Throw from the suit you want to ruff.

The same idea helps when you establish a long suit. Say you are in 4♥ with these cards:

The defenders hold the ♦A, and you have three club losers. Lead the ♦K from dummy. If you ruff it, you have spent a trump and still need to knock out the ace. If you discard a club and a defender wins the ace, you have lost one diamond trick instead of a club trick, and dummy's ♦Q J 10 are now winners for two more club discards. You need entries to dummy to cash them, so count those first.

This is the same trade as before: a loser in one suit goes on a trick you had to lose in another.

Ask the question every time you are about to ruff a card you could also discard on:

• Can the next player overruff? If yes, and his trump would not take a trick otherwise, consider a discard.
• Do I have a loser in another suit that I cannot ruff or discard any other way? A discard now may create the ruff or the shortness you need.
• Am I short of trumps or of control? Ruffing in the long hand can cost you control of the trump suit. A loser discarded instead keeps your trump length.
• Which defender wins the trick? If losing the trick to one defender is safe and to the other is fatal, arrange to lose it to the safe one, and discard a loser while you are at it.

• Ruffing by habit. The natural play is to ruff anything you can. Stop and count losers before every ruff that a defender might beat.
• Discarding from the wrong suit. The discard must remove a real loser or create shortness you will use. A random discard gains nothing.
• Forgetting the entries. A discard that creates a ruff is useless if you cannot get back to the hand that ruffs. Plan the crossings.
• Discarding a card you need. Throw only a true loser. A card that is an entry or a later winner is not a loser, even if it looks small.

Loser-on-loser plays become easy to see once you have watched one work. Enter the deal above in BridgeDummy's free double dummy analyzer and compare the ruff with the discard, or check any position with the double dummy solver.

Related reading: ruffing in dummy, avoidance play, the endplay, the trump coup, the crossruff, dummy reversal and counting declarer's tricks.