Lesson Hand 14
One special form of the Don't Hand is called Dummy Reversal. It's a line of declarer play in which declarer has more trumps in his own hand than in the dummy (as usual), but deliberately uses so many of his own trumps for their ruffing value that the hand on the table becomes the longer stack that keeps the hand under control — thus the name, since these tasks more naturally happen the other way around. This approach can be very effective when more than a couple of ruffs are needed to establish dummy's auxiliary suit or take care of dummy's losers.
The hand shown came to pass for two Gaymsters on the evening of February 23, 2002 at the V.V.B.C.
As any good planner would, declarer used the Five Phases.
Phase One. Which hand will be the master hand?
We get a jump start on this by fudging. We borrow from
Phase Two.
If South is to be made the master hand, we must manage three uncovered *1 spade losers (We're allowed one in this contract), and two uncovered club losers. Total: five.
If it's to be the other hand, North has only one spade loser, but three diamonds and a club appear to need final resting places, too — same total: five.
At this point, it looks like our decision on which hand is to be the master could go either way.
Phase Two: Counting losers.
Although we seem to have done this in Phase Two already, a second helpful
perspective on it is to count cashable winners: five hearts, two diamonds, two clubs for a total of nine. When
subtracted from our goal, that leaves us with three tricks we must generate through superlative planning
and follow-though.
Phase Three: Improvement.
At first blush, the club finesse seems like one of the few hopes for this collection;
but that play carries only a 50% chance of success; and if it loses, back will come a spade and you're set - an all
or nothing proposition. So let's not use that option unless all else fails.
Next, even if some of North's long diamonds are established by ruffing in the South hand (making North the master),
there's still the matter of the master hand's remaining flaw, those two losing
clubs - only one of which can be
covered by the
A.
In our imagination though, we should envision South's clubs becoming shorter than North's. On three rounds of established diamonds (perhaps the A, K, and J), we might get two discards, both being clubs. This could lead to yet another club ruff in the South hand - a higher percentage option than a finesse (by about double!).
Quite a list of improvements for Phase Three!
Phase Four: Understand the Opening Lead.
West's
10 lead is pretty scary. If it's a short
suit lead (singleton or doubleton), East will have so many diamonds that the
J will never be allowed to win a
trick - something we seem to need for the primary improvement we envisioned. Since West played the
10, it's very unlikely he also holds the
Q (conventions
being what they are these days).
Phase Five: Timing and Transportation.
With one major and two minor improvements envisioned (Major: the
diamond establishment play; Minor: the club finesse or club ruff), this hand
aches for as many as four entries into the North hand. Why? Because we may need to lead out of the North hand four times
to complete three diamond ruffs, and to finesse or ruff a club. And we can't
allow West the possibility of overruffing during our diamond suit establishment play.
This brings one more wrinkle to the fore: how are the trumps distributed? If they're two-two, the hand is a bowl of cherries. If West has very short diamonds and long enough trumps, we're doomed. We need to find out before making any final commitments.
Click on the navigation buttons to step through the hand trick by trick. You can also click on "Click" to jump to a particular trick.
Click 1. You win the opening lead (your first entry to the dummy).
Click 2. Ruff a low diamond with a slightly higher trump.
Click 3. Continue with a round of trump. Everyone follows.
Click 4. A second round of trump starts with the
J, but ends with
the K when West shows out. East is now
the only defender with a trump and a dinky one at that; and very likely
the Q, too. (You've used your second
dummy entry.)
Click 5. The
8 will induce East to squirm. Everyone at
the table (perhaps even your partner) saw the diamond spots fall and knows this is a ruffing finesse. When
East chooses not to cover, we confidently take our first club discard.
Click 6. The
K provides our second vital club discard.
Click 7. We ruff the last diamond. East must follow suit while we
make use of a trump that is smaller than the one he still clutches.
Click 8. And our final improvement, ruffing out the carefully
shortened clubs.
First, cashing the 
A.
Click 9. Next, South's only remaining club is covered by the
K (our third entry to dummy).
Click 10. Dummy's
7 is ruffed.
Click 11. Now we can generously allow the opposition to gain the lead
with their quota of one trick — a spade. After that, everyone, especially your partner, will point
out that dummy's trumps are boss — our fourth dummy entry to finally draw that trump, and at trick twelve
or thirteen to boot!
You made six. Whew! *2
*1 We define "uncovered" to mean a losing card for which there is no established winner in the opposite hand in the same suit.
*2 At the end of this round, my North-sitting partner, Paul Taylor, mumbled something about how this board was the only board of the set that had been turned around, pointing in the wrong direction. He wondered under his breath whether he would have found this line of play.
Answer: Of course you would have, partner. 8-))