Dummy Reversal by Foxymoron

The expression "dummy reversal" is normally used when you ruff twice or more in the hand with more trumps. But it has come to be used for ruffing in hand twice when you have a 4-4 fit before drawing all the trumps. That opportunity presented itself in the weekly game yesterday:

We bid 1C-(2S)-Dble-(3S)-4H-All Pass, which was an auction replicated at a good number of tables. Looking at the hand in the pub afterwards I wondered if I should have made 12 tricks as Deep Finesse does on this hand, but it was not without risk. East led the ace of spades and switched to a diamond at my table, to West's king and North's ace. Now it looks normal to play a heart to the queen, as you can pick up Hxxx in either opponents' hand. It is more likely that East will have a singleton heart if anyone does. Now the plan is to ruff two spades in the North hand, but that runs the risk that the trumps are 4-1 when you will lose control. The winning line is spade ruff, club to the queen, spade ruff, cash the king of hearts, ruff a club, draw trumps and make twelve tricks when clubs are 4-3. I just drew a second round of trumps and could only make 11 tricks.

If you draw a second round of trumps with the king, then you do not have enough entries to ruff two spades, while if you draw a second round of trumps with the ace, you cannot afford to ruff a spade with the king as you will promote the jack for East. I think in 6H the right line is to cash the king of hearts at trick two, as you will not make six when trumps are 4-1. Now you can play a second round of trumps to the ace, and can ruff two spades in North. When trumps are 3-2 and clubs are 4-3, "Bob's your Uncle".

The origins of that expression are unclear but it is thought to come from the occasion when Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, ("Bob") appointed his nephew Arthur Balfour as Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1887, which was apparently both surprising and unpopular.

In Spades by Foxymoron

The expression "in spades" seems to be derived from bridge. Vanderbilt set out the rules of the modern game in 1925. "In spades" appeared in print around then and is often used to show a lot of something. Trivia Origin tells me:

The idiom wasn’t used prior to the 1920s, so it is said to be derived from the card game Bridge, which was popular during that time. Spades were the highest ranking suit in that card game, so the more spades you had, the more likely you were to win.

One of the advantages of being the highest ranking suit is that you don't need to bid one more than the opponents. The same number will do, and this was a lesson the three Souths who bid too many spades might have followed on this hand:

Four pairs made eight tricks in spades and four made nine or more, so the defence strayed on occasion. At our table, where the auction began 1C-Pass-2C, South bid 4S which ended the auction. I would bid 2S, but have no problem with 3S. If East-West compete to 3C you can then go to 3S. Accurate defence holds declarer to eight tricks. 

It is worth noting that partner could not bid.
Gregory: Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?
Holmes: To the curious incident of the 1H overcall.
Gregory: There was no 1H overcall.
Holmes: That was the curious incident.

Liz Clery and Ken Barnett had the top on the board when the defence against 4S doubled was very poor, with West leading the ace of hearts and then the ace of clubs. Now he played for East to have a singleton heart by playing another one, but when South had the singleton both diamonds went away. Anti-percentage as South is unlikely to have three hearts.

Andy Clery was the culprit, giving his sister an early Xmas present, but he did not discriminate and many of the other members received seasonal gifts during the evening. Next week is the Woodberry Christmas party and I hope that Andy will be in as generous a mood then!

The noblest art is that of making others happy― P.T. Barnum of Barnum's Circus