From one minor over to the other

Stephen Hawking said, “We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the universe. That makes us something very special.” In bridge, the minor suits are usually treated with disdain unless we are in a slam, when we have to take at least 12 tricks regardless of the strain. In this deal, South is in four spades. What should he do after West leads a trump? Three diamonds was New Minor Forcing: North showed three-card spade support, and

South raised to game. South starts with nine winners: five spades, one heart, one diamond and two clubs. Yesterday, West led the club queen. Then South plugged away at diamonds, eventually ruffing his last diamond on the board to generate a sixth trump trick. After a trump lead, though, the defenders could stop that ruff. How did South survive? Declarer played on the other minor, clubs. He immediately cashed dummy’s top clubs. (If someone ruffed, the contract would have been unmakable.)

Then he ruffed a club in his hand. Back to the board with a diamond, South ruffed another club. Now the last club on the board was a winner. So, declarer had two choices: He could draw trumps ending on the board and cash the last club. Instead, preferably and more prettily, he played a heart to the ace and ruffed the last club! That way, South again took six trump tricks, three on the board and three club ruffs in hand. That was an example of a dummy reversal.