The Loser-on-Loser Play in Bridge

The loser-on-loser play is one of those bridge techniques that separates intermediate players from experts. At first glance, it seems counterintuitive—why would you deliberately pitch a losing card when you could ruff? But once you understand the tactical reasons behind this play, you’ll start seeing opportunities for it everywhere.

What Is a Loser-on-Loser Play?

A bridge loser on loser play occurs when declarer discards a card that will eventually lose a trick rather than ruffing in the short trump hand (or sometimes even in the long trump hand). Instead of using a precious trump to ruff, you throw away a card from a side suit that was going to lose anyway.

The key concept: you’re trading one loser for another loser—but with a specific tactical purpose in mind.

Here’s a simple example to illustrate the basic idea:

Dummy (North)
♠ K 5 3
♥ 7 6
♦ A K Q J 10
♣ 8 4 2

Declarer (South)
♠ A Q J 10 9 8
♥ A 5 4
♦ 3
♣ A K 3

You’re in 4♠ and the opponents lead ♥K, then ♥Q. You have three heart losers and one club loser—that’s four losers total, one too many.

The beginner’s instinct is to ruff the third heart in dummy. But what if instead, you discard a club loser from dummy on the third heart? You still lose that trick, but now you only have three losers total (two hearts and one club), and you avoid the risk of an overruff or promotion.

Why Discard a Loser Instead of Ruffing?

This is the central question that confuses newer players. “Isn’t ruffing good? Don’t I want to use dummy’s trumps?”

Not always. Here are the main tactical reasons to choose a loser-on-loser play:

Preserving Trump Control

Sometimes ruffing in the short trump hand can actually weaken your trump holding. If dummy has K-x-x of trumps and you ruff once, you’re down to K-x. If you have to ruff again, you might lose control of the hand entirely.

By discarding a loser instead, you maintain your trump length and keep control.

Avoiding Wasteful Ruffs

When you’re going to make your small trumps anyway through normal drawing of trumps, ruffing with them doesn’t actually gain a trick. This is especially true when you’re ruffing in the long trump hand.

Consider: if you have five trumps in hand and three in dummy, those three dummy trumps might all take tricks naturally if you’re drawing trumps. Ruffing doesn’t create an extra trick—it just changes which trump takes a trick.

Setting Up Other Plays

This is where loser-on-loser technique gets really interesting. Often you’re discarding a loser to set up a more complex play:

  • Creating a throw-in position
  • Preparing for a squeeze
  • Preventing a defensive ruff
  • Improving communication between hands

Let’s explore these tactical purposes in detail.

Avoiding Overruffs

One of the most common uses of the loser-on-loser play is to avoid the risk of an overruff. When your right-hand opponent is void in a suit, ruffing with a small trump from dummy might be futile—they’ll just overruff with a higher trump.

Here’s a typical scenario:

         North (Dummy)
         ♠ K 7 4
         ♥ 9 3
         ♦ A K Q 6 5
         ♣ 8 6 3

West                    East
♠ 6 2                   ♠ 5
♥ K Q J 10 7            ♥ 8 6 5 2
♦ 10 9 3                ♦ J 8 4 2
♣ Q J 5                 ♣ 10 9 7 4

         South (Declarer)
         ♠ A Q J 10 9 8 3
         ♥ A 4
         ♦ 7
         ♣ A K 2

You’re in 6♠. West leads ♥K. You win the ace and cash ♠A, discovering the 2-1 trump break with East showing out.

Now you play your diamond to dummy’s ace and West follows. When you play another diamond from dummy, East shows out (discarding a heart). You could ruff with ♠Q, but West will overruff with ♠K.

The solution? Discard a club loser from your hand! You can afford to lose one trick (you’re in a small slam), and you’ll lose it to the ♠K anyway. By discarding a club on the second diamond, you:

  1. Avoid the overruff
  2. Keep your ♠Q-J-10-9 intact
  3. Still make your contract when you later draw the remaining trumps

The club loser disappears on dummy’s established diamond winners.

Creating Throw-In Opportunities

This is one of the most elegant uses of the bridge loser on loser technique. By carefully choosing which loser to discard, you can strip one opponent’s hand and prepare a throw-in (also called an elimination play or endplay).

The concept: you want to eliminate a suit from one opponent’s hand so that when you eventually lose the lead to them, they have to give you a trick back.

Here’s how it works:

         North (Dummy)
         ♠ A 6 4
         ♥ K 7 2
         ♦ 9 8 5
         ♣ A K 6 3

West                    East
♠ 9 8 2                 ♠ 7 5
♥ J 10 9 6              ♥ Q 8 5 3
♦ K Q 7                 ♦ J 10 6 4
♣ Q 10 5                ♣ J 9 2

         South (Declarer)
         ♠ K Q J 10 3
         ♥ A 4
         ♦ A 3 2
         ♣ 8 7 4

You’re in 4♠. West leads ♦K. You have four potential losers: one diamond and three clubs.

After winning ♦A, draw trumps ending in dummy. Now lead a diamond from dummy. East plays the ♦J, and here’s the key: discard a club from your hand instead of ruffing!

What have you accomplished?

  1. You’ve lost one diamond trick (inevitable anyway)
  2. You’ve eliminated diamonds from your hand and dummy
  3. You still have ♦3 in your hand

Now play your three rounds of hearts, ending in dummy, and lead dummy’s last diamond. East wins the ♦10 and is endplayed! Whatever East returns:

  • If a club, it’s into dummy’s ♣A-K tenace, and you lose only two club tricks
  • If a heart, you ruff in one hand and discard a club loser from the other
  • East can’t play a diamond (you’ve stripped that suit)

You make your contract with the loser-on-loser play setting up the throw-in.

Rectifying the Count for a Squeeze

Advanced players use loser-on-loser plays to prepare squeeze positions. Without getting too deep into squeeze theory, let me explain the basic idea.

Most simple squeezes require you to be “at the right count”—meaning you need to lose all the tricks you can afford to lose before the squeeze operates. This is called rectifying the count.

Example: You’re in 6NT and can afford to lose one trick. You have eleven top tricks and need to develop a twelfth through a squeeze. But the squeeze only works if you’ve already lost your one permissible loser.

The solution? A loser-on-loser play early in the hand.

         North (Dummy)
         ♠ A 6
         ♥ K 7
         ♦ A K Q 6 5
         ♣ 8 6 4 2

West                    East
♠ J 9 7 4               ♠ 10 8 5 2
♥ Q J 10 9              ♥ 6 5 4 2
♦ 9 4                   ♦ 10 8
♣ K Q 7                 ♣ J 10 3

         South (Declarer)
         ♠ K Q 3
         ♥ A 8 3
         ♦ J 7 3 2
         ♣ A 9 5

You’re in 6NT. West leads ♥Q. You have eleven top tricks (three spades, three hearts, five diamonds). You need one more.

If you can squeeze West in clubs and hearts, you’ll get your twelfth trick. But you need to rectify the count first—you must lose a trick early.

At trick two, lead a club toward dummy and duck it completely (loser-on-loser)! Let West win the club. Now you’ve lost your one allowable trick.

Win the return, cash your diamond winners, then your major suit winners. On the last diamond, West is squeezed: they must hold ♥J to prevent dummy’s ♥K from being good, but they also must hold ♣K to prevent your ♣A-9 from scoring. They can’t keep both.

The early loser-on-loser play in clubs rectified the count and made the squeeze work.

Timing Considerations

Timing is everything with loser-on-loser plays. You need to ask yourself several questions:

Can I Afford to Lose This Trick Now?

Sometimes you must delay the loser-on-loser play until you’ve set up other winners or maintained trump control. Other times, you need to execute it immediately before the defense can cash other winners.

Will the Defense Get a Ruff?

If you discard a loser early, watch out that you’re not giving the defense time to set up a ruff in another suit. You may need to draw trumps first.

What About Entry Considerations?

Sometimes the loser-on-loser play affects your transportation between hands. Make sure you’ve planned your entry positions carefully.

Is This Creating or Preventing Communication?

You might discard a loser to preserve an entry, or to deliberately kill an entry to prevent a defensive ruff.

Example Loser-on-Loser Hands

Let’s look at a few more complete hands to solidify these concepts.

Example 1: Preventing a Trump Promotion

         North (Dummy)
         ♠ 8 6 4
         ♥ K Q 3
         ♦ A K 7 5
         ♣ 9 6 2

         South (Declarer)
         ♠ A K Q J 10 7
         ♥ A 6 2
         ♦ 4
         ♣ A K 5

Contract: 6♠. Lead: ♣Q

You have eleven top tricks and can establish a twelfth in hearts. But when you play diamonds, West ruffs the second round with ♠9.

If you overruff with ♠10, East’s ♠5-3-2 become troublesome—you might face a trump loser later. Instead, discard a heart loser! You can set up the thirteenth heart later for your club discard.

Example 2: Maintaining Trump Length

         North (Dummy)
         ♠ 9 7 4
         ♥ 6 3
         ♦ A K Q J 10 9
         ♣ 8 5

         South (Declarer)
         ♠ A K Q J 10 6
         ♥ A 8 5
         ♦ 7
         ♣ A 6 3

Contract: 4♠. Lead: ♥K (then ♥Q, ♥J)

You have three heart losers and one club loser. The tempting play is to ruff the third heart. But West might have started with four trumps, and ruffing in dummy reduces your trump length.

Better: discard a club on the third heart! You maintain trump control and can later discard your two remaining losers on dummy’s diamond winners.

Example 3: The Classic Strip-and-Endplay

         North (Dummy)
         ♠ K 6 5
         ♥ A 7 3
         ♦ 9 8 4 2
         ♣ A 6 4

         South (Declarer)
         ♠ A Q J 10 9 4
         ♥ K 4
         ♦ A 6
         ♣ K 7 2

Contract: 6♠. Lead: ♦K

You have a potential club loser. Draw trumps, eliminate hearts, then lead a diamond from dummy. When East plays ♦J, discard a club!

Now lead your ♦6 to dummy’s ♦9. East wins and is endplayed—forced to lead clubs into your K-x or give a ruff-and-discard.

Common Mistakes with Loser-on-Loser Plays

Even experienced players make errors with this technique. Here are the most common pitfalls:

1. Automatic Ruffing

The biggest mistake is ruffing automatically without considering whether a discard might be better. When you see a chance to ruff, pause and ask: “What am I trying to accomplish? Do I gain a trick by ruffing, or am I just trading one loser for another?“

2. Discarding the Wrong Loser

When you have multiple losers to choose from, make sure you’re discarding the right one. Consider:

  • Which loser preserves the most flexibility?
  • Which discard helps your overall plan (throw-in, squeeze, etc.)?
  • Which loser keeps your suit lengths balanced for later plays?

3. Forgetting About Trump Control

Loser-on-loser plays are often correct, but not if they cause you to lose trump control. Make sure you’ve counted the trump distribution and planned accordingly.

4. Timing Errors

Executing the loser-on-loser play too early or too late can be fatal. You might need to draw trumps first, or eliminate a suit, or set up winners before making the discard.

5. Missing the Overruff Risk

When an opponent shows out of a suit, alarm bells should ring. Before ruffing in dummy, calculate whether an overruff is likely. If so, a loser-on-loser play often saves the contract.

6. Failing to Visualize the Endposition

Loser-on-loser plays for throw-ins and squeezes require planning several tricks ahead. Take your time at trick one to count your tricks, identify potential endpositions, and map out the play.

7. Discarding When Ruffing Actually Gains

Sometimes ruffing does gain a trick—specifically when you’re ruffing in the short trump hand and those ruffs create extra tricks. Don’t get so enamored with loser-on-loser technique that you miss straightforward ruffing lines that work.

Practice Makes Perfect

The bridge loser on loser play is a fundamental technique that appears in countless deals. The key is recognizing the situations where it applies:

  • When ruffing risks an overruff or trump promotion
  • When you need to strip a suit for a throw-in
  • When you need to rectify the count for a squeeze
  • When discarding maintains trump control better than ruffing
  • When you’re trading one inevitable loser for another with a tactical purpose

Start looking for these opportunities in your own games. At first, you’ll spot them in retrospect (“I should have discarded that club!”). With practice, you’ll see them in real-time. Eventually, they’ll become automatic.

The beauty of the loser-on-loser play is that it transforms what looks like a defensive trick into an offensive weapon. You’re not passively accepting a loser—you’re actively choosing which loser to concede, and using that choice to set up winning tactics.

Master this technique, and you’ll find your declarer play reaching a new level of sophistication. The opponents will still get their tricks, but now you’ll be the one controlling when, where, and to whom those tricks are lost—and that makes all the difference.

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