Dummy Reversal

Bridge Game

Dummy reversal

Dummy reversal (also known as reverse dummy) is a technique in the card game of contract bridge, when the declarer uses trump cards to ruff from the hand with longer trumps, and retains the trumps in the other hand to draw the opponents' remaining trumps.

In the "normal" technique, the ruffs are taken from the hand with shorter trumps, retaining trumps in longer hand for control. Since, by rules, the declarer becomes the player which first mentions the trump suit in the bidding, usually the hand with long trumps will be declarer's one ? thus the name "reverse dummy", as the normal roles of dummy's and declarer's trumps are reversed.

In strict sense, dummy reversal can be called that only if it yields more tricks than the normal technique.

Some indicators that a hand may lend itself to dummy reversal are:

• shortness (singleton or void) in declarer's hand (with corresponding length in the same suit in dummy)
• loser(s) in declarer's hand that cannot be ruffed or discarded on a side suit
• adequate trump strength and length in dummy (typically a three or four card trump suit with at least two honors for drawing the final trumps)
• entries to dummy outside of the trump suit

Example

South is in 4♠ and receives a trump lead. There are five trump tricks, three aces and king of diamonds off the top, but there is no tempo to ruff a club in dummy, as the defenders will deprive it off the trumps after they regain the lead in clubs. The solution is to ruff hearts in hand instead ? in trick two, South plays ♥A, ruffs a heart, enters the dummy with ♣A, ruffs a heart, enters the dummy with ♦A and ruffs a heart. In this way, the declarer took three ruffs in hand, and still has two trumps in dummy to take care of opponents' trumps.

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