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A Lighter Look

Showing Your Hand

There are many important things to learn about bridge. You probably know that….and are still struggling with about 60% of them (you would not want me to put a higher percentage, would you?).

What follows is about a subject on which I have never seen anything in print, not once in all the thousands of bridge books which are available. “Time, then, to write my own” you might say. My first million dollar seller? Maybe.

It is about the question of how you lay down your dummy. There are various standard approaches. “Trumps are on the right” is a pretty common statement you make as you lay down an honourless 5 card side suit in the spot where trumps are normally placed. “I have five honours for you, partner”, is another as your jack high dummy goes down with the 10 of every suit. Your partner fails to see much humour in that comment.

There is the approach you take when your partner has just pulled your penalty dummy of 3 to an inglorious heart partial…as you lay down 6 clubs to the AKQ1052. A nice, understanding dummy would not spread the club suit the length of the table with the 2 virtually falling off the table at declarer’s end. A tip would be to put the top two clubs in with your spades…or just hide them from view. After all, he had his reasons….the fool!

Save the best till last? Why? You do want him to make the contract, don’t you. A good declarer is a happy one. Yet, maybe save the suit led until last. They need to concentrate. So, let them take in the whole dummy before coming to the suit to be played at trick one. Hey, we are getting too serious now!

Imagine, then, you have the following hand:

AK10987654

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It’s OK. That hand never, ever, ever goes down as dummy. What? Partner opened a strong 1NT and you transferred? Dream on. Seven declarers did recently hold this nice hand. You open it 2 and partner with his first bid tells you he holds 3 controls, one ace and a king or three kings. Three kings would be ideal and would only require spades to be spread around the table to enable 13 tricks to be made in spades (not in no trumps!). A and any of the missing kings would be fine too….a certain entry to dummy and that A, unless that king happened to be in diamonds.

Now, only a very mean dummy would put down the top two diamonds and one miserable little trump or less. Come on, be positive. Bid 7. The odds must be well against that nightmare holding. A statistician will give us the odds.

No double. At least left hand opponent does not have all four missing spades and the A!

They lead a club…and partner lays down AKJT (trying to impress, no doubt). The good news is that he did not make that “trumps are on the right” comment. JT9 came next. “Come on, partner, you miscounted, you have an ace and two kings. I will let you off this time.” No joy. No K.

Yet, there was joy as only 11 cards had appeared. Oh, the suspense! 3 and 2 were both missing. Imagine that nightmare. “No, partner, come on. Be kind, please. “Saving the best till last” he said.

Dummy hand.png