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.