Up the garden path

Frieda Mayer brushed her teeth, climbed into bed and picked up her book on the gardens of Sussex and Kent. After a few minutes she set it aside and lay musing on the beauty of an English garden. Just then a weary looking Gordon joined her and asked what she was thinking about. Frieda decided that she would have to dissemble; to answer that she had been lying back thinking of England might suggest ideas to Gordon that he seemed too tired to discharge tonight. Quickly she recalled a hand that she and Gordon had played together. The bidding had been as follows with North the dealer.

West	North	East	South
	1♥	Pass	Pass
1♠	Pass	2♥	Pass
2♠	Pass	Pass	Pass

Frieda had been West and had alerted Gordon’s 2♥ bid as showing a good passed hand with spade support. Since she was minimal she had made her weakest rebid of 2♠ and this was the lowly contract she played in.

North, thinking no doubt to cut down ruffs in dummy, led ♠A and continued with another spade to which South followed. Contemplating her hand along with dummy, Frieda could only see 7 tricks at first. She had 4 trump tricks, two aces, and could establish a diamond; but that was not enough. What could she do?

♠KQT62 ♥5 ♦K73 ♣8632		♠J54 ♥A862 ♦Q42 ♣A74

One possibility was to hope that clubs were 3–3; then her fourth club would be a winner. Another was to play towards the ♦Q (North surely had the Ace) and then duck the next diamond hoping that North held two diamonds only.

But then she spotted an almost certain line: a dummy reversal. So she took the second trick in her own hand, played a heart to the Ace and ruffed a heart. Then she played a diamond towards the Queen (North dare not take the Ace for that would concede two diamond tricks). Having won with the ♦Q she ruffed another heart. Next came a club to the Ace and she ruffed the last of dummy’s hearts with her last trump. That made 7 tricks and she still had the ♠J in dummy for her eighth trick.

Dummy reversals are not all that common and they are usually hard to spot so Frieda had done very well. “You were very clever, my dear” praised Gordon. Indeed, reliving the memory had quite refreshed him and Frieda was looking radiant. “Now” he said, glancing at her book on gardens, “I see you’ve been thinking of England”.

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